A Sneeze from the Wilds: Influenza

Seasonal influenza is a preventable infectious disease which mainly affects our respiratory system. Namely, it is caused by types of Influenza virus where there are four types of influenza viruses: A, B, C and D. Human influenza A and B viruses are the ones which can cause seasonal epidemics of disease. Influenza is predominantly spread via droplets and contacts, or indirectly via respiratory secretions on contact surfaces like hands and tissues.

Brief History (1918 Pandemic Influenza)

Influenza may have been brought to the Americas as early as 1493, when an epidemic disease resembling influenza killed most of the population of the Antilles. The first convincing record of an influenza pandemic was chronicled in 1510.
However, the main event that actually draws public attention toward Influenza is the Spanish Flu. From 1918 to 1920, the Spanish flu pandemic became the most devastating influenza pandemic and one of the deadliest pandemics in history.
H1N1 began in the USA before spreading worldwide by soldiers during and after the First World War. By May, hundreds of thousands of soldiers travel across the Atlantic each month as they are deployed for World War I.
The second wave of flu emerges at Camp Devens, a United States Army training camp whereas the third wave of influenza occurred in the winter and spring of 1919, killing many more.In short, The Spanish flu pandemic of 1918, the deadliest in history, infected an estimated 500 million people worldwide (1/3 of the world’s population) and killed an estimated 20 million to 50 million victims.

In 2009, a new H1N1 influenza virus emerged, causing the first global flu pandemic in 40 years. 2009 H1N1 was first detected in the United States in April 2009. This virus was a unique combination of influenza virus genes never previously identified in either animals or people. Infection with this new influenza A virus (then referred to as ‘swine origin influenza A virus’) was first detected in a 10-year-old patient in California on April 15, 2009.

In the Modern Era: 2009 Pandemic Influenza

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A Sneeze from the Wilds: Influenza

H1N1 began in the USA before spreading worldwide by soldiers during and after the First World War. By May, hundreds of thousands of soldiers travel across the Atlantic each month as they are deployed for World War I.

In the Modern Era: 2009 Pandemic Influenza