In 2004 and 2005 the H5N1 virus, also known as avian flu, was detected in wild birds in Vietnam. For the rest of that year and the next the virus spread throughout Asia. By the end of 2005 it had spread to most of mainland Europe and the United Kingdom (the latter an unconfirmed case), but relatively few people had been infected, and even fewer were dead.
Although the avian flu of 2004 and 2005 due to the low impact and uncertainty about human to human infection is not yet a pandemic, it scared a global population which had not experienced such alerts that went out from the WHO in decades. In many ways it turned out to be an ample warning leading to better procedures and logistics in preparation for pandemics before the 2009 swine flu hit the world.
History of the Pandemic - From the Plague to Swine Flu
A pandemic requires an outbreak of an infectious disease at a grand scale, either regionally or globally. This perhaps makes it difficult to imagine that pandemics and near-pandemics have occurred in a past with much less communication and globalization than in the present. In reality the first recorded disease to reach the classification of a pandemic happened as early as 430 BC. The following is a recount of other historic pandemics (the most important ones):
- 430 BC - In the Peleponnesian war against Sparta, the population of Athens was hit with a deadly disease unknown to this day
- 165 AD - The Antonine Plague. Most likely smallpox which traveled with Roman soldiers from campaigns east of the empire
- 251 AD - A second outbreak of the Antonine Plague, killing an estimated 5.000 people
- 541 AD - The Plague of Justinian hit Byzantine killing approximately 40% of Constantinople's population
- 588 AD - The same plague spread in the Mediterranean to France, leaving a death toll of around 25 million
- 1347 - The Black Death, which really was the Plague of Justinian returning, killed approximately one quarter of Europe's population (25 million). The same plague also occurred in Asia and the Middle East at the same time. This bubonic plague continued to strike up until the 1700s, leaving as much as 137 million people dead
- 1816 - First global outbreak of Cholera, spreading from India into Eastern Europe, then Western Europe and North America
- 1918 - The Spanish Flu. An influenza which started in France, the U.S. and Sierra Leone. It especially hit young people, infecting a fifth of the world's population killing 40 million people
- 20th century - Several different influenza outbreaks in Asia spreading to the rest of the world, the last one being the avian flu in 2004
- 2009 - Swine flu (H1N1)
Common Swine Flu Symptoms and Appropriate Measures
The WHO has released information as to what are possible symptoms of swine flu, but these symptoms resemble those of any ordinary influenza. The majority of people becoming sick with the flu most likely have the H1N1 virus, and should be treated accordingly. Here are the symptoms :
- fever
- cough
- headache
- body aches
- sore throat and runny nose
There are measures to be taken both in order to prevent infection and when an infection has occurred. The following is a list of the latter. One should:
- Stay at home and keep away from work, school or crowds.
- Rest and take plenty of fluids.
- cover ones coughs and sneezes. If using tissues, make sure one disposes of them carefully. Clean ones hands immediately after with soap and water or cleanse them with an alcohol-based hand rub.
- Cover ones mouth as much as possible with the crook of ones elbow. If one does not have a tissue close by when one coughs or sneezes, use a mask to help one contain the spread of droplets when one is around others.
- Inform family and friends about one's illness and try to avoid contact with other people.
- If possible, contact a health professional before traveling to a health facility to discuss whether a medical examination is necessary.
Who Should and Should Not Get a Flu Vaccine
As always when vaccination is in the picture, the necessity and dangers of getting a shot are heavily debated. The WHO recommends that every person above 10 years of age get vaccinated, and even children who are older than six months where local authorities have made the young population a priority. The organization also assures that it is impossible to catch the disease from the vaccine, as it contains only a weakened version of the virus.
Some people should, however, not get vaccinated, as disclosed below:
- people with a history of anaphylaxis (or hypersensitive reactions), or other life-threatening allergic reactions to any of the constituents or trace residues of the vaccine
- people with history of a severe reaction to previous influenza vaccination
- people who developed Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) within six weeks of getting an influenza vaccine
- children less than six months of age (inactivated influenza vaccine is not approved for this age group)
- people who have a moderate-to-severe illness with a fever (they should wait until they recover to get vaccinated)
Sources:
BBC-article: Past pandemics that ravaged Europe, retrieved on May 2
WHO-page: What can I do?, retrieved on May 2
WHO-page: Use of the pandemic (H1N1) 2009 vaccines, retrieved May 2
Christoffer Johannessen - Greetings to you all! As I am well aware that profiles like this one are seldom read to the full extent, and that lengthy, detailed ...
