Spanish flu 7

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101

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Medicine

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Nov 24, 2024

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Spanish flu For centuries, emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases have been perceived as a bad omen in our communities since they threaten human and animal health as well as to the global economy and security. Usually, these infection can cause outbreak, epidemics and pandemics that can result in high mortality, morbidity and health cost while disrupting the social, political and environment stability and effective trade, travel and tourism. As a result, most countries since the Spanish flu pandemic have highly invested and improved their healthcare system to able to manage any infectious outbreak. But why is still emerging and re-emerging infections and diseases such as the Spanish flu still a threat to the global population? The Spanish flu was a deadly pandemic that occurred in 1918-1919, infecting about one-third of the world’s population and killing up to 50 million people making it one of the deadliest pandemics in history. The flu was caused by a new variant of the influenza virus that was able to spread in various part of the globe by troop’s movement during the world war one. The term paper will discuss the history behind the Spanish flu, its discovery, characteristics, mode of infection, the economic condition it caused and the situation it drove the global population into. Influenza virus is a type of virus that causes influenza, a respiratory infection that affects the nose, throat and lungs. The virus can be divided into four types: A, B, C and D. However, influenza A and B viruses are the most common and cause seasonal epidemics of flu, while influenza C virus causes a mild infection and influenza D virus mainly affects animals. The Spanish flu was caused by a new variant of the influenza A virus subtype H1N1. It is believed that the virus originated from some kind of bird and was able to infect humans and spread easily from person to person. The Spanish flu was called so because it was first widely reported in Spain, which was a neutral country during World War I and did not censor its news. However,

some scholar’s claimed that the Spanish flu was first called “Purulent Bronchitis” in 19161917 and was not as deadly as the wave of the virus that spread around the world in 1918. The first case of the flu in the United States was reported in early spring of 1918 in a Kansas military camp. The pandemic was worsened by the war conditions, such as malnutrition, overcrowding, poor hygiene and movement of troops. The Spanish flu also had a high mortality rate among young adults, possibly because of their stronger immune response that caused inflammation and damage to their lungs. The influenza virus, which is now commonly referred to as the flu, can strike very quickly, causing severe symptoms that can lead to extreme discomfort. These symptoms begin with a fever above 100 degrees Fahrenheit, and then can cause muscle and joint pain, and other symptoms such as fatigue, headaches, and a cough and cold. The Influenza virus that causes these symptoms is very small but once inside the body, it has the ability to multiply very quickly. Around the same time as this virus came to life, it was also right at the tail end of World War 1, which many believe to be a key reason why influenza was a pandemic rather than a epidemic. The Spanish flu was transmitted from person to person by inhaling the virus or touching the virus or surface contaminated by virus, then touching the mouth or nose . In World War I, close living arrangements and unsanitary conditions both in the trenches and in the camp’s led to direct contact and aided the rapid spread of the virus. Several accounts from physicians in World War I say that military camps and trench’s in the battlefield were the perfect places for influenza to impact large masses of people. Even though we have the statistical evidence from Europe and the United States, there were also reports of issues with the Influenza virus in Asia, Africa, South America, the South Pacific, and India.

Even though the pandemic ended in the early 1920s, but the virus left its mark for the next 100 years as most scientist and rsearch facility tried to obtain its pur viral particals from clinical specimen and environmental sample for the purpose of diagnosis , survialaince , medical research and vaccine development. One common method for isolating H1N1 virus from respiratory specimens, such as nasal swabs or throat swabs, is to inoculate the specimen into a cell culture that supports viral replication. The cell culture can be either a primary cell line, such as monkey kidney cells, or a continuous cell line, such as MDCK cells. The inoculated cell culture is then incubated at 37°C with 5% CO2 and observed for cytopathic effects (CPE), which are changes in the appearance and behavior of the cells caused by viral infection. The presence of CPE indicates that the virus has successfully infected the cells and produced progeny virions. The cell culture supernatant can then be harvested and tested for the presence of H1N1 virus by various methods, such as hemagglutination assay, immunofluorescence assay, or reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). The isolated virus can then be further characterized by sequencing its genome or performing antigenic analysis Present situation Even though the influenza virus is not a threat in the way it was in 1918, the flu is still a very serious virus in the world today. There was no true vaccination in 1918, as the only preventative measures being taken were by the U.S. government, who handed out facemasks and made it illegal to have large gatherings so that the disease would not spread. As the population started to become immune and adapt to the influenza virus, the virus itself evolved. The influenza virus found a way to defend itself against H and N proteins but the virus managed to evolve in a way that makes it very difficult for antibodies to see it and act on it. On top of the virus being proactive, scientists believe that pigs were infected in the early to mid 1900’s, which

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has allowed the virus to stay active throughout the world up until today. 1 Knowing that information now, the vaccine that is currently used to treat the flu holds a specific “H1N1 component” that would ensure that the same 1918 virus could not find itself in current day. There are also two drugs that are now used to fight the flu called Flumadine and Tamiflu, which were used in variations to help guard mice around the 1918 pandemic, but were never able to aid humans until later on. 1 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention . U.S. Department of Health & Human Services

Spanish flu 7

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