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Pandemic Flu

Each year, between five and twenty per cent of Americans are stricken with the influenza, or flu, missing school and work as they recover from the fever, fatigue, coughing and aches that typically accompany the flu.

Caused by a virus, seasonal flu claims approximately 36,000 American lives each year. But sometimes, a flu that is stronger and more dangerous will emerge and spread around the world, causing increased illness and death. This flu is called a pandemic flu and a cause for concern amongst health professionals and citizens alike. Since 1900, there have been three pandemic flus.

The last pandemic flu to circle the globe was the Hong Kong flu. This pandemic flu first appeared in Hong Kong in July of 1968. By September, it had crossed the ocean or traveled across land to reach other parts of Asia, Europe and North America. The Hong Kong flu arrived in Africa and South America in 1969. It was considered a mild pandemic, killing an estimated million people around the world.

In April 2009, a new flu virus, dubbed the “swine flu” by the press because of its origins in pigs. emerged on the scene. It first caused thousands of people to become ill in Mexico, then spread to countries across the world via global travel. Health officials have been worried that this flu could become a pandemic because it’s newness means that the majority of people will not have a natural immunity to it. So far the spread has not been as rapid nor has the illness been as lethal as health experts first feared.

In this mini unit, you can: learn what pandemic flu is, discover the history of twentieth century pandemic flu, listen to a contemporary radio broadcast from 1968 which reported on the Hong Kong Flu and watch a video on flu and the avian flu (bird flu).

Reading

WHO’s Seasonal Factsheet on the Flu

Pandemics and Pandemic Threats since 1900

The Influenza Pandemic of 1918

Influenza 1918 – Real Stories

H1N1 Flu (Swine Flu) and You

Map & Timeline

Timeline of Human Pandemics

FluTracker Swine Flu Map

Multimedia

Radio news reports on the Hong Kong flu from 1968

Bird Flu video

Recommended Resource

Purple Death : The Mysterious Flu of 1918

Like Virginia Aronson's The Influenza Pandemic of 1918, but for a younger audience, this account of the 1918 flu outbreak is like a horror story as well as a factual account of scientific research.

"It was the deadliest six months in history. The flu infected nearly 2 billion people, just about everybody on the planet." In discussing what made this flu so deadly, Getz draws on his personal talks with several scientists, and his bibliography lists adult books as well as numerous recent newspaper articles.

Without sensationalizing, he writes clearly and dramatically, whether he's describing how vaccines work, how pneumonia was treated before the discovery of antibiotics, or what today's researchers are doing to find the flu virus preserved in the lungs of frozen bodies. There are occasional illustrations by David McCarty, as well as documentary photographs. And always there's the question, What if there's a pandemic today?

Author: David Getz
Click here to purchase at Amazon,
Price: $16.15