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What We Can Learn 100 Years After the Spanish Influenza Pandemic of 1918
What We Can Learn 100 Years After the Spanish Influenza Pandemic of 1918
It has been 100 years since the Spanish flu infected 500 million people around the globe and wiped out an estimated 20 million to 50 million of them. (source)
And here we are, potentially on the cusp of another influenza pandemic. H3N2, or the “Australian flu” is making the rounds this year and has spread to the UK, among other countries. This map from the UK Sun shows the spread – and the potential for a pandemic.
This flu is particularly deadly. 745 people died from it in Australia in late 2017.
The NHS says that Australian flu symptoms have rapid onset:
- a sudden fever – a temperature of 38C or above
- aching body
- feeling tired or exhausted
- dry, chesty cough
- a sore throat
- a headache
- difficulty sleeping
- loss of appetite
- diarrhea or tummy pain
- nausea and being sick
The symptoms are similar for children, but they can also have ear pain and lethargy.
As well, the “Japanese Flu” and the “French Flu” are two other strains that are running rampant, although their symptoms aren’t as severe as those of the Aussie H3N2. The Japanese Flu, also known as the Yamagata flu, is less serious but far more contagious. The French Flu is H1N1 and has been deadly for some sufferers.
The United States is having a bad year also.
Here in the US, an epidemic is rapidly becoming deadly and overwhelming hospitals.
18 people have died in Dallas, Texas from the flu and 27 have died in California. Hospital waiting rooms are jammed with flu victims, the doctors are running out of medication, ambulance services are strained and even IV bags are in short supply. Influenza is widespread in 36 states, according to the CDC.
Here’s the CDC’s map of the flu’s spread throughout the US as of the last day of 2017.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Epidemic Levels: Tens of Thousands Infected as this Year’s Flu Vaccine Totally Ineffective
Epidemic Levels: Tens of Thousands Infected as this Year’s Flu Vaccine Totally Ineffective
Headlines across the country are indicative of epidemic fears.
- 9 Texas schools have closed due to flu outbreaks this month
- Several Tennessee schools closed due to the flu
- Flu has sent more than three times the number of people to the hospital in Colorado than usual
- The University of Chicago hospital is even taking steps to restrict visitors. In a recent article, the hospital “will not allow children under age 12 and those with a fever, cough, sore throat, runny nose or nasal congestion will not be allowed to visit patients.
- U.S. not prepared for a flu pandemic, experts warn
- Texas flu epidemic spreading rampantly
An Ineffective Flu Shot Has Led to Health Concerns
| Week 50 | Data Cumulative since October 1, 2017 (Week 40) |
|
|---|---|---|
| No. of specimens tested | 1,623 | 15,994 |
| No. of positive specimens* | 795 | 5,046 |
| Positive specimens by type/subtype | ||
| Influenza A | 689 (86.7%) | 4,387 (86.9%) |
| A(H1N1)pmd09 | 58 (8.4%) | 366 (8.3%) |
| H3N2 | 611 (88.7%) | 3,965 (90.4%) |
| Subtyping not performed | 20 (2.9%) | 56 (1.3%) |
| Influenza B | 106 (13.3%) | 659 (13.1%) |
| Yamagata lineage | 75 (70.8%) | 438 (66.5%) |
| Victoria lineage | 10 (9.4%) | 39 (5.9%) |
| Lineage not performed | 21 (19.8%) | 182 (27.6%) |
*The percent of specimens testing positive for influenza is not reported because public health laboratories often receive samples that have already tested positive for influenza at a clinical laboratory and therefore percent positive would not be a valid indicator of influenza activity. Additional information is available at http://www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly/overview.htm.
B.C. avian flu virus has Asian origin new to North America – British Columbia – CBC News
B.C. avian flu virus has Asian origin new to North America – British Columbia – CBC News.
The avian flu virus involved in an outbreak in British Columbia is related to a deadly strain that has spread through Asia and is now affecting North American poultry for the first time, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency says.
Experts say the presence of an avian flu virus with Asian lineage does not increase the danger to humans — which remains very low — but it could pose a significant risk to the poultry industry.
Nearly 250,000 chickens and turkeys are either dead or set to be euthanized due to avian flu, which has infected 11 sites in B.C.’s Fraser Valley since the beginning of the month.
Officials have already identified the subtype as a highly pathogenic, or high-path, strain of H5N2. Viruses with high pathogenicity kill birds, while their low-path counterparts typically do not.
The agency said tests have determined the virus contains genes both from H5N2, which is common to North American wild birds, as well as genes from a high-path Eurasian strain of H5N8. It keeps the label ofH5N2 because its N gene is from H5N2.
“This is the first time a Eurasian lineage highly pathogenic H5 virus has caused an outbreak of avian influenza in poultry in North America,” it said in a statement.
