Epidemiological Analysis of Influenza - Literature review Example

Running Head: Epidemiological Analysis of Influenza Student’s Name: Instructor’s Name: Coarse Code and Name: Institution: Date Submitted:  Table of Contents Introduction ………………………………………………………………………………….3 Influenza Research Status ……………………………………………………………………3 Transmission of Influenza ………………………………………………………………...…4 Prevalence rates ……………………………………………………………………...………5 Influenza Treatment ………………………………………….………………………………6 Etiology of the disease ……………………………………………………………………….8 Mortality and morbidity …………………………………………………….………………10 Conclusion ……………………………………………………………………………….…10 References …………………………………………………………………………………..11 Epidemiological Analysis of Influenza Introduction: Influenza is referred by medics professionals as flu (Jonathan, 2006). Influenza is an infectious disease (Kawaoka, 2006) caused mostly by RNA viruses, which affect mammals and birds (Lynch & Walsh, 2007). The common symptoms of the influenza include sore throat, fever, muscle pains, chills, weakness/fatigue, and general discomfort (Kawaoka, 2006). The most frequent among these symptoms include Sore throat, fever and coughs. In extraneous levels, the disease is a major cause of pneumonia, which results into fatal complications. This is more particularly to the children and the elderly (Lynch & Walsh, 2007). This paper provides an analysis of Influenza as an infectious disease. It gives an epidemiological analysis of the disease and derives the impact the respective analysis has had on organizations as well as health providers. Influenza Research Status Many conditions are confused to be influenza including influenza-like illnesses as the case of a common cold. This has had a major impact on healthcare provision as well as organizations operations calling for more research to clarify the issue (Mack, 2005). Following the analysis, a research was instituted by organizations on influenza including main studies on molecular virology (Lynch & Walsh, 2007). The research objective was to verify how the influenza virus produces the disease, that is, pathogenesis, viral genomics, host immune responses (Mack, 2005), and how the disease spreads, (Kawaoka, 2006). These studies have been of great help in the development of the disease countermeasures to develop knowledge on the perfect response of the human body's immune system to influenza helping in the development of the right vaccine. Genome Project that concentrated on Influenza (Jonathan, 2006) is a part of the basic research programs conducted by the organization as an approach to discover the way forward for restraining the virus. It created a library of the virus sequences and clarified some of the factors that contributed to the worsening of the infectious virus (Kawaoka, 2006). Transmission of Influenza From researches conducted globally, the most established and common influenza transmission is through the air (Jonathan, 2006) mostly when terminated by sneezes and coughs. The respective means of transmission create aerosols that contain the influenza viruses. Influenza transmission can also happen through droppings mostly from infected birds or sometimes-through human nasal secretions (Kawaoka, 2006). Another major cause is from touching contaminated surfaces and not adhering to proper washing of hands (Jonathan, 2006). Airborne aerosols are the major transmission means of the infectious disease and are the high rated means of transmitting the disease. Consequently, the aerosols are the means of transmission that are not understood clearly up to date. Healthcare providers have had a rough time in dealing with patients without a clear perspective of what they suffer from. There has been a global outcry of doctors dying after an infection of the virus from patients making it complicated on the ethical considerations in the field of healthcare provision. The outcry has brought to light some of the resurgent complains from various departments of healthcare on the safety of the healthcare providers in their process of handling Influenza virus cases and its outcomes when coming into contact with patients (Jonathan, 2006). Handling of patients has been a controversial issue especially in courtiers where influenza features regularly. Following the analysis of the deaths, today's HCPs acknowledge the importance of adopting knowledge on influenza and personal protections. It has had an impact in their practices demanding care and responsible handling of patients as a routine to prevent the unnecessary infections and deaths (Lynch & Walsh, 2007). There are some pandemic influenza plans that could have missed the boat and this has introduced a new concept where the healthcare providers require emotional and psychological preparations incase the challenges of the pandemic overwhelm them. Taking risks has changed in the provision of healthcare resulting from the knowledge on the risks associated to the pandemic in the current practice (Kawaoka, 2006). Inactivation of Influenza viruses can be done through sunlight, detergents or disinfectants. At the virus level, the inactivation can be through use of soap and frequent washing of hands to reduce the risk of influenza infection. With an understanding of this nature, organizations have had to start awareness globally on the possible ways of controlling the virus handling the ignorance of the people (Lynch & Walsh, 2007). Prevalence rates Influenza spreads as a seasonal epidemic around the world, resulting in the many deaths of between 250, 000 & 500,000 people every year. It also causes millions of pandemics every year with complications associated with the disease. On average, 41,400 people living within United States boundaries die each year following influenza. Statistics of the years between 1979 and 2001 increase the number to approximately 50,000 people dying from the extremities of this disease. In the United States, three pandemics with extremities of influenza (Jonathan, 2006) were experienced in the early 20th century. The extremities killed over tens of millions of the population globally (Kawaoka, 2006). The strange thing and more serious was that the pandemics were recurring and each caused by different appearance of the disease strains from coming to contact with virus in humans (Kawaoka, 2006). Results showed that the strains of the extremities in influenza spread fast and renewed themselves existing as different level of virus (Lynch & Walsh, 2007) spreading to human beings. It was also evident that the main source of the virus was from animal species of a different kind (Jonathan, 2006). It was also clear that at times, the human strain of influenza virus picked up new and stronger yet destructive viral genes from pigs and birds. Healthcare providers have had a tough time in equipping themselves with appropriate resources needed to handle the virus occurring in seasons. In many countries, there are measures put in place in prospect of seasons when influenza virus spreads and causes alarming rates of deaths (Lynch & Walsh, 2007). An avian strain, H5N1 (Jonathan, 2006) raised concerns late in the 1990s as a new influenza pandemic that post great danger to human life. The virus emerged from Asia late in the 1990s and spread very fast to other parts globally causing and alarm to the health care providers of respective countries. In April 2009, another novel flu strain (Kawaoka, 2006) evolved in Mexico. The flu-combined genes from pigs, bird flu as well as human and was dubbed "swine flu." It was also given the name influenza A/H1N1. By then, the World Health Organization (Lynch & Walsh, 2007) made an official declaration of the fast outbreak (Jonathan, 2006) late in the year, on June 11, 2009. The WHO declaration of influenza as a pandemic on level six caused great tension among healthcare providers globally (Lynch & Walsh, 2007). Influenza Treatment Vaccinations against influenza (Jonathan, 2006) are usually given to infected and non-infected people in all countries globally. The vaccinations also extend to farmed poultry that also risk cases of infectious influenza. The most common vaccine used in humans to counter influenza is the trivalent influenza vaccine (TIV) (Jonathan, 2006). The compounds in the vaccine contain well balanced inactivated and purified material (Kawaoka, 2006) derived directly from three strong viral strains. Typically, the vaccine for the treatment of the disease includes compound materials from well-researched two viral vaccines including two A-virus subtypes from an earlier research and compounds of influenza B that was identified in a recent research (Jonathan, 2006). The TIV does not carry any extraneous risk of influenza transmission and developing a serious complication, and has low influenza reactivity in the human body. A vaccine formulated to treat influenza for at least a year, applies in the researches at times as ineffective after several trials the following year (Lynch & Walsh, 2007) making it difficult for the healthcare providers to provide a lasting solution for the virus. This is relatively because the influenza virus develops and multiplies rapidly (Jonathan, 2006), and turns to stronger strains that are difficult to cure replacing the older strains (Jonathan, 2006). From medical researches’, people with Influenza flu should take plenty of rest, avoid alcoholic drinks, drink plenty of liquids, and avoid tobacco. These prescriptions are necessary in treating influenza and avoiding its spread and complications to sever symptoms. The healthcare providers use this as a basis when advising the patient suffering from influenza (Lynch & Walsh, 2007). If necessary, taking medications for influenza for instance acetaminophen for relieving the severity of the fever and aches in body muscle is necessary but only under the prescription of a doctor. They healthcare providers therefore have a role to determine the level of the flu and know when to prescribe extra medications to control such other complications (Kawaoka, 2006). Organizations conceptualized a respective formula for a Technology in genome and recombinant DNA to speed up the new influenza vaccine development needed to counter the strains. It was by to help professional scientists (Jonathan, 2006) in their process of substituting newly developed disease antigens into a previous influenza vaccine strain. More to this is the development of new technologies in growing viruses within the cell culture and the act promises better yields, better quality, less cost, and surge capacity in discovering the vaccine (Shin, 2006). The University of Ghent introduced the influenza vaccine through their respective researches named Influenza A, targeting the domain (Jonathan, 2006) of the treatment of respective trans-membrane that researchers named as viral M2 protein (M2e). These are some of the efforts developing as an impact of the analysis on the influenza virus pandemic around the world (Jonathan, 2006). Children and teenagers suffering influenza symptoms should not take aspirin in the duration when the influenza symptoms are on a high (Shin, 2006). This is especially the serious case with influenza type B, in which they should totally avoid taking aspirin because it can cause a complication in the liver known as Reye's syndrome (Jonathan, 2006), that is fatal and deadly to humans because it develops further to serious complication. Since the main cause of influenza is a virus (Kawaoka, 2006), treatment through antibiotics is not very effective in treating influenza because it is a severe infection (Jonathan, 2006), unless the doctor’s prescription for the treatment is for secondary infections in aid of treating bacterial pneumonia. For the influenza treatment, antiviral medication (Kawaoka, 2006) can be an effective method of treating influenza, but some influenza strains (Jonathan, 2006) can show great resistance to the antiviral drugs standards (Jonathan, 2006). The two antiviral drugs classes from the recent research by professional medics used against influenza disease react in the human body as neuraminidase inhibitors (Kawaoka, 2006) and in other genes they react as M2 protein inhibitors. From the recommendations by many researchers, Neuraminidase inhibitors (Jonathan, 2006) are the preference in treating influenza virus infections because the do not cause body toxicity (Lynch & Walsh, 2007) and produce more effectiveness in treating influenza. The CDC was totally against medics using M2 influenza inhibitors in their practice in their reports of 2005–06 influenza seasons because of the high drug resistance levels. Because pregnant women are more severely affected by influenza cases than the general population according to the reports from 2009, the virus named H1N1 influenza (Jonathan, 2006) was treated by many medics using anti-influenza drugs. The CDC recommendation had a great impact on healthcare providers who mostly depended on M2 Influenza inhibitors as the common and available treatment for the disease (Lynch & Walsh, 2007). Etiology of the disease The etiological factors of Influenza are fast spreading globally especially the New development of the Influenza Virus (Jonathan, 2006) Reassortants of Influenza virus A as well as mammalian or bird Influenza virus A. (Kawaoka, 2006) emanating from the biosphere. The latest reports indicate that 30–50% of the population around the world; suffer infections from the virus (Jonathan, 2006). The researches also add that the first wave in spreading of influenza pandemic is the most serious and happens very fast. According to various reports on influenza global data, the period that indicates Influenza A, (H2N2) (Kawaoka, 2006) that was prominent in indicating a differences from influenza A (H1N1) by NA and HA (Jonathan, 2006) resulted to the morbidity rate of children being the highest. The world’s youths between 3–29 years followed with the second biggest number of victims (Bouvier, 2008). This analysis raised a concern to healthcare providers and many organizations dealing with infectious disease to shift their focus to the described age group (Paton, 2004). Their efforts henceforth were geared towards the implementation of approaches responsible for bringing down the rates of prevalence among the age groups. The morbidity rates among 65 olds and children aged approximately 2–3 years were lesser compared to the other ages therefore required minimal efforts to control the situation for the healthcare providers (Lynch & Walsh, 2007). According to reports from WHO, to curb and reduce the viral influence and mitigate the pandemic on the world’s people's health as well as on the global economy, there is urgent need to organize and facilitate influenza vaccinations for the mass especially the youth and the children globally (Hood, 2006). This means good-quality vaccinations that involve live influenza vaccines (Kawaoka, 2006) from Influenza A. strains experienced previously. A report of 1969 indicated that ARD morbidity in the global numbers decreased by 26.5%. This was the case in the spread of the complication in the first wave of influenza A. (H2N2). The main reason for the decline was the vaccination practice carried out during the same period (Mizuta et al, 2005). Therefore, this indicated the need to have vaccinations and posed as a challenge for the healthcare providers to organize vaccinations in their duty to control influenza. The influenza also decreased in morbidity by 27.5–40.2% in the following year because of the researched and working vaccine A. (H2N2) +B use and introduction of a new vaccine leading to a 37.8–53.9% reduction for A. (H2N2). Providing long-lived immunity has therefore been the challenge on the role of research organizations and healthcare providers to restrain complications from Influenza virus (Lynch & Walsh, 2007). Mortality and morbidity WHO, a world health organization reported on the issue saying the mortality rates increase with the increase in the severity of Influenza in any country. Influenza-related deaths result mainly from pneumonia (Jonathan, 2006) and severity of cardiopulmonary conditions including other chronic diseases (Kawaoka, 2006). Older adults account for the world’s over 90% deaths following reported sever cases of influenza. In one study of the virus epidemics, an approximated 19,000 influenza-associated circulatory and pulmonary deaths per influenza season were prevalent between 1976 and 1990 (Jonathan, 2006), compared with an approximated 36,000 between 1990 and 1999 (Bryan, 2008). Estimated rates of deaths emanating from influenza-associated circulatory and pulmonary complications per 100,000 persons rated 0.4--0.6 among the population aged 0–49 years, for the age of 50--64 years it rated at 7.5, and 98.3 among the population aged more than 65 years. The mortality rate analysis has had an impact on the healthcare provision globally and challenged organization’s approach of the pandemic calling for better approaches to avoid the worsening of the conditions (Lynch & Walsh, 2007). Conclusion It is a difficult task and a straining experience for the healthcare providers who have the duty to treat influenza patients and manage the spread of the disease owing to its infectious nature. This report is ideal to help them learn on Influenza including the rates of prevalence, means of handling, research issues all meant to improvement of their profession in handling influenza cases. References Bouvier, N. (2008). "The biology of influenza viruses". Vaccine 26, 4: D49–53. Bryan, J.A. (2008). "Guillain-Barre syndrome following vaccination in the National Influenza Immunization Program, United States, 1976—1977." American Journal of Epidemiology. 110 (2): 105–123. Hood, M.E. (2006). "Molecular virology: was the 1918 flu avian in origin?" Nature 440 (7088): E9: discussion E9–10. Jonathan, D. (2006). Mortality due to Influenza in the United States — An Annualized Regression Approach Using Multiple-Cause Mortality Data. American Journal of Epidemiology, 163 (2): 181–7. Kawaoka, Y. (2006). Influenza Virology: Current Topics. UK: Caister Academic Press. Lynch J.P, & Walsh, E.E. (April 2007). Influenza: evolving strategies in treatment and Prevention. Seminars in Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine 28 (2): 144–58. Mack, A. (2005). “1: The Story of Influenza.” The Threat of Pandemic Influenza: Are We Ready? Workshop Summary (2005). Washington, D.C.: The National Academies Press. p. 75 Mizuta, K. et al (2005). "Antigenic and genetic characterization of influenza C viruses which caused two outbreaks in Yamagata City, Japan, in 1996 and 1998". Journal of Clinical Microbiology. 40, (2): 422–9. Paton, D. J. (2004). "Effect of sequential porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome and swine influenza on the growth and performance of finishing pigs". Veterinary Records. 135 (9): 199–204. Shin, J. (2006). "Isolation and characterization of novel H3N1 swine influenza viruses from pigs with respiratory diseases in Korea". Journal of Clinical Microbiology 44 (11): 3923–7. Read More