Spanish influenza 1918
Spanish influenza 1918 is a serious influenza virus that can
range in severity from mild to fatal. The first serious outbreak came in 1918
when the virus was spread around the world through different ways but mostly
through ships where people who would contract the virus without being aware,
would mingle around the different ports they would dock the ship at and spread
the virus.
Most people associate widespread outbreaks with epidemics,
however, Spanish influenza 1918 is an infectious disease where the control of
spreading isn’t confined and a large portion of the population either have
contracted the virus or are in danger of contracting it.
The biggest difference between an epidemic and a pandemic is
that an epidemic is usually stabilized and the fear of the infectious disease
spreading is minimized or stabilized enough to ease concerns of being infected.
A pandemic is when an infectious disease is out of control
and is infecting a larger portion of the population with little to no immediate
cures or solutions to confine the virus.
Throughout history, many pandemics have occurred including
yellow fever and measles, but the most recent pandemics include the most recent
H1N1 scare in 2009 and the HIV/Aids pandemic of the Twentieth Century.
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Aids
Although Aids has seemed to have slowed down, it is still a
pandemic with many deaths each year attributed to the HIV virus, especially in
parts of Africa. The perceived slowdown is mostly due to education and the
knowledge of how to prevent the virus from spreading. The H1N1 is still a
concern, but modern medical advances have better-prepared society to deal with
such outbreaks and it ends up being downplayed in a shorter period of time.
This isn’t always good as it lets people’s guards down, but
as long as people, especially parents with their children stay aware and take
basic necessary precautions like washing hands and covering your mouth when
coughing and sneezing, as well as keeping a clean household environment, most
people don’t have to panic anymore.
If there is one thing we learned from the recent Spanish flu
virus outbreak, it’s that we should never get too comfortable and always take
away the risk factor by taking the necessary extra precautions. From 1918 to
2009, we didn’t hear much about the virus giving us 91 years to let those
guards down. There is no need to live in a bubble, but basic good hygiene
habits can keep that risk down and allow us to live a normal life without being
too much of a germaphobe.
