...Global pandemics have helped shape history and the modern world. Without the diseases that cause pandemics nations and empires would not have been able to expand as far and wide as they did and they would not have grown in complexity and culture. The bubonic plague took the world to the Dark Ages, but also resulted in one of the greatest ages of enlightenment, the Renaissance. Beautiful works of art, literature, and philosophy were born from this. Somewhat sadly not all pandemics have resulted in ages of enlightenment. Often they come fast, kill even faster, and then are gone. One pandemic that still plagues the world today, with no end in sight, is AIDS. An incurable virus that became the center of attention in the 1980's. Bubonic plague and AIDS are very different in nature, but have resulted in many similar political, economic, and cultural impacts within human societies. The differences and similarities of these pandemics can help us understand pandemics better and also can help us to prepare for future pandemics. First we must look at the bubonic plague, how it spread and how it impacted the world socially, economically, and culturally. It was first recorded in Europe by a Sicilian chronicler by the name of Michele da Piazza in October of 1347, who recorded the port of Messina having twelve galleys full of sailors carrying the disease down to the marrow of their bones.1 Black Death began to really take its toll in 1348, spreading through Italy, France, Spain, Switzerland...
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...Pandemic Influenza: Prevention and Preparedness Now that, the flu season has already started, knowing your risk factors, prevention, and preparedness is really important to review. Influenza, commonly know as “the flu”, is a highly infectious respiratory disease caused by influenza A or B viruses. The illness appears most frequently from late fall to early spring and attacks the body by spreading through the respiratory tract. According to Flu.gov (2012), pandemic occurs when we have global disease outbreak and is determined by how many deaths it causes and how it spreads. Possible outbreak causes nurses and health care professional to prepare possible plan of action that balances between overreacting and just the right way to go. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to outline prevention strategies and possible outbreak control. Summary of an Article The article chosen for this assignment was published in May/June 2012, in the Journal of Public Health Management and Practice (Potter et.al, 2012). The authors point out that the difference in emergency preparedness amongst states can significantly delay distribution of vaccines in case of pandemic. The study “explored the effect of variations in states’ levels of preparedness by linking the SNS (Strategic National Stockpile) to calibrated delays in emergency vaccine distribution and by comparing how the delays would affect influenza infection rated within and among states” (Potter et.al, 2012). The research also shows that...
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...The Infamous Pandemic: Black Death Throughout the timeline of the our history, many catastrophic events, or specifically diseases, have stricken humanity either through our own cause, or the traits of the event that led it to be more deadly. Such events have left many continents devastated upon the dramatic decrease of the population. However, unlike many other epidemics, the plague was a pandemic, which is an epidemic, yet only to be on a global scale, that ravaged humanity for many years, or even up until now. This pandemic is truly one of the deadliest disease that have had a phenomenal impact on our timeline, which can be shown through its extent of destruction, due to the easily-triggered cause and its quick widespread, and how it has affected mankind, including the works of Shakespeare, who is known as one of the best playwright...
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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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...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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...can be easily prevented. But it has not always been this way, in fact the virus has caused many very fatal pandemics across the world. It is still a very big threat to people today, as the virus is constantly evolving, along with it’s vaccines. Just last year in North Carolina alone, it killed over 137 people from October to January. Throughout time, the influenza virus has evolved and different strains have spread across the globe. This has been the cause of some of the worst pandemics the world has seen, and has led to the development and constantly changing vaccines available today. The flu...
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...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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...3 Famous Pandemics 35,110,000. That’s about how many deaths have been caused by just three pandemics. The 1918 Flu Pandemic, Ebola, and the Black Death are three of the most deadly, and well known pandemics to ever hit our world. The 1918 Flu pandemic killed about 35 million people. Some believed that this pandemic was invincible, and they certainly had the right to believe that. There weren’t any drugs or vaccines to help fight this pandemic. According to History.com “BLACK DEATH”,“A flu pandemic, such as the one in 1918, occurs when an especially virulent influenza strain for which there’s little or no immunity appears and spreads quickly from person-to-person around the globe.” This pandemic came in three waves, the first wave was in the spring of 1918 and was fairly mild. The second wave was much more intense and came in the fall of 1918 killing many more people than the first wave. The third wave wrapped it up ended the pandemic in the summer of 1919. This pandemic had several effects on communities, businesses, and the...
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...Bird Flu of H5N1 virus threatens world pandemic Public health has traditionally been an area of concern as anything that poses a threat to humans should be considered a top priority societally. From a global standpoint if public health is neglected then the amount of preventable deaths would rise exponentially. In the past few years several events have been noted as threats to public health, but society had identified them quick enough so that the threat to humans was minimized. One such event occurred in 2006 and was known as the bird flu. Although there is currently no vaccine for this strain of bird flu the rapid identification of this deadly virus helped to minimize its spread. According to Medline, birds just like humans can be stricken with the flu but the virus historically only affected avian species without the potential to affect humans. This remained true until 1997 in Hong Kong when the first case of the avian flu was reported. This avian virus has the ability to mutate or change its genetic makeup so that it can be easily incorporated into the human genome, thus causing a new form of flu that can be deadly and difficult to treat. Since 1997 the avian flu has spread to several countries and has severely affected both the commercial poultry supply and humans alike. Although the viral transition to infecting humans is rare, the avian flu is responsible for approximately 600 infections since its inception with a mortality rate of 60% (National Library of Medicine...
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...1A I do. New diseases and pandemics shock government and individuals, and are difficult to treat. This remained true in the past, whether it be the Black Death or the Influenza pandemic of 1918, and true today, as examined by governments and society trying to adjust to the new threats of Ebola and Zika. The 1918 influenza pandemic and the current response to Zika can be compared by examining how similar they are in terms of showing how government quarantines can be counter productive and how government actions taken during the flu hurt the Ebola response in the modern world. Pg5. Many governments took efforts to stop the spreading of the flu in 1918. Some tried to promote public health and boost morale by framing the flu as a “metaphor...
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...Introduction: According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), Influenza is a contagious respiratory illness caused by viruses. This virus was first recorded by Hippocrates who wrote about a severe epidemic in 412 B.C.E written by Dr. Peter Moore in the book The Little Book of Pandemics. Influenza virus belongs to the family orthomyxoviridae and it’s considered a global virus. The Mayo Clinic clearly states, influenza (also known as the flu) is an infection of the respiratory system. The flu spreads by being in contact with someone who has the virus or by touching an object (less often). People are most contagious three to four days after being infected. Symptoms usually appear one to four days after the infection. The few...
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...Control (CDC) is currently encountering. The author examines the pandemic of diseases such as Ebola, Enterovirus, and MRSA suggesting possible ways of containment to prevent further spreading in hospitals, as well as proper diagnosis, and handling. This information was obtained through interviews with the Infection Prevention Director of Columbia St. Mary’s via Fox 6 News. Information was also obtained, evaluated, and studied from media outlets such as the Journal Sentinel, research website, Center for Disease Control and Prevention and an Ebola symposium. Lastly, the author expresses the importance of clear and concise communication between all Administration and Staff at Columbia St. Mary’s. This communication stems anywhere from clear and plain signage on doors, and entry ways of Emergency Departments, Urgent Care facilities, and Physicians’ offices. This signage communication will help an individual detect any flu like symptoms associated with the Ebola virus disease (EVD), so the proper steps can be taken immediately to isolate the disease itself. Introduction This research proposal is intended to make clear to the reader the signs, symptoms, and severity of the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD). In addition to this, incorporating the importance of proper protection, such as hand hygiene, personal protective equipment (PPE), and what health care facilities are doing to enforce this. This pandemic disease has not only taken over areas of West Africa, but ironically...
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...continuity is that of a widespread virus pandemic. Pandemics are the fiction behind blockbuster movies and best sellers, and are rarely at the forefront of the human psyche. However, this risk could pose a severe threat to organizations if there area or building became the target of a viral outbreak. The history of real pandemics occurring in the United States is minimal, and the threat it poses to management during a risk assessment is on the bottom of their list of concerns. However, it is a topic that should not be so hastily cast aside. Recently, North America has had to deal with the outbreak of the swine flu. In recent weeks, the swine flu epidemic has become headlines in the news media. Mexico, the epicenter of the outbreak has had thousands of confirmed cases, and hundreds of cases have been confirmed in the United States, and countries as far as Israel and New Zealand have had their share of swine flu victims. The outbreak of this pandemic caused many financial and economic issues in Mexico. A pandemic does not directly affect many business operations, but instead the personnel that develop and maintain these systems. What purpose does a huge database of knowledge serve if the DBA and Lead Application Developer have fallen to the ills of deadly virus? This concern is not without merit as the influenza pandemic of 1918 claimed an estimated 50 million lives. (Taubenberger, 2006) , and the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) pandemic that swept through Asia in the spring...
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...Introduction The Bubonic plague of the Middle Ages has proven itself to be one of the worst pandemics in history. Ebola, in the meantime, has also proven to be deadly and threatening since the outbreak in 2014. It upgraded itself from an outbreak to an epidemic. What if Ebola becomes a pandemic? Would it be deadlier than the Bubonic plague? This is the question that this thesis paper will attempt to find the answer to. This paper will provide detailed backgrounds of both of these diseases; including their history and historical relevance, their causes and effects, even their levels of damage and possible cures. This paper will expand your knowledge of both diseases to such an extent that you can accurately compare and contrast them in order...
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...The current worldwide estimated human population at this point in time is 6,798,328,762 people (U.S. Census Bureau, 2009). This number constantly changes due the birth or reproduction of human life. Another contributing factor to human population changes is the death rate. Looking more closely at what sparks birth and death rates to change, we find that different eras or historical events lead to changes in the human population. One event that generated large a large death toll was the Black Plague (Lewis, 2004). A more recent event that could potentially spark a decrease in population would be the Pandemic Flu. An example of a historical event that contributes to increases in human population is the Industrial Revolution. The industrial revolution created a higher demand on products and services which called for families to expand in order to cover the needs. Another example is the creation of medications that cured illnesses that were considered incurable in past years. One such medication is the antibiotic. When the antibiotic was invented, it cured ailments and illnesses that had at one time been considered terminal. It also prolonged the life of many individuals, which ultimately led to less death. Other contributions included enhancements to sanitation, and agriculture (Lewis, 2004). These enhancements helped by preventing infection and increasing the health of the population. Both of these enhancements assisted in increasing the lifespan of humans. The human population...
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