Influenza Essay -- essays research papers

Influenza   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Influenza, normally called â€Å"the flu†, the influenza virus causes an infection in the respiration tract. Even though the influenza virus can sometimes be compared with the common cold. It also can cause a more severe illness or death. During this past century, pandemics took place in 1918, 1957, and 1968, in all of these cases there where unfortunately many deaths. The â€Å"Spanish flu† in 1918, killed approximately half a million people in the United States alone. It killed around 20 million worldwide. The â€Å"Asian flu† in 1957, in the United States their 70,000 people died. In 1968 the â€Å"Hong-Kong flu† There where 34,000 deaths in the United States. The emergence of the â€Å"Hong-Kong flu† marked the beginning of the of the strand type A (H3N2) era Different strands of the same virus caused all these outbreaks of influenza. When this virus first emerged. It was associated with fewer deaths than caused by the two previous pandemic viruses that I mentioned. There are a few reasons for the hemagglutinin changed from the â€Å"Asian flu† strain. The neuraminidase stayed the same. Well the only explanation would be that people affected with the A (H2N2) strain (â€Å"Asian flu†), Built up immunity to the â€Å"Hong-Kong flu†. The influenza virus depending on the severity usually includes: fever (around 100 F to 103 F), cough, sore throat, headache, stuffy and running nose, muscle soreness and fatigue....