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A brave little girl tries to smile while making faces while receiving the shot of an unrecognizable nurse in a free clinic. Her unrecognizable mother is sitting next to her.
This year marks the 100th anniversary of the devastating influenza pandemic of 1918, which killed 50 million people and infected one-third of the world's population. Epidemiologists say that if a similar pandemic emerges today, the death toll could rise to about 147 million, with many more weeks of serious illness. However, a century after the worst flu pandemic in history, people are not surprised at one of the best tools of modern medicine to prevent such a crisis.
A recent survey found that a significant number of parents are skeptical about influenza vaccines for themselves and their children, and many still believe in conspiracy theories that have long been debunked. About one-third of parents think the flu shot is not working, according to the survey conducted by Orlando Health's Arnold Palmer Children's Hospital. And more than half of the parents surveyed believe that influenza vaccine can actually cause the flu (in fact, it can cause fever in about 5% to 10% of children, but the influenza vaccine contains a severely weakened version of the flu virus. influenza, it is not the case, capable of causing an infection, but carries the markers that cause your immune system to recognize and react to reality).
And 30% of those polled said they believe the flu vaccine is a conspiracy. 28% think the vaccine can cause autism. This myth originated in two studies by British researcher Andrew Wakefield – one in 1998 and one in 2002. Both used very sloppy methods. When several other researchers pointed out how wrong Wakefield's work and conclusions were, he retracted the studies. But it is much easier to remove a document and delete it from the scientific record than to remove an idea. Since 2002, in much the same way that urban legends assume their own lives by spreading from person to person, Wakefield's mistaken and original idea has spread and spread to other vaccines, such as the influenza vaccine. For the record, the influenza vaccine does not cause autism either, but it reduces the risk of contracting influenza by about 40% to 60%, depending on the strain circulating in a given year. And if you catch the flu, your symptoms will probably be much less severe than those of an unvaccinated person.
However, the Orlando survey raises concerns that vaccination can only help prevent a pandemic if most people are actually vaccinated. If most people are vaccinated and therefore can not contract the virus, it will not be able to pass from one person to another, or at least not with the explosive speed of the 1918 pandemic. means that even unvaccinated people, such as very young infants or people with weakened immune systems, will benefit from protection because those around them are less likely to contract the virus and pass it on to them. Scientists call this concept "collective immunity" and only work if enough people get vaccinated (the necessary percentage of the population is different for each disease). If about one-third of the population does not get the flu shot because they fear government conspiracies and urban legends, everyone is in danger.
The world has not seen another flu pandemic as big or as lethal as the 1918-1919 season. This is partly because the 1918 flu hit a world still upset by years of war. Studies over the past century have also shown that the strain of influenza virus that circulated in 1918 may have mutations that have helped it to spread more easily and can even infect parts of the body outside the tracks. respiratory.
Smaller pandemics, however, erupted in 1957, 1968 and 2009. And during the influenza season 2017-2018, one of the most severe seasons ever recorded, 180 children died from the flu. Today, we have several advantages against the flu and other pathogens – tools that could have saved many of the 50 million lives lost in 1918. Networks of doctors and epidemiologists the whole world are now lurking the appearance of an influenza strain likely to explode in a deadly pandemic. If patients begin to show up in clinics in Singapore, for example, with an influenza virus that seems more serious than usual, or easier to pass from one person to the other they spread the word. Soon, health officials, hospitals and pharmacies around the world know that something is coming and can start preparing supplies of medicines and vaccines.
But these tools only work if we use them. Our ability to prepare for pandemics depends on disease surveillance networks around the world that require funding and cooperation among governments, businesses and hospitals. It also depends on the decisions people make about their own health.
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A brave little girl tries to smile while making faces while receiving the shot of an unrecognizable nurse in a free clinic. Her unrecognizable mother is sitting next to her.
This year marks the 100th anniversary of the devastating influenza pandemic of 1918, which killed 50 million people and infected one-third of the world's population. Epidemiologists say that if a similar pandemic emerges today, the death toll could rise to about 147 million, with many more weeks of serious illness. However, a century after the worst flu pandemic in history, people are not surprised at one of the best tools of modern medicine to prevent such a crisis.
A recent survey found that a significant number of parents are skeptical about influenza vaccines for themselves and their children, and many still believe in conspiracy theories that have long been debunked. About one-third of parents think the flu shot is not working, according to the survey conducted by Orlando Health's Arnold Palmer Children's Hospital. And more than half of the parents surveyed believe that influenza vaccine can actually cause the flu (in fact, it can cause fever in about 5% to 10% of children, but the influenza vaccine contains a severely weakened version of the flu virus. influenza, it is not the case, capable of causing an infection, but carries the markers that cause your immune system to recognize and react to reality).
And 30% of those polled said they believe the flu vaccine is a conspiracy. 28% think the vaccine can cause autism. This myth originated in two studies by British researcher Andrew Wakefield – one in 1998 and one in 2002. Both used very sloppy methods. When several other researchers pointed out how wrong Wakefield's work and conclusions were, he retracted the studies. But it is much easier to remove a document and delete it from the scientific record than to remove an idea. Since 2002, in much the same way that urban legends assume their own lives by spreading from person to person, Wakefield's mistaken and original idea has spread and spread to other vaccines, such as the influenza vaccine. For the record, the influenza vaccine does not cause autism either, but it reduces the risk of contracting influenza by about 40% to 60%, depending on the strain circulating in a given year. And if you catch the flu, your symptoms will probably be much less severe than those of an unvaccinated person.
However, the Orlando survey raises concerns that vaccination can only help prevent a pandemic if most people are actually vaccinated. If most people are vaccinated and therefore can not contract the virus, it will not be able to pass from one person to another, or at least not with the explosive speed of the 1918 pandemic. means that even unvaccinated people, such as very young infants or people with weakened immune systems, will benefit from protection because those around them are less likely to contract the virus and pass it on to them. Scientists call this concept "collective immunity" and only work if enough people get vaccinated (the necessary percentage of the population is different for each disease). If about one-third of the population does not get the flu shot because they fear government conspiracies and urban legends, everyone is in danger.
The world has not seen another flu pandemic as big or as lethal as the 1918-1919 season. This is partly because the 1918 flu hit a world still upset by years of war. Studies over the past century have also shown that the strain of influenza virus that circulated in 1918 may have mutations that have helped it to spread more easily and can even infect parts of the body outside the tracks. respiratory.
Smaller pandemics, however, erupted in 1957, 1968 and 2009. And during the influenza season 2017-2018, one of the most severe seasons ever recorded, 180 children died from the flu. Today, we have several advantages against the flu and other pathogens – tools that could have saved many of the 50 million lives lost in 1918. Networks of doctors and epidemiologists the whole world are now lurking the appearance of an influenza strain likely to explode in a deadly pandemic. If patients begin to show up in clinics in Singapore, for example, with an influenza virus that seems more serious than usual, or easier to pass from one person to the other they spread the word. Soon, health officials, hospitals and pharmacies around the world know that something is coming and can start preparing supplies of medicines and vaccines.
But these tools only work if we use them. Our ability to prepare for pandemics depends on disease surveillance networks around the world that require funding and cooperation among governments, businesses and hospitals. It also depends on the decisions people make about their own health.
