Killer Flu DVD Assignment

The flu of 1918 started as an epidemic among American soldiers in Kansas during basic training. The distribution of the flu of 1918 (also known as the Spanish flu) spread along the railways in America before it was carried abroad. The mortality rate in young adults, ages 25-34, increased around the country. Middle aged and elderly adults seemed to be protected from the virus, which led scientists to believe a flu outbreak like this had occurred during the late 1800s giving active immunity to those who were infected and lived through it. The environment of underground fortresses allowed the flu to spread like wildfire because there was no circulation of air. Americans fought Germans in hand-to-hand combat, which allowed for direct transmission of the flu to German soldiers. The flu then spread to German citizens. A flu pandemic had began and went on to kill more people than the plague. The time or incubation period of the virus was very short. Families were completely wiped out within a few days. Epidemiologists and other scientists are studying the 1918 virus to prevent a present day flu pandemic. Often scientist can use past viruses to increase vaccine efficiency. They have identified the agent and it was the same exact strain of flu in tissue samples around the world. The current flu is not a pandemic yet because it cannot transmit from human to human. H5N1 is a zoonotic virus, meaning it is transmitted from birds or pigs to humans. Past flu virus could also be indirectly transmitted from bird droppings. Birds are vectors, pigs are reservoirs, and humans are hosts in this virus. Typically, flu viruses mutate inside of the host to increase pathogenicity. Epidemiologists were able to isolate one of the first cases of the flu of 1918 through military record books. Stress and crowded trench warfare during cold and wet winters in Europe were prepathogenic features that initially allowed the virus to infect soldiers. These factors also increased the viruss virulence and infectivity. One of the key pathogenic features of the flu of 1918 was heliotrope cyanosis. This was a bluish tinge infected persons would develop towards the later stages of the virus. This bluish tinge helped scientists connect the disease to its beginnings in 1916. The 1918 virus was an entirely bird like virus that adapted to humans. Recent flus are hybrid viruses that have started when bird and human genes intermix. This shows there is more than one way for an avian viruses to effect humans. A new strain of flu can emerge with similar characteristics of the 1918 flu due to the ability of the virus to mutate in multiple ways. If the H5N1 flu were to mutate to be able to pass between humans it would spread rapidly due to ease of transportation of humans and goods. Scientists believe new anti-viral drugs could decrease the incidence and prevalence of a flu outbreak. However, other scientists believe an emergent virus would be worse than the 1918 flu due to larger population and accessibility of transportation. Based on what we have learned about global health it would be wise to infer that overcrowding and poor sanitation in developing countries would increase the attack rate, incidence rate, and prevalence rate in those countries compared to developed countries.