Who Is The Discoverer Of Influenza

Influenza came from an Italian word meaning influence

. It is an infectious viral disease and can infect humans, birds and mammals. This virus spreads through the air or any form of body contact. This viral infection results in the person suffering from headache, fever, cough and malaise. Some people may also develop sore throat, diarrhea, vomiting and nausea.

Earliest records of Influenza symptoms

This disease is very old dating back to human evolution. The believable account how it started is the theory that it had occurred when humans began owning animals. Hippocrates, an Ancient Greek doctor kept the first record of influenza symptoms almost 2400 years back. This same thing was also observed around the same time by an ancient Greek historian named Herodotus.

Influenza through ages

The first influenza epidemic in Eastern Europe was recorded in 1580s. According to experts, it started in Russia and spread later to Africa and Central Europe. Thousands were killed by this epidemic. Dr. J.S. Koen observed in 1918 that the symptoms of human and pig influenza were same.

The orthomyxoviridae strain of virus was discovered in 1931 and was observed by Richard Shope. He studied influenza symptoms in pigs in 1928 with N. McBryde. He infected healthy pigs with virus after getting their mucus samples. The he proved that influenza was indeed caused by virus.

Influenza viruses frequently change from time to time generally by mutation - it is the change in viral RNA. This regular changing frequently allows the virus to avoid the hosts immune system so that the host is vulnerable to change the influenza virus infections throughout the life.

Types of influenza viruses

There are three types of influenza virus: A, B and C. The most flexible is A and it can flourish anywhere. Presently, there are nearly fifteen HA serotypes and nine NA serotypes. As the virus continuously mutates, there are unknown subtypes present. The Type B only infects mammals and is less strong than Type A. It has no known serotypes. Influenzas of Type A and B cause epidemics of respiratory illness that might occur in almost every winter and are time and again related to increased rates of hospitalization and death.

Type C infects humans but hardly ever causes serious disease, it is generally caused by either a very soft respiratory sickness or absolutely no symptoms. It also does not have any known serotypes. It also does not cause epidemics and does not have severe health impact of influenza Type A and B.

Traits of Influenza

The influenza virus is therefore extremely small and has a size of about 80 to 120 nanometers in diameter. It appears spherical under a microscope. The external side of the virus has a fatty layer covered with glycoprotein spikes. Deep inside the fatty layer is a line of proteins.

Influenza in modern times

The modern flu epidemics are less deadly as compared with epidemics in the past. Modern medicine proved successful in stopping its spread. However, some worst flu epidemics in the last century were the Asian Flu of 1957, great Swine Flu of New Jersey in 1976 and also in Russia in 1977. The recent epidemic that has scared the world is known as the H1N1 virus and research studies are going on to know about its origin.

by: Tauqeer Hassan

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