MicroVacc D125C
*Information Updated June 2017
If the Avian flu, including the H5N1 strain, rarely infects humans why is there such concern?
It is true that the H5N1 does not usually infect humans, although recently there have been over 100 cases worldwide of humans contracting H5N1. The concern surrounding the H5N1 strain has to do not with the current H5N1 strain, but what it could become. This concern lies in the fact that all influenza viruses mutate. Two different strains of virus, one human the other animal can join together in the human body and swap RNA and then mutate into a new stain all together. Because of this, the human flu that will infect millions this year is not the same virus which infected humans last year. It is because of this constant change in the flu viruses that flu vaccines are not always as effective year to year. When developing the latest flu vaccine scientist must try to anticipate how the human influenza viruses will change in order to develop a vaccine which will be effective against a strain which does not yet exist.
Has this happened in the past?
Yes, in the last 100 years there been three influenza pandemics. The following excerpt is taken from the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) website: (www.cdc.gov/flu/pandemic/keyfacts.htm)
During the 20th century, the emergence of several new influenza A virus subtypes caused three pandemics, all of which spread around the world within a year of being detected.
• 1918-19, “Spanish flu,” [A (H1 N1 )], caused the highest number of know influenza deaths. More than 500,000 died in the United States, and up to 50 million people may have died worldwide.
• 1957-58, “Asian flu,” [A (H2N2)], caused about 70,000 deaths in the United States.
• 1968-69, “Hong Kong flu,” [A (H3N2)], caused about 34,000 deaths in the United States. Both the 1957-58 and 1968-69 pandemics were caused by viruses containing a combination of genes from a human influenza virus and an Avian influenza virus. The 1918-19 pandemic virus appears to have an Avian origin.
D125C Labels (Small and Large)
D125C Label (Small)