The truth is, as the article states, there is a lot we do not know about the flu. We aren’t sure why it is bad some years and not so bad other years. It is possible, as Dr. Anthony Mounts from the WHO in Geneva said, that this winter’s mild weather could be the cause. If people are outside more, which was often the case this warm winter, then they would not be crowded indoors, where it is easier to spread germs.
Scientists said there is unlikely to be one single answer as to why there were few flu cases this year. Many even think that the answers are beyond temperature and humidity indications. As Dr. Allison McGeer said, “It's very clear that it's not just having a milder than usual winter that makes a difference."
Even in parts of Europe where this winter has been particularly bad, there has been little flu activity.
In addition, increased levels of flu vaccines don’t really explain the low levels of flu cases. Even vaccinating 25-40% of a whole population won’t stop the flu from striking.
Even though the number of cases of flu have been significantly low this year, it is still important to note that there have still been many cases. It just has not hit the peak that it has been known to reach in the past. The closest peak Toronto has seen was in the past two weeks when there has been about 250 hospitalizations.
The circulating viruses have been around for some time, which means people will have many antibodies for the different influenza strains from the last couple of years.
The mild flu season this past year is worrisome as to what next year will bring. Some think it will be a hard hit. McGeer adds that the severity of the flu season is something we will never really be able to predict.
This article ties directly into our Influenza unit. We studied how the different H and N strains determine the seasonal flu, and the author of this article describes how tricky it can be to tell which one is coming. Scientists are also worried we could get a bad hit of influenza like the year 1918.
I think this article was really interesting and it caught my eye immediately. After hearing about all of the horrible deaths from influenza in the past, to see an article about how mild the disease was this season really shocked me. It also makes me think if there will be a serious outbreak in the near future, and how it can affect a town such as Reading.
I agree with Christine and think this article is very interesting. It is so strange to think that last winter everyone was panicking about the flu and this year there weren't nearly as many cases. This just goes to show how the flu can be unpredictable. I also think it is interesting that scientists don’t know when the flu will be bad. We know that this disease has been a problem since 1918, possibly even earlier, and scientists are still trying to understand the flu. This article shows how much people still have to learn about diseases such as the flu and this article can relate directly to our class.
ReplyDeleteI find this article to be interesting because flu always seems to be topic of discussion even when its barely affecting anyone. It seems that flu is constantly a topic of panic so when the flu is mild during the flu season that is even a bigger issue. Hopefully in the near future we do not have a major flu pandemic but we should always be prepared because like the article says, the flu is unpredictable.
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