Influenza Assignment Essay Sample

1. At the bend of the century. the United States encountered one of the most deathly pandemics the universe has of all time known – the Spanish grippe. The grippe. caused by H1N1 virus. claimed the lives of 675. 000 Americans during World War I. About forty old ages subsequently. in 1957. another pandemics caused by H2N2 killed about 70. 000 Americans. The virus. which contained cistrons from human and avian grippe. was foremost identified in China so rapidly distribute to other parts of the universe. In 1968. an eruption of H3N2 virus ( which besides was the consequence of homo and avian grippe cistrons ) occurred and caused 34. 000 deceases among Americans. The most recent happening of grippe viruses was what called the “Swine Flu. ” The Swine Flu was caused by a new strain of H1N1 virus and had it outbreak merely last twelvemonth in 2009.

2. For my assignment. I have to take three out of five people to give inoculations or rhinal spray to because of the limited resource.

My pick. after holding done the research. would be:

1. Bogey Phlegmenstein – the 50 year-old druggist for the vaccinum. 2. Helen Hornblower – the 72 year-old grandma for the vaccinum. and 3. Lars Loogenkugel – the 19 year-old college pupil for the rhinal mist grippe shooting.

I choose Lars for the rhinal mist grippe shooting. Harmonizing to the Centers for Disease Control ( CDC ) and Prevention. nasal spray should merely be given to healthy people age 2-49 and non pregnant. Since Lars is the lone individual within the sanctioned age and is non pregnant. he seems to be the lone pick!

The other people in the group all seem to be at equal hazard of catching the grippe. nevertheless. I choose Bogey and Helen to give the vaccinums to because there are more grounds for me to make so.

Helen is at hazard because foremost. she’s an aged – the group of people that is at high hazard of catching grippe. harmonizing to CDC. Second. Helen’s
grandchildren are immature ( 3. 5 and 8 old ages of age ) and they visit her really frequently. Her eldest grandchild has asthma which. harmonizing to the Government Medicare’s web site. places her at more hazard of catching the grippe if her grandmother has it. Last. I choose to give Helen the shooting because here she can acquire it for free. Helen’s regular medicines already cost her batch of money because her Medicare does non cover it for her.

Following. I choose Bogey because he has three hazard factors. First. he’s in the age group that is more prone to acquiring ill from grippe ( people age 50 and over. harmonizing to CDC ) . He besides has a history of holding secondary bronchitis and pneumonia which. harmonizing to the Government Medicare’s web site. topographic point him “at higher hazard for holding medical complications from grippe and should have the grippe shooting. ” Last. Bogey works at a pharmaceutics. where he is exposed to vomit people that semen and acquire their medical specialties. That increases his hazard of acquiring the grippe.

I do non take Nadia – the pregnant adult female because even though she is in one of the groups that have high hazard of acquiring grippe. she has ever been healthy. Her workplace seems safer than Bogey’s and her hubby ( who is the lone individual she interacts with at place ) has systematically had inoculations. Besides. even though Nadia babysits her sister’s 2 year-old twins. it merely happens on occasion so the childs are non at high hazard of holding the grippe if their aunt has it.

I besides do non take Marian. the 18 month-old babe who is besides in one of the groups that face high hazard of holding grippe ( kids younger than 2 old ages old. harmonizing to CDC ) . Her health professional ( which is her ma ) works at a long-run attention installation. which places her at high hazard but fortunately. Marian’s ma has already been vaccinated. It reduces the hazard of the ma acquiring ill and passes it to her babe. ConsumerReports. Org besides advises that “If your kid has had three or more ear infections in one winter. you might desire to inquire your physician about acquiring a flu vaccinum. ” Marian has had ear infections twice in the past 8 months and that possibly something to take into concern. I would rede the ma to take her to a physician foremost earlier giving her any flu shootings.

3. There are many bar patterns one can take to forestall themselves from acquiring the grippe. These patterns. suggested by the Student Health Service of the University of Pennsylvania. include:

1. Wash custodies. Make it frequently because most cold and flu viruses travel through custodies. The best one to halt the spread is rinsing custodies often and avoiding direct contact with beginnings of sources. 2. Drink plentifulness of fluids. The ground is because H2O helps blushing your systems and extinguishing toxicants from your organic structure. An mean grownup needs about eight 8-ounce spectacless of fluids each twenty-four hours. 3. Eat nutrients incorporating phytochemicals. “Phyto” means workss and the natural chemicals in workss give you a batch of vitamins needed when contending grippe. Colorful veggies ( particularly dark green. ruddy and xanthous 1s ) are great beginnings of vitamins. Therefore. alternatively of taking vitamin pills. you should eat more veggies. 4. Make aerobic exercises exert on a regular basis. Exerting gives you and more healthy and effectual bosom. It besides helps increase natural virus-killing cells in the organic structure. 5. Don’t smoke or imbibe. These bad wonts weaken your immune system and you will be more likely to catch a grippe than those who don’t fume or drink.

4. Even though I do non give Nadia and Marian the flu shootings. I will still rede them to seek the inoculations elsewhere. For Nadia’s fright of acquiring Guillian Barre Syndrome. I will cite Flu. Gov’s Fact Sheet about Guillian Syndrome. “Except for the swine grippe vaccinum used in 1976. no other grippe vaccinums have been clearly linked to GBS. ” The vaccinum Nadia’s uncle had is really different from the one being used right now so there is small demand for her to be worried. However. if Nadia does acquire ill. what she should make is remain place. bound contacts with others and imbibe plentifulness of fluids. If Nadia start to develop febrility. she should handle it right off with Datril ( Tylenol® ) . which is “the best nonprescription intervention of febrility in pregnancy” harmonizing to Flu. Gov. For Marian. I. as holding said. would rede her ma to take her to the physician foremost so her status is checked. After that. if the babe is healthy. I would urge a grippe shooting for her. As for the ma. who is the chief health professional of Marian. I would teach her to ever rinse her custodies before fixing nutrient for her kid. If she does acquire ill with the grippe. what she should make is minimise contacts with the babe. Besides. she should set on a “surgical mask” ( available at apothecary’s shops ) “before prosecuting in any activity within 3-6 pess of [ the ] baby. ” ( as advised by CDC ) .

Beside the two people who do non acquire the shooting. I would besides rede Bogey – the druggist – to acquire a erstwhile inoculation for pneumococcal pneumonia to forestall him from being ill with it once more ( harmonizing to Government Medicare ) .

Part II

Question 4:

A cytokine storm means an addition in the figure of antibodies that exceed the demand of the organic structure and cause injury to it. In an influenza infection. cytokine happens when the organic structure overreacts to the infective micro-organism and sends out excessively many antibodies that alternatively of killing it. the overpowering antibodies cause the variety meats to malfunction and do more injury to the organic structure than the micro-organism really does.

Question 3:

Antigenic impetuss are little alterations in the virus that happen every twelvemonth and are predictable. It produces new virus strains that the immune system may non acknowledge. That is why flu vaccinum are updated every twelvemonth in order to accommodate with the new strains of virus and people will hold to acquire a grippe shooting every twelvemonth if they want to be protected.

Question 4:

Antigenic displacements are major alterations in the virus that are non predictable. It produces new and unsafe virus strains that the naive population are non prepared for. therefore consequence in speedy spreads and pandemics. Mortality rate that consequences from antigenic displacements can be high.

Question 8:

Edward Jenner was a British doctor born in May 1796. who conducted experiments to understand why dairymaids didn’t acquire little syphilis. Jenner scraped cowpox sores. grounded them and turned them into a liquid solution that can be injected in people’s tegument. By making so. he invented the fist vaccinum of all time that helped forestall variola. His work is the foundation of immunology.

Question 10:

Symptoms of the cold normally include sneezing. sore pharynx. little achings. choping cough. stuffy nose and mild to chair chest uncomfortableness. Flu symptoms are normally more terrible. They normally include febrility. concern. achings and strivings. weariness or utmost exhaustion. chest uncomfortableness and coughing can be terrible.

Mentions

“12 Important Tips to Prevent Cold and Flu Infection. ” University of Pennsylvania – Office of Heath Education. Accessed 23 October 2010 from hypertext transfer protocol: //www. vpul. upenn. edu/ohe/library/cold/prevent. htm

“Vaccines and How They Work. ” ( 3 December 2009 ) . ConsumerReports. Org. Accessed 23 October 2010 from hypertext transfer protocol: //www. consumerreports. org/health/conditions-and-treatments/ear-infection/what-is-it/vaccines-and-how-they-work. htm

“Fight Flu and Pneumonia. ” ( 18 March 2010 ) . The Official U. S. Government Site for Medicare. Accessed 23 October 2010 from hypertext transfer protocol: //www. Medicare. gov/health/fludetails. asp

“Fact Sheet: Guillain-Barre Syndrome ( GBS ) . ” ( 15 December 2009 ) . Flu. Gov. Accessed 23 October 2010 from
hypertext transfer protocol: //www. grippe. gov/individualfamily/vaccination/vsafety/gbs_factsheet. hypertext markup language