...Policy Brief on Influenza Name Institution Policy Brief on Influenza To: All Yorkshire Residents From: Yorkshire Department of Public Health Date: 5th May 2016 Re: Reducing/Elimination of Influenza Incidence Rate Statement of Issue: Influenza, also called flu, is a highly contagious respiratory disease that is caused by influenza viruses (Goldsmith, 2011). The disease affects the lungs, throat and nose. The severity of this disease can range from mild to severe and even in some cases death. Typical symptoms of influenza include fever, runny/stuffy nose, headaches, sore throat and fatigue among others (Goldsmith, 2011). Influenza mainly spreads through droplets made when people with the virus sneeze, cough or talk. If untreated, influenza can result in asthma, sinus infections, diabetes or even congestive heart failure (Goldsmith, 2011). Hence, rapid measures are needed to reduce or even eliminate infections. Policy Options 1. For those experiencing the symptoms of influenza described above (fever, headache, runny nose and so forth) you are advised to take more fluids. This would help you deal with dehydration. Get plenty of rest to avoid fatigue. Also, avoid alcohol and tobacco use. These steps will help you overcome the symptoms of influenza. However, you are still at risk of infecting others (Naff, 2011). 2. Use medications such as aspirin and ibuprofen to treat the symptoms of influenza (Goldsmith, 2011). Such medications will help you overcome fever, muscle...
Words: 385 - Pages: 2
...The Influenza Virus Susan Helmuth Grand Canyon University Concepts in Community and Public Health NRS-427V December 14,21014 Communicable Disease Communicable diseases have been a global problem for many years. Influenza Virus infection is an internal public health burden. This paper will include a description of influenza and the demographics involved. The health factors that contribute to the virus, the epidemiologic triage as related to the virus. The explanation of the role the community health nurse has and the organizations that addresses influenza virus. In conclusion, the community health nurse plays a major role in increasing immunization coverage, there for decreasing the communicable disease of influenza. Influenza Virus Influenza Virus also calls the Flu, is a contagious viral infection of the nose, throat, and lungs that appears most often in the winter months. It can cause mild to serve reactions. It is a serious infection that affects more than 60 million people in the United States a year. The cause of the Flu is by influenza virus. There are three types being discussed. Type A flu viruses are found in some animals, such as ducks, chickens, pigs and horses. The forms of A and B are responsible for the commune seasonal flu Influenza type B viruses are only found in humans. Influenza type C infection causes mild respiratory infections, and is not thought to be a cause for epidemics. A new or different influenza virus can cause influenza pandemic...
Words: 1147 - Pages: 5
...Influenza Influenza is a virus capable of causing significant human disease which attacks the respiratory system. “Although the infection generally is limited to the lung, some strains of influenza can spread to other sites in certain people” (Murray, Rosenthal, & Pfaller, 2013, p. 530). According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2013), people with flu can spread it to others up to about 6 feet away. There are three types of influenza virus; influenza A, B, and C. The type A viruses are the most virulent human pathogens between the three influenza types and cause the most severe disease. “Influenza is one of the most prevalent and significant viral infections” (Murray, Rosenthal, & Pfaller, 2013, p. 524). The virus is responsible for many pandemics, including a pandemic that is considered one of the deadliest events in human history. “Influenza pandemics are caused by type A viruses, and therefore these are the most feared type of influenza virus; neither types B or C have caused pandemics” (Baylor College of Medicine, 2013). The three types are also divided into subtypes that constantly changing, with new strains appearing regularly. The antibodies that are created from the previous strains do not protect against the new strains. According to Baylor College of Medicine (2013), “because flu viruses change so easily and often, are unpredictable, and can be deadly, it is always a great concern when a new flu virus emerges, because the general population does not have...
Words: 870 - Pages: 4
...Influenza Influenza is an acute, highly contagious respiratory infection. Influenza can be a serious disease, especially in the elderly, young children, and people with certain health conditions. Influenza is a viral infection commonly spread by coughing of respiratory secretions. There are many strains of influenza virus, the primary of which are identified as A, B, and C. Substrains, or subtypes, include H0N1, H1N1, H2N2, H3N2, and several others (Neighbors, 2015, p. 194). The most common symptoms are high fever, runny nose, sore throat, muscle pains, headache, coughing, and feeling tired. These symptoms typically begin two days after exposure to the virus and most last less than a week. The cough, however, may last for more than two weeks ("Influenza", 2015). The flu is a widespread disease that greatly affects both people and society as a whole every year. Epidemiology Influenza reaches peak prevalence in winter, and because the Northern and Southern Hemispheres have winter at different times of the year, there are actually two different flu seasons each year. This is why the World Health Organization (assisted by the National Influenza Centers) makes recommendations for two different vaccine formulations every year; one for the Northern, and one for the Southern Hemisphere. As influenza is caused by a variety of species and strains of viruses, in any given year some strains can die out while others create epidemics, while yet another strain can cause a pandemic...
Words: 687 - Pages: 3
...Communicable Diseases: Influenza Jena M. Gilbert Grand Canyon University: NRS-427V February 10, 2016 Communicable Diseases: Influenza This paper will discuss the communicable disease process of Influenza or otherwise known as Flu in common terms. Herein will discuss what Influenza is, in what ways Influenza effects the infected and what we as heath care workers can do when dealing with this virus. Influenza otherwise known as the flu is a respiratory illness, contrary to the misconception of the flu being a stomach bug. The flu is caused by a virus and when contracted can show a wide range of symptoms mild to severe and has even been known to cause death. There are three types of Influenza viruses, A, B and C. In humans, influenza A and B viruses are what commonly effects people and is known to cause seasonal epidemics, while Influenza C is generally known to cause much milder respiratory symptoms and not known to become as widespread. Both Influenza A and B have numerous varying strains that cause the Influenza infection. (“Types of Influenza Viruses|Seasonal Influenza(Flu) | CDC,” 2014). Influenza can infect and cause a disease process in any and all age groups. Typically Influenza is more commonly seen at higher rates in children, particularly school aged children. Severe illness and death related to influenza is more commonly seen in ages two and under, sixty five years of age and older or in individuals with primary medical conditions as well as immunocompromised...
Words: 1592 - Pages: 7
...Influenza Disease Linnette Corona Grand Canyon University (NRS-427V) 06/14/2014 Influenza Disease Influenza is an infectious viral disease also commonly known as ‘flu’ that is caused by diverse strains of influenza viruses. The virus belongs to ‘Orthomyxoviridae’ which is a distinct group of virus family. This virus comprises of a single stranded, segmented RNA (Jeffery et. al, 2008). Influenza (flu) virus primarily attacks the respiratory system and is highly transmissible. As reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, CDC (2014) “the virus may infect the nose, throat and lungs.” The disease can cause mild to severe illness often resulting in hospitalization or death. The viral strains of influenza viruses are constantly changing and appear regularly that are responsible for many pandemics around the world (Taubenberger & Morens 2008). Clinical Course Influenza is a contagious disease; the virus is easily transmitted from person to person via respiratory droplets when infected people cough, talk or sneeze. Another way to get infected with influenza is if the person touches its own mouth or nose after having direct contact with a surface that has the influenza virus (CDC, 2014). The influenza virus may be transmitted one day before the first symptoms start and even up to seven days after getting ill with the flu. In seasonal epidemics, influenza tends to spread rapidly. As reported by the CDC (2014), the infection may seem like...
Words: 1772 - Pages: 8
...Influenza Epidemic Valerie Capobianco, RN Grand Canyon University Concepts in Community and Public Health NRS-427V Mary Nicks MSN, RN August 14, 2014 Influenza Epidemic Studying the distribution and determinants of health-related events, including disease, and the relevance of the study to control the disease along with other health problems is known as epidemiology. (World Health Organization, 2014) This author would like to discuss one of those diseases, that being influenza. Influenza viruses do not discriminate and affect individuals worldwide. This paper will include how the determinants of health contributes to the development of influenza, elements of epidemiologic triangle relate to the transmission of influenza, the role of community health nurses in controlling and preventing the influenza pandemic, and the role played by World Health Organization (WHO) in the global prevention and control of the disease. The influenza virus, more commonly known as the flu, is a contagious mild to severe respiratory illness infecting the nose, throat, and lungs. There are many different types or strains of influenza such as Swine H3N2, Avian H5N1, influenza A H1N1. Just the slightest mutation on the virus’s surface protein can quickly change a strain. This fast acting mutation is one of the reasons influenza viruses infect high numbers of people worldwide, leading to morbidity and mortality burden in communities. (WHO, 2011, pg. 22) When an individual is infected...
Words: 1385 - Pages: 6
...Running Head: Applying Concepts of epidemiology and Nursing Research Applying Concepts of epidemiology and Nursing Research to Influenza Grand Canyon University NRS-427V Concepts in Community and Public Health This topic of this paper will be about Influenza, it is a highly contagious illness in the respiratory tract that is caused by a virus that currently occurs throughout the world and it usually peaks in December through March. The ‘Flu’ is usually spread by infected people, coughing and sneezing without covering their mouth and nose. It is spread by common, frequent contact, touching another person, for example, just shaking someone’s hand can also transmit the virus. The contagious period for the virus is thought to be twenty four hours before manifestations of symptoms appear and up to seven days thereafter. This information indicates that a person, potentially, could be contagious before they even know that they are sick. (Medical News Today, 2014) Symptoms of the Flu are numerous, fevers, cold sweats, shakes, cough, rhinorrhea, aching body, joint pain, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. Symptoms can last roughly for a week, while the effect of exhaustion can last for several weeks until the person can make a full recovery. Those considered high risk for contracting the flu, are those that are immunosuppressed by a chronic disease, medications or treatments, the elderly, infants, the very young, pregnant women, health care professionals and people who...
Words: 1250 - Pages: 5
...Influenza, also known as "the flu," is a virus that infects the respiratory tract. Although Influenza is not as severe as many viral infections it's almost the worst for viral infections of the respiratory tract. Typically, when someone is infected with influenza they experience fever (usually 100° to 103°F in adults, but even higher in children) and causes a cough, sore throat, runny or stuffy nose, and also headaches, muscle aches, and usually extreme tiredness. There are sometimes other symptoms such as nausea, vomiting and diarrhea but usually only in rare cases with young children. One other note: The term "Stomach flu" isn't really caused by the influenza virus. The average recovery time from the flu is about 1-2 weeks, although some patients do develop more severe complications such as pneumonia, which are capable of being life threatening. On average, influenza is associated with more than 20,000 deaths nationwide and more than 100,000 hospitalizations. These are usually from patients who develop complications and they are usually children or the elderly, although complications can develop at any age. There are three types of influenza viruses, Groups A, B, and C. Only Groups A and B are responsible for causing the epidemics of flu that occur almost every year. Influenza C is different in several ways because it causes mild to no symptoms and doesn't cause the yearly epidemics. Scientists put out most of their effort to control influenza A and B because of their huge...
Words: 333 - Pages: 2
...Influenza From 1918 to 1919, a flu outbreak, later termed a pandemic, was the most notorius and lethal of its kind. The exact number of deaths is unknown, but it estimated to be from 50 to 100 million people. This outbreak has been described as “the greatest medical holocaust in history” was comparable in impact to the Black Death. (Langford, 2002, p. 1-20) Influenza, also known as ‘the flu’, is a highly contagious illness caused by influenza viruses that infect upper respiratory tract and lungs. It may present with symptoms that range from mild to severe illness and even, at worse, death. The three types of influenza are A, B and C. Influenza A and B are the viruses that affect the general population almost every winter in the United States. The development of new influenza viruses can cause a flu pandemic. Influenza C only cause only mild symptoms, not epidemics. Although Influenza B is not broken down, Influenza A is made up of different strains: currently classified as H1N1 and H3N2. In the first several months of 2009, a newer H1N1 emerged causing the first influenza pandemic in more than four decades. In a typical year’s normal two flu seasons (one for each global hemisphere), there may be up to five million cases of severe illness and around 500,000 deaths worldwide. Some would define this as a yearly influenza epidemic. (Lozano, 2012) The flu typically comes on suddenly. Symptoms can include single symptoms or a multitude of symptoms to include – high...
Words: 1364 - Pages: 6
...Epidemiology of Influenza May 25, 2014 Epidemiology Public health nursing requires attention to trends and epidemics within local, regional and national health systems. Influenza, a fast spreading seasonal virus, attacks the respiratory system in susceptible people. This paper will attempt to explain the populations susceptible, the community health and public nurse role, ways in which transmission is prevented utilizing local and national disease control authorities. Pathophysiology of Influenza Influenza A, B, and H1N1 are also known as the flu to many. This virus a contagion that infects the respiratory tract in susceptible populations. This virus constantly mutates, requiring immunization that is developed based on previous season’s strain type. Communicable disease is defined as “an infectious disease transmissible (as from person to person) by direct contact with an affected individual or the individual’s discharges or by direct means” (Merriam-webster, 2014). The influenza virus is transmitted through droplets, during talking, sneezing or coughing from up to 6ft away. However, it does linger on surfaces such as computer key boards, telephones, or objects (Flu.gov, 2014). This infection takes 1-4 for symptoms to begin after exposure. Healthy adults may be able to transmit the virus one day before symptoms appear (CDC, 2013). The influenza virus causes numerous complications including ear infections, bronchitis, sinus infections, and most commonly pneumonia....
Words: 1260 - Pages: 6
...Influenza Keren G Zepeda March 16, 2015 HCS/245 Tynan Mara There has been many, different illnesses that have had a huge impact on our society, especially illnesses related to the respiratory system. There is bronchitis, tuberculosis and asthma, just to name a few. One illness in particular that has impacted our society lately has been influenza or better known as “the flu”. Influenza has affected our society, as well as our resources. We will explore more in depth this disease. What is influenza? As stated before, influenza is better known as “the flu”. Influenza is an infectious disease that affects the respiratory system, which include the nose, throat and lungs. According to Wikipedia, “this disease can be mild to severe, and may include various symptoms, such as high fever, runny nose, sore throat, muscle pains, headaches, coughing and exhaustion”. If this disease is left unattended, it may turn into a more serious complication, which in rare occasions may lead to death. According to the Centers for Disease Control, or better known as CDC, “this flu season has been severe for individuals over the age 65 years old, with very high hospitalization rates ”(2015). Influenza is categorized as a primary prevention source. It is categorized as a primary prevention source, because there is education on the illness and appropriate vaccinations in order to prevent it from developing. In a primary prevention source, the patient is also recommended to have...
Words: 812 - Pages: 4
...Expository Essay - Influenza Vaccine Wendy G. Hill COM150 May 15, 2011 Susan Dietrich Expository Essay - Influenza Vaccine The Influenza virus can infect any age group of people. The influenza infection rate is the highest among children between the ages of one and three. According to the CDC from October, 2010 to the present there have been 91 deaths among pediatrics in the United States. The yearly influenza vaccine may have a few minor side effects for some individuals, but it still has many benefits for everyone. In order for people to decide whether the influenza vaccine is right for them or their families, they need to know some of the basics about influenza viruses. Influenza viruses are spread by having contact with someone or something that has the influenza virus. When a person has a confirmed case of the influenza virus, the individual can spread the virus to others by not covering when he or she coughs or sneezes and by not washing his or her hands and keeping containers or tissues around that may contain vomit, sputum or nose secretions (Center for Disease Control, 2010, Oct.). The four types of vaccines available to any individual who would want to obtain the vaccine for preventive measures. The first one is, Whole virion inactivated vaccine, and this has complete viruses which are not alive. This one is not infectious and once injected keeps their antigenic properties. The second one, Subunit inactivated vaccine; this is made up of surface antigens...
Words: 1504 - Pages: 7
...Epidemiology of Influenza Bethany Baird Grand Canyon University Concepts in Community and Public Health NRS-427V September 19, 2014 Epidemiology of Influenza Influenza is an illness that is seen and addressed on a yearly basis. Each year, come fall, individuals line up a their local clinic or physician’s office to acquire the influenza vaccine in an attempt to ward off the seasonal virus known as the flu. “The flu is a contagious respiratory illness caused by influenza viruses that infect the nose, throat, and lungs (American Lung Association, n.d.).” There are 3 main strains of the seasonal influenza virus that break off into further subcategories. This virus can affect people of all ages and demographics. According to the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases, the flu affects over 60 million people every year in the United States alone . While during “flu season” there are a number of illnesses that are prevalent, influenza has identifiable signs and symptoms. Signs and symptoms associated with the flu are often very recognizable but also may vary in their severity. One of the most prominent symptoms is a sudden onset of fever and feverish chills accompanied by body and joint aches. This could be referred to as the “cardinal sign” of the flu (American Lung Association, n.d.). Other symptoms include cough, sore throat, headaches, and runny nose. These symptoms can be associated with the common cold, however, when coupled with fever and body aches, there is...
Words: 2279 - Pages: 10
...Epidemiology of Influenza As we welcome the winter season every year, we also welcome the possibility of various communicable diseases that are prone to present during the winter season. Diseases such as pneumonia, measles, chickenpox, and influenza are some of the diseases that make their annual debut during the winter season. These diseases affect certain parts of the body in which compromise ones health in one way or the other. Influenza is a communicable infectious viral disease which has the potential to occur as a pandemic, epidemic, or outbreak. Each year the influenza vaccine is offered in order to prevent and/or lessen the effect of the disease. In this paper the communicable disease influenza and its effect of the body and environment will be discussed. Communicable diseases are diseases that can be spread from person to person. In order for communicable diseases to make an impact, transmission of the infection must be evident from person to person. When large populations are infected with a disease, whether it is communicable or non-communicable, and epidemiology comes into play. Smith and Maurer describe epidemiology as the study of communicable diseases affecting large groups of people or populations (2009). Prevention play a major role in regards to preventing and decreasing the transmission of communicable diseases. Communicable diseases have chains called the epidemiologic triangle. In order to interrupt transmission, the triangle must be broken at...
Words: 1519 - Pages: 7
