...The 2009 influenza pandemic was a worldwide outbreak of the H1N1 virus, more commonly known as ‘swine flu’. Failure to contain the influenza proved to be a major problem as the virus was able to travel the world within months, reaching the phase 6 pandemic alert raised by the World Health Organization only 2 months after the initial discovery (Munster et al. 2009). Warning that the pandemic has begun and that effective management and health preparedness at a global case was required to lessen the chance of further transmission. There have been a number of influenza pandemics in the past with some being more lethal than others. Due to technological and scientific advancements, influenzas aren’t as deadly as they used to be. Perhaps the biggest...
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...DESCRIPTION OF ORGANISM Influenza is one of the most deadly viruses dating back to 1510 causing pandemics and endemic outbreaks all the way through 2013. The classifications of the influenza strains are known as A, B, and C with different subtypes HA and NA. Influenza A virions have close to 500 HA and NA spikes sticking out of the lipid bilayer characterized by 4 main proteins HA, NA, M2 and M1. Influenza type B has quite a few similarities to type A, but encodes proteins differently in the NB and MB2 protein membrane where type C differentiates where the ion channel is CM2, and instead of having two different glycoproteins type C has a multifunctional glycoprotein HA-esterase fusion. The influenza viruses usually have a spherical shape with...
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...Columbine Massacre and the several school shootings that followed that. But the most eerie and coincidental reoccurrence is the Spanish Influenza Epidemic of 1918 and the H1N1 ‘Swine Flu’ outbreak. By the fall of 1918 a strain of influenza seemingly no different from that of previous years suddenly turned so deadly, and engendered such a state of panic and chaos in communities across the globe, that many people believed the world was coming to an end. It would later be characterized as a human-to-human transmissible case of swine flu. The virus struck with amazing speed, often killing its victims within just hours of the first signs of infection. So fast did the 1918 strain overwhelm the body's natural defenses, that the usual cause of death in influenza patients---a secondary infection of lethal pneumonia---oftentimes never had a chance to establish itself. Instead, the virus caused an uncontrollable hemorrhaging that filled the lungs, and patients would drown in their own body fluids. Not only was the Spanish Flu (as it came to be known) strikingly virulent, but it displayed an unusual preference in its choice of victims---tending to select young healthy adults over those with weakened immune systems, as in the very young, the very old, and the infirm. The normal age distribution for flu mortality was completely reversed, and had the effect of gouging from society's infrastructure the bulk of those responsible for its day to day maintenance. No wonder people thought the social...
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...Influenza Introduction Did you know that Influenza can be a deadly virus? It is a commonly caught virus around the world many people are affected every year. You could even be one of them. Many people often confuse it with the common cold creating a false sense of safety. Though influenza is not always harmful, it always has a chance to kill you. In this report you will find the history, symptoms, effects, treatment, and how to prevent getting influenza. Origin & History Influenza is a virus that's spread from person to person. It originates among birds and other animals such as pigs. The influenza virus comes in several forms and changes year to year. Influenza has been around for at least 500 years. The First Major Pandemic was in 1918 Known as The...
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...1. PURPOSE AND CONTENTS General This section outlines the Pandemic Influenza Preparedness Policy formalized by the Board of Directors of BANK on DATE. Topics covered in this policy are: Policy Statement Topic 2 Plan Overview Topic 3 Board of Directors and Senior Management Responsibilities Topic 4 Incident Response Team Responsibilities Topic 5 Business Impact Analysis Topic 6 Risk Assessment and Management Topic 7 Travel Impact and Alternatives Topic 8 Staff Training Topic 9 Employee Compensation and Leave of Absence Topic 10 Contact With Public Health Agencies Topic 11 Plan Testing Topic 12 Effective Date All employees of BANK, herein referenced to as the “Bank”, must comply with the terms of this policy immediately. Managers, employees and technical personnel must modify system configurations and procedures, if necessary, to comply with the terms of this policy within TIME PERIOD. 2. POLICY STATEMENT General It is the policy of the Bank to develop, implement and maintain a preparedness strategy with respect to the threat and potential impact of a pandemic influenza event. Pandemics are defined as epidemics or outbreaks of infectious diseases in humans that have the ability to spread rapidly over large areas, possibly worldwide. The United States Government has issued a National Strategy that discusses the threat and potential impact of a pandemic influenza event. The Implementation Plan for the National Strategy identifies roles and...
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...Seasonal Influenza Each year thousands of people in the United States are diagnosed with the influenza virus. The word “influenza” originates from the Italian word “influential” because people used to believe that the influence of the planets, stars, and moon caused the flu, that only the universal influence could explain such rapid and widespread sickness. The English adopted the word “influenza” in the mid-eighteenth century. It is known as the flu. Seasonal influenza is an acute viral infection caused by an influenza virus. What is the influenza virus? Virologists are not certain about the origins of the viruses, though they have three theories: they started as living cells and devolved into simpler organisms, they originated as primitive...
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...Influenza erupted across the globe as a mere common cold. In two years from the time the epidemic erupted, a fifth of the world’s population had already been infected. Influenza killed around fifty million people worldwide and infected twenty-eight percent of the total American population . It is estimated that 675,000 Americans died of influenza during the pandemic. The impact on the U.S. was of high magnitude, especially within the army in World War I. Due to the economic status of the U.S. at that time, soldiers during that war lived within the trenches and went through very harsh conditions of life. For instance, the total number of the U.S. soldiers who went to Europe to fight the enemy, half of them fell to the influenza virus and not to the enemy. A report by Crosby showed that an estimated 43,000 servicemen mobilized for World War I died of influenza. While others have depicted the country as a “tired nation” in a spiritual sense, Pettit and Bailie argue that post-war apathy was more likely caused by the...
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...The Spanish Flu was the most devastating pandemic our world has ever seen. Even though few medical records exist, historians believe that 20 – 100 million people were killed by this flu. Despite the number of deaths and the severity and geographic reach of this disease, it merits little attention in the history books. Today one of our greatest medical threats is AIDS. The Spanish Flu is exponential compared to AIDS casualties (Gloria). The Spanish Flu of 1918-19 affected our world like no other disease in history. It changed the ways people sought medical help, the ways physicians treated illness, the role of medical researchers and how society, particularly medical and political leaders respond to pandemic diseases. Influenza is a unique respiratory viral disease infecting the whole respiratory tract-namely, the nose, sinuses, the throat, lungs, and even the middle ear. The disease spreads from person to person by airborne droplets produced when an infected individual coughs or sneezes. Acute symptoms of influenza, including fever, headache, shivering, muscle pain, cough, and pneumonia, are the result of the virus replicating in the respiratory tract, in which infected cells die and slough off (Rosenberg). The Spanish Flu got its name from newspaper reports of that period. It was thought that the influenza infection was carried form Asia to Spain during World War I. During WWI Spain remained neutral and the government did not censor the press. Spanish papers were filled...
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...Avian Influenza, also called bird flu or H5N1 is an infection that naturally occurs among birds. Avian Influenza is carried in wild birds in their intestines but usually do not get sick. On the contrary domesticated birds: turkey, chickens, and ducks pick up the very contagious virus and get very sick. The virus is fatal. Birds that are susceptible to the virus become infected by being in contact with contaminated secretions or excretions. Domesticated birds may become infected with avian influenza virus through direct contact with infected waterfowl or other infected poultry, or through contact with surfaces (such as dirt or cages) or materials (such as water or feed) that have been contaminated with the virus. (CDC) 2010. The spread of avian influenza A viruses from one ill person to another has been reported very rarely, and has been limited, inefficient and not sustained. However, because of the possibility that avian influenza A viruses could change and gain the ability to spread easily between people, monitoring for human infection and person-to-person transmission is extremely important for public health. (CDC) 2010. Avian Influenza Outbreak Outbreaks The most recent reported outbreak was January 2015. The outbreak is still ongoing but has not yet spread to humans. The most recent outbreak in North America with transmission to humans was in Canada in 2004. Health Canada reported two cases of laboratory-confirmed influenza A (H7): one in a person involved...
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...A study of the Influenza Disease and its effects on the human bodyTrent BurrChesterfield High School Influenza Disease2The influenza is a deadly virus that you can get for being in the cold weather, for being in the night air in the winter time, being outside in the rain, getting out the shower with a wet head and going in the cold air, and many other things about it. Definition for infectious disease is disorders caused by organisms, such as bacteria, viruses, fungi or parasites. The introduction for the influenza disease is a highly infectious respiratory disease. Some basic information about the virus is it’s a deadly disease if not treated right and it makes you very sick and makes you feel like not doing anything but sleeping. The full name of...
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...Business Continuity Plan Under Development (May 2006) California State University, Stanislaus CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, STANISLAUS BUSINESS CONTINUITY PLAN May 2006 Table of Contents INTRODUCTION I. II. III. IV. V. Incident Command System Business Impact Analysis Risk Assessment Business Plan for Localized Business Disruption Business Plan for Pandemics Page 3 Pages 4-7 Pages 8-11 Pages 12-13 Pages 14-15 Pages 16-17 Pages 18-19 Pages 20-36 Appendix IV-A: Power Outage Business Continuity Plan Appendix V-A: Pandemic Flu Business Continuity Plan 2 Final CP 5-30-06 CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, STANISLAUS BUSINESS CONTINUITY PLAN May 2006 INTRODUCTION A Business Continuity Plan (BCP) is developed by an institution to plan for and describe how it will respond to and recover from disruptions. These disruptions can be localized threats (e.g., earthquakes, fires, floods, bombs, etc.) or global threats (e.g., Flu Pandemic). As part of the overall Emergency Operations Plan, California State University, Stanislaus has developed, and continues to refine and enhance, a Business Continuity Plan (BCP) for the University. This plan is about maintaining, resuming, and recovering the University’s activities as an educational institution. It considers human factors along with operational issues. The BCP was developed by a team of the University’s senior administrators and department managers representing all University divisions: Business & Finance, Academic Affairs...
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...Columbine Massacre and the several school shootings that followed that. But the most eerie and coincidental reoccurrence is the Spanish Influenza Epidemic of 1918 and the H1N1 ‘Swine Flu’ outbreak. By the fall of 1918 a strain of influenza seemingly no different from that of previous years suddenly turned so deadly, and engendered such a state of panic and chaos in communities across the globe, that many people believed the world was coming to an end. It would later be characterized as a human-to-human transmissible case of swine flu. The virus struck with amazing speed, often killing its victims within just hours of the first signs of infection. So fast did the 1918 strain overwhelm the body's natural defenses, that the usual cause of death in influenza patients---a secondary infection of lethal pneumonia---oftentimes never had a chance to establish itself. Instead, the virus caused an uncontrollable hemorrhaging that filled the lungs, and patients would drown in their own body fluids. Not only was the Spanish Flu (as it came to be known) strikingly virulent, but it displayed an unusual preference in its choice of victims---tending to select young healthy adults over those with weakened immune systems, as in the very young, the very old, and the infirm. The normal age distribution for flu mortality was completely reversed, and had the effect of gouging from society's infrastructure the bulk of those responsible for its day to day maintenance. No wonder people thought the...
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...Pandemic Emergency Plan Name Course Professor Date Overview of Pandemic Emergency plan The Pandemic Emergency Plan is one of the 2015-2016 bills (code CMS–3178–P) addressing the campus preparedness actions and the responses designed to maximizing pandemic impact on operations within the Campus environs, students, and the employees (Dietz, 2012). The plan design is with intents of reading, understanding and exercising in response to threats and occurrences of a pandemic or just any other outbreak that may become a global epidemic. Pandemic means a widespread outbreak of communicable ailments, passing as multiple waves of illness in human population globally (Fagel, 2013). It is also illness with impact to the smaller geographical region. In the case of occurrence of a pandemic, then it shall have higher education among industries that are severely affected due to risks resultants from open and campus accessible and traveling by faculties, students, as well as the staff (PHS COF, 2014). The impacts may include lengthy closure periods of the learning institutions, unprecedented demands on students counseling and heath related services, evacuation and relocation of the students in the residence halls and significant revenue losses. In the case of a pandemic, the greatest challenges experienced in the university include the following: 1. Maintenance of students' progress to degree and research on faculties while in compliance with orders to campus closure. 2. Managing staff, faculty...
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...Introduction Influenza (“the flu") is an infection in the lungs, nose, and throat (respiratory tract). It is caused by a virus. The flu causes many common cold symptoms, as well as a high fever and body aches. It can make your child feel very sick. The flu spreads easily from person to person (contagious). Having your child get a flu shot (influenza vaccination) every year is the best way to prevent your child from getting the flu. Follow these instructions at home: Medicines Give your child over-the-counter and prescription medicines only as told by your child's doctor. Do not give your child aspirin because it has been associated with Reye syndrome. General instructions Use a cool mist humidifier to add moisture (humidity) to the air in your child's room. This can make...
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...Randy In the preceding documents, many different sources express similar points using anecdotal evidence of the Influenza outbreak after World War I. The topics talked about in specific are charity during a tough time, religion and how it relates to epidemics, and ignorance, whether it be the government underestimating influenza, or purely citizens not understanding how to react to the disease. The documents which refer to the theme “charity” are 2, 7, and 9. The first one to do this, 2, speaks of a massive influx of volunteers helping with influenza struck patients. It specifically is from two girls remembering their time volunteering in 1918. It shows how two soldiers were dying every three hours. It emphasizes the point that anyone could...
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