1918 Flu Pandemic Brings Higher Fatalities than World War 1 Research Paper - 1

1918 Flu pandemic Brings Higher Fatalities than World War 1 - Research Paper ExampleThe third constituent investigates the mankind health and checkup issues at the times of the outbreak. Medical response to the pandemic is investigated in the fourth section and finally, the lessons learned from the outbreak atomic number 18 discussed in the fifth and final section. According to CDC (2006), the 1918 influenza pandemic killed 2% of the worlds human population because of lack of sufficient knowledge about the virus and toothless medical response. The 1918 flu pandemic provides important lessons for effective monitoring and management of flu outbreaks. Flu pandemics atomic number 18 serious nemesis to human existence, because of viral antigenic drift that produces new variant strains in each two to three years (Michael, 1998). Introduction The world today remains under serious threat of influenza pandemics. The last ten years have been characterized by outbreak of flu in contrar y parts of the world causing demolitions and wide send panic. Although the scale of the recent flu outbreaks do not comparing with 1918 pandemic in terms of transmittals and fatalities, it is evident that the world population remains highly vulnerable to the infection. The united States Department of Health and Human Services (2006) classifies influenza into three different categories. These include seasonal flu, avian flu and pandemic flu. Seasonal flu also called common flu is a respiratory infection that affects people frequently. Although there is a vaccine for seasonal flu, the immune system of most people is sure-footed of fighting the infection. Bird or avian flu is a zoonotic infection transmitted from cruel birds to human beings. The H5NI virus that causes avian flu is extremely infectious and fatal to domestic birds. The main medical concern of the avian flu is that currently, there is no effective vaccine against the infection and people do not have immunity. Finall y, pandemic flu is highly infectious ailment affecting human beings and it has the voltage of causing global outbreak and severe diseases (United States Department of Health And Human Services, 2006). People have negligible immunity against flu infection and therefore the disease is transmitted quickly across an expansive geographical area. In the last century, devastating flu pandemics were reported in different parts of the globe. CDC (2006) estimated that over 43 million people in the world died from flu pandemics in the last 20th century alone. around of the major flu pandemics included the 1918 Spanish flu, the Asian flu pandemic in 1957 and the Hong Kong Flu of 1968. diachronic Perspective of the 1918 Spanish Flu Pandemic Before investigating the historical background of the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic, it is important to interrogate the meanings of pandemic and influenza. Michael (199851) defines pandemic as an epidemic of human ailment that occurs over a wide geographical area, crossing international boundaries and affecting large number of people. There are different forms of pathogens that cause pandemics, including the current HIV/AIDS virus, influenza and in the past, the plague that infected and killed legion(predicate) people in the world around 14th century. Flu is the short form of influenza and it causes respiratory disorders in human beings. According to Barry (2004), the common symptoms of flu infection includes fever, muscle aches, cough and in rarefied circumstances, opportunistic infections such as pneumonia occurs in patients infected with the virus. Flu virus is one of the major causes of death and it affects people of all ages. Human beings are the primary hosts of the virus but it can also spread to domestic animals including horses, pigs and