Influenza A (H1N1) Blog

Posts Tagged ‘prevention’

1. February 16, 2010

   Pandemic Influenza: the role of pigs

   Birds are important in the natural history of Influenza and flu, but there is another character besides us humans. The pigs.

   Our knowledge of Influenza in pig dates back to at least 1918 when it was observed that they could also catch the flu during a time when the human flu caused an uneven pandemic. In [...]

2. October 16, 2009

   Vaccine against flu: Distribution

   If you think that all problems are solved after you have read all about the long vaccine production, you’re wrong. There is still the issue of distribution:

   As the vaccine manufacturing process is slow and continuous, it is not possible to produce enough doses for everyone. Nowadays, our yearly vaccine production is of 700 to 900 [...]

3. October 10, 2009

   Vaccine against Influenza: Production

   We are in full production phase of vaccines against the Influenza A (H1N1), and some doses are already being distributed in the United States. However, if the virus was already circulating in May, why did it take so long to have the vaccine available? Understand why in this series of posts, beginning with the production [...]

4. October 7, 2009

   Find out more about Influenza by playing games

   There is a series of well conceived online games that help to expose and to understand concepts about the flu and other diseases. Find out what some of them have to add on
   The Great Flu

   With several resources that include instructive videos and relevant and realistic information about the Influenza, the [...]

5. October 1, 2009

   The effectiveness of school closings during an epidemic

   Children have a very important role transmitting the Influenza virus. Since they had less contact with the virus, their immune reaction is lower and less effective; therefore, during the infection they have a higher viral load. A higher viral load associated with contact with several other children from different places in the same school, playing [...]

6. September 28, 2009

   Influenza Air Transmission

   Although it is one of the most basic issues, Influenza virus transmission is still the target of much discussion. The role of contact contamination or through droplets and aerosols is considered a hot potato [1]. After a certain period without many experiments, nowadays we are aware that ferrets and guinea pigs may be infected by [...]