Message of hope: What the 1918 Spanish flu Epidemic can teach us about today's swine flu crisis

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maureen Minnehan Jones
Keyword(s):  
Swine Flu ◽  
Spanish Flu

scholarly journals Four pandemics: lessons learned, lessons lost

2020 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
World Health ◽  
Swine Flu ◽  
Global Public Health ◽  
Health Crisis ◽  
The World ◽  
Spanish Flu ◽  
Future Events ◽  
Health Organization

In the past 100 years, the world has faced four distinctly different pandemics: the Spanish flu of 1918-1919, the SARS pandemic of 2003, the H1N1 or “swine flu” pandemic of 2012, and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Each public health crisis exposed specific systemic shortfalls and provided public health lessons for future events. The Spanish flu revealed a nursing shortage and led to a great appreciation of nursing as a profession. SARS showed the importance of having frontline clinicians be able to work with regulators and those producing guidelines. H1N1 raised questions about the nature of a global organization such as the World Health Organization in terms of the benefits and potential disadvantages of leading the fight against a long-term global public health threat. In the era of COVID-19, it seems apparent that we are learning about both the blessing and curse of social media.

scholarly journals Detection of Bacterial and Viral Pathogens Using Photonic Point-of-Care Devices

Diagnostics ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
pp. 841
Author(s):  
Peuli Nath ◽  
Alamgir Kabir ◽  
Somaiyeh Khoubafarin Doust ◽  
Zachary Joseph Kreais ◽  
Aniruddha Ray
Keyword(s):  
Viral Infections ◽  
Point Of Care ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Wait Time ◽  
Diagnostic Techniques ◽  
Swine Flu ◽  
Viral Pathogens ◽  
Quick Recovery ◽  
Spanish Flu ◽  
Significant Effort

Infectious diseases caused by bacteria and viruses are highly contagious and can easily be transmitted via air, water, body fluids, etc. Throughout human civilization, there have been several pandemic outbreaks, such as the Plague, Spanish Flu, Swine-Flu, and, recently, COVID-19, amongst many others. Early diagnosis not only increases the chance of quick recovery but also helps prevent the spread of infections. Conventional diagnostic techniques can provide reliable results but have several drawbacks, including costly devices, lengthy wait time, and requirement of trained professionals to operate the devices, making them inaccessible in low-resource settings. Thus, a significant effort has been directed towards point-of-care (POC) devices that enable rapid diagnosis of bacterial and viral infections. A majority of the POC devices are based on plasmonics and/or microfluidics-based platforms integrated with mobile readers and imaging systems. These techniques have been shown to provide rapid, sensitive detection of pathogens. The advantages of POC devices include low-cost, rapid results, and portability, which enables on-site testing anywhere across the globe. Here we aim to review the recent advances in novel POC technologies in detecting bacteria and viruses that led to a breakthrough in the modern healthcare industry.

scholarly journals Subsequent waves of viral pandemics, a hint for the future course of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fabian Standl ◽  
Karl-Heinz Joeckel ◽  
Bernd Kowall ◽  
Boerge Schmidt ◽  
Andreas Stang
Keyword(s):  
Wave Length ◽  
Swine Flu ◽  
Published Data ◽  
Peak Ratio ◽  
Influenza Pandemics ◽  
The Future ◽  
Spanish Flu ◽  
Wave Heights ◽  
Second Wave

Background It is unknown if the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic will have a second wave. We analysed published data of five influenza pandemics (such as the Spanish Flu and the Swine Flu) and the SARS-CoV-1 pandemic to describe whether there were subsequent waves and how they differed. Methods We reanalysed literature and WHO reports on SARS-CoV-1 and literature on five influenza pandemics. We report frequencies of second and third waves, wave heights, wavelengths and time between subsequent waves. From this, we estimated peak-to-peak ratios to compare the wave heights, and wave-length-to-wave-length ratios to compare the wavelengths differences in days. Furthermore, we analysed the seasonality of the wave peaks and the time between the peak values of two waves. Results Second waves, the Spanish Flu excluded, were usually about the same height and length as first waves and were observed in 93% of the 57 described epidemic events of influenza pandemics and in 42% of the 19 epidemic events of the SARS-CoV-1 pandemic. Third waves occurred in 54% of the 28 influenza and in 11% of the 19 SARS-CoV-1 epidemic events. Third waves, the Spanish Flu excluded, usually peaked higher than second waves with a peak-to-peak ratio of 0.5. Conclusion While influenza epidemics are usually accompanied by 2nd waves, this is only the case in the minority of SARS-Cov1 epidemics.

Psychological Reactions to the COVID-19 Pandemic

Diogenes ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lyubka Lyubenova-Vashkova
Keyword(s):  
Infectious Disease ◽  
Personality Traits ◽  
Psychological Factors ◽  
Mental Stress ◽  
Negative Emotionality ◽  
Personality Characteristics ◽  
Swine Flu ◽  
Psychological Reactions ◽  
Modern Methods ◽  
Spanish Flu

COVID-19 is a new infectious disease and as such we are faced with uncertainties in its course and treatment. Modern methods of containing pandemics are more behavioral and educational – psychological factors play a role in their success. Previous pandemics such as the Spanish flu, the swine flu and SARS have had effects on mental stress and disorders. Personality characteristics give a clearer look at vulnerability to stressors – people with high scores of negative emotionality (neuroticism) will face serious difficulties during pandemics. The different personality traits are relevant to our understanding of pandemic-related anxieties and sufferings, and the psychological effect of pandemics may be more pronounced, more widespread, and more lasting than the pure somatic effect of the infection.

scholarly journals Passive immunity to pandemic H1N1 2009 by swine flu parties

2009 ◽  
Vol 3 (10) ◽  
pp. 739-743 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nitish Aggarwal ◽  
Pushkar Aggarwal
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
General Population ◽  
Swine Flu ◽  
Passive Immunity ◽  
Pandemic H1n1 ◽  
Scientific Publications ◽  
The Public ◽  
Spanish Flu ◽  
Public Health Officials ◽  
Pandemic H1n1 2009

The general population is concerned about the probable devastating effects of pandemic H1N1 2009.  Based upon the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic, scientific publications and theories, the idea of swine flu parties to achieve passive immunity against pandemic H1N1 2009 has been proposed. Public health officials have asked the general public not to resort to this method. However, no concrete evidence of the reasoning behind the recommendation has been given. In this paper, we have dynamically modeled the effect of swine flu parties on the immunity achieved and associated mortality for a period of two years. The simulations show that the public should not organize or participate in swine flu parties as they will likely increase swine flu-associated mortality.

Swine Flu Perception Scales

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. James Rubin ◽  
Richard Amlôt ◽  
Lisa Page ◽  
Simon Wessely
Keyword(s):  
Swine Flu

US swine flu cases dissected

Nature ◽  
2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Natasha Gilbert
Keyword(s):  
Swine Flu
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