Avian Influenza

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A Killer Flu

Scientific Experts Estimate the ‘Inevitable’ Major Epidemic of New Influenza Virus Strain Could Result in Millions of Deaths if Preventive Actions Are Not Taken

212 kb pdf

An Investor’s Guide to Avian Flu

Asian Bird Flu: Behind the Headlines

To better understand the nature of bird flu and the unique dangers it represents, one needs a fuller understanding of influenza in general—its varieties, its causes, its means of transmission, and its risks. This article seeks to provide that information, so that readers can better put into perspective the headlines on this health risk and the actions being taken against it.

Avian Influenza: Economic and Social Impacts

There are two distinct but closely linked levels of potential impacts and costs, associated with the potential stages of the disease.  There is the current situation, with animal-to-animal and limited animal-to-human transmission of the H5N1 avian flu virus, which, however, as it continues, also increases the probability of a second stage, with human-to-human transmission and a global influenza pandemic, with enormously greater costs.  Animal and human health considerations are thus closely linked.

Second, economic and social considerations are an intrinsic part of the problem. Broadly speaking there are two types of economic costs arising from this as from other infectious diseases.  There is the cost of increased illness and death among humans and animals, and there is the cost of the preventive, control and coping strategies adopted by the public and private sectors to avoid or reduce illness and death.  The benefits of the response strategies are the illness and death that they help avert. 

Avian Influenza and Business Continuity Management

Bird flu – the pandemic clock is ticking

Every year for the past thirty years a new infectious agent, or an old one thought to be under control, has emerged to cause disease in humans.  Nearly two thirds of infectious diseases in humans come from animals, and they are known as zoonoses or zoonotic infections.  Viruses are particularly good at jumping the species barrier because they are able to infect a wide range of animals, including humans.  Some notable examples of viruses that cause zoonoses include rabies, Ebola, Marburg, Lassa, hanta, morbilli and influenza.

Illinois and the 1918 Spanish Flu Epidemic

The Spanish flu, also known as the "Spanish Lady," is said to have originated in the United States at Fort Riley KS, the first of 107 cases being reported on 11 March, 1918. The original source is said to have been in Europe, most likely in Spain. As servicemen were shipped overseas to Europe, they came in contact with the bug. When they began to return home, the epidemic hit the East coast ports like wildfire.  In a short time, the flu made it's way to 46 states, killing more than 500,000 people by December 1918, and leaving 20 million seriously ill citizens to fight the disease.

Lessons of 1918-19 Spanish flu epidemic guiding preparedness

As many as 50 million people worldwide died from the Spanish influenza epidemic.  Peterborough wasn't spared as several local residents died due to Spanish influenza or complications associated with it, such as pneumonia. From mid October to early November 1918, local health authorities ordered theatres, schools, churches and other public places in the city closed so people couldn't gather and possibly spread the disease

Remembering the Spanish influenza epidemic of 1918

The flu hit Vermont in September at a time when many U.S. soldiers, including some from Vermont, were battling German soldiers in Europe during World War I. Before the flu reached the Green Mountain State, U.S. troops were dying from its effects on the battlefronts. The flu swept into Vermont with a vengeance during the waning days of September. It left as quickly as it came. By the end of October, the epidemic had let go of its grip on Vermont, leaving hundreds dead and changing the lives of countless thousands of others.

These are the tales of the some of the few remaining survivors in Vermont.

Spanish flu

The Spanish Flu Pandemic, also known as the Great Influenza Pandemic, the 1918 Flu Epidemic, and La Grippe, was an unusually severe and deadly strain of avian influenza, a viral infectious disease, that killed some 25 million to 50 million people worldwide in 1918 and 1919. It is thought to have been one of the most deadly pandemics so far in human history.

Spanish flu epidemic in 1918 in Geneva, Switzerland

In Geneva, Switzerland, the Spanish flu epidemic affected more than 50% of the population. The mortality was higher among those aged between 20–49 years and among men. The socioeconomic impact was very important, as the outbreak led to severe dysfunctions, including in health services. This epidemic shows the socio-economical burden that may be associated with influenza and highlights the need for pandemic preparedness

The "Spanish Lady"

Not the "Spanish Lady" of sea-shanty fame but influenza, which may be older than mankind. Through written records we can trace outbreaks of influenza-like disease back to 412 BC. More precise descriptions of the disease date from an epidemic in 1173, since which time there have been numerous outbreaks that have varied in severity. The most intense, to date, occurred in the last year of World War 1: the so-called "Spanish Lady" or "Spanish Flu" pandemic of 1918-19 which infected one billion people, half the world’s population at that time, and killed between forty and fifty million.

The 1918 Spanish Flu Pandemic, and the Hong Kong Incident

By the fall of 1918 a strain of influenza seemingly no different from that of previous years suddenly turned so deadly, and engendered such a state of panic and chaos in communities across the globe, that many people believed the world was coming to an end. It struck with amazing speed, often killing its victims within just hours of the first signs of infection. So fast did the 1918 strain overwhelm the body's natural defenses, that the usual cause of death in influenza patients---a secondary infection of lethal pneumonia---oftentimes never had a chance to establish itself. Instead, the virus caused an uncontrollable hemorrhaging that filled the lungs, and patients would drown in their own body fluids.

The Economic Effects of the 1918 Influenza Epidemic

The 1918-19 epidemic was also unique in that a disproportionate number of its victims were men and women aged 15 to 44, giving the age profile of mortality…and leading to extremely high death rates in the prime working ages.  We examine the impact of this exogenous shock on subsequent economic growth using data on US states for the 1919-30 period.

219 kb pdf

The Forgotten Killer

In the ten months between September 1918 and June 1919, 675,000 Americans died of influenza and pneumonia. When compared to the number of Americans killed in combat in World War I, World War II, Korea, and Vietnam combined- 423,000- it becomes apparent that the influenza epidemic of 1918-1919 was far more deadly than the war which it accompanied. (Crosby, 206-207) The United States and the rest of the world had been exposed to such epidemics in the past, but never at such a severe cost in human life.

The Great Influenza Epidemic of 1918

Amidst a time of war and apparent medicinal improvements, the American people responded to this sudden, strange killer flu with confusion, panic, and new, often useless measures.  An epidemic as great in magnitude as this one had not occurred since the Black Death of 1348-1349.  It affected the whole world and has been dubbed, “one of the world’s worst short-term demographic disasters.”

59 kb pdf

The Influenza Pandemic of 1918

The influenza pandemic of 1918-1919 killed more people than the Great War, known today as World War I (WWI), at somewhere between 20 and 40 million people. It has been cited as the most devastating epidemic in recorded world history. More people died of influenza in a single year than in four-years of the Black Death Bubonic Plague from 1347 to 1351. Known as "Spanish Flu" or "La Grippe" the influenza of 1918-1919 was a global disaster.

The Spanish Flu Epidemic of 1918 in Ottawa

This paper will introduce influenza and explain the historical 

context of the 1918 pandemic.  It will also present an historical 

overview of past research into the cause of the virus, and then 

look at the 1918 pandemic through the eyes of an 

epidemiologist by applying the ecological framework to the 

virus.  Specific attention will be given to the case in Ottawa.

The Spanish Influenza among Norwegian ethnic minorities 1918-1919

Spanish Influenza swept the entire globe in four waves in 

the years 1918-1920, leaving a billion people sick, more 

than half of the world’s population at that time.  It killed 

between 50 and 100 million, five to ten times the death toll 

of soldiers during World War I.

382 kb pdf

THE SPANISH INFLUENZA EPIDEMIC OF 1918 WAS CAUSED BY VACCINATIONS

As has been stated before, all medical and non-medical 

authorities on vaccination agree that vaccines are designed 

to cause a mild case of the diseases they are supposed to

 prevent. But they also know and admit that there is no way

 whatsoever to predict whether the case will be mild or 

severe - even deadly. With this much uncertainty in dealing

 with the very lives of people, it is very unscientific and 

extremely dangerous to use such a questionable procedure

 as vaccination.