Influenza Proposal Essay

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Pages: 4

EXAMPLE PROPOSAL ---- Influenza- eradicating a global killer
What is Influenza (H1N1)?
Influenza is an acute viral infection of the respiratory tract which is considered to be one of the life-threatening infectious diseases (Figure 1). Human influenza viruses are single-stranded RNA viruses. They are members of the family Orthomyxoviridae, which consists of the genera Influenzavirus A, B and C, as well as the Thogotovirus, Isavirus and Quaranjavirus. Figure 1

In certain types of countries, the flu affects up to forty percent of the population each year. Influenza has claimed thousands of lives, with the world wide death toll of 500 million people. This virus can be passed on to others by direct contact with infected people, and by inhaling
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Symptoms are known to last for three or four days, but symptoms can take as much as one to two weeks. It takes about one to four days to feel the symptoms of the flu after you have been around an individual who has the virus. Most of the time people get better after the flu, but the flu is also known to lead to bacterial infection such as ear infection, sinus infection, or bronchitis. If the flu is really bad, then the consequence is a much more serious problem like pneumonia.

Ever since 1918 there has been four pandemics of the influenza and each had different characteristics(Figure 2). The 1918 pandemic, or better know as the Spanish Flu, people would feel normal in the morning but would die by midnight. During 1918, approximately 20 to 40 percent of the population became ill. About an estimate of 50 million people died, nearly 675 thousand people died in the United States alone.
Figure 2

The most recent case of Influenza (H1N1) was back in the year of 2009. The first case of H1N1 was reported on April 15, 2009. Eighteen thousand cases of H1N1 had been reported in the United States by June 2009. Seventy four countries were affected by the pandemic. August of 2010, the World Health Organization declared an end to the global H1N1 flu