The Toll Taken By Influenza
The Toll Taken By Influenza
When influenza strikes in an outbreak scenario it takes a heavy toll on health care and on industry I regions where it spreads.
Medical Care
- Appointments with primary health care providers are expected to rise by one hundred fifty to four hundred percent in an epidemic situation causing much havoc and cost to the health care structure.
- During an influenza pandemic or epidemic health care systems are pushed to the brink by illness complications like sinusitis, bronchitis and pneumonia which increase costs for care substantially not only for outpatient services but from an inpatient point of view. Data compiled in big hospitals located in the United States prove that admitting patients to facilities rises by one hundred to one hundred seventy percent in an influenza pandemic or epidemic.
Industry Health Watch
- Influenza on its own is shown to be responsible for one tenth of all illness related nonattendance from work.
- When those absentees come back to their jobs eighty percent of the adults claimed a reduced performance in their ability to function at work.
- Production losses come in at twelve billion dollars every year in only the United States.
In the past influenza was difficult to treat and options limited to mainly bed rest and doctors orders. Patients would treat symptoms using OTC medication but the virus was always left undisturbed to run rampant until it subsided causing a threat of secondary illness and complications from the primary disease itself.
Many corporations and businesses today will stockpile their own stores of antivirals such as generic tamiflu and relenza in the event of an pandemic or epidemic outbreak of flu. In fact, some countries are looking into the practicality of non medical hoarding of medicines such as tamiflu when global stocks may be insufficient to administer courses of antivirals to those who will be in most need of them during an outbreak. Currently there is nothing stopping a company from warehousing tamiflu for their employee use in the event of influenza outbreak.
Understanding Vaccinations
Vaccination is with doubt the best strategy in the prevention of a full blown pandemic and the administering of vaccine targets high risk sectors of a population such as chronically ill and the elderly. Research has shown us that vaccinations are effectual at levels of seventy to ninety percent with thos percentages dropping off in certain groups such as elderly who have a thirty to forty percent effectiveness. In the case of a new virus variety becomes active after a vaccine is produced and administered, those people who get their vaccination are not protected from the new strain.
The WHO makes a point of organizing a data exchange of information gathered from around the world so experts can determine which strain of virus needs to have a vaccine produced to combat it. Surveillance of influenza cases globally helps make certain the best and most effective vaccine is formulated annually.
Useful Antiviral Drugs
Older antiviral medicines are becoming obsolete because of quickening of resistance to the drugs, they are narrow in their treatment options and some have adverse reactions which are less than favorable. Newer antiviral medications have been developed that are called neuraminidase inhibitors [or NAIs] that challenge the virus at the point of reproduction effectively blocking its growth and these NAIs have displayed successful results.
Two antivirals medications in the NAI class are being produced in mass numbers and distributed worldwide for novel influenza H1N1 virus combat. One is known as Zanamivir [aka relenza] which is administered via a dry powder and inhaling mechanism. The other more popular NAI being shipped and stockpiled globally is Oseltamivir or often referred to as Generic Tamiflu which is an oral medication taken in capsule form or liquid for easy ingestion by children.
These neuraminidase inhibitors work on the surface enzyme of the flu virus called the neuraminidase protein which is blocked, or inhibited and restricts the growth or expansion efforts of the virus. The neuraminidase part of the virus is not exclusive to a single influenza strain but common in all varieties and the drugs action means the virus cannot continue infecting cellular physiology.
Tracking Influenza Outbreaks globally Via Surveillance
When a medical practitioner realizes that a flu virus is active locally they can dramatically increase their rate of diagnosis using certain symptoms to form a diagnosis which means they can better treat the influenza virus. This means when patients are not feeling well they can see their primary health care provider for a checkup and feel pretty certain they know what they have and how to treat it.
The WHO collects information about potential hot spots for influenza outbreaks through its Global Influenza Surveillance Network and reports the pertinent flu virus information globally twice a year. This so individual nations can begin preparing for specific threats from influenza. The contents of the influenza vaccine for the following flu season are developed annually using data provided by this WHO network.
This information must be updated often since flu viruses are continually changing so if the correct influenza strain is not produced the protection factor of the vaccine will drop resulting in more illness and further fatalities. This same WHO influenza surveillance network is used as a world alert system warning when a potentially virulent strain of flu shows pandemic qualities. This network has vastly improved influenza epidemiology since its inception in 1952, when WHO experts concluded a network of labs spanning the globe could assist its international member nations on overall influenza preparedness. The WHO works closely with Pharmaceutical companies and national health systems of its members to provide guidance for testing and development processes.