The last huge pandemic was the first flu pandemic in 1912 (correct me if this date is wrong) and back then they didnt have a vaccine and it was really horrible because people were lining up in the hospitals. Now it may just be me but i think the next pandemic is coming soon. I think this because a lot of people i know are sick with the same symptoms, a couple of my friends 2 of my teachers and the dean of my school. also there was that thing about h1n1 swine flu going around. my school missed 3 days because some people were getting sick. now i want your opinion on this, weather its a local occurrence or a major thing (or all my imagination)
Not if the h1n1 is still around. This is still lurking about, yet the actual bulk of the disease is dissipating. Only matter of time before we have to wait for this again in the next 100 years!
I've never had a flu shot and never had the flu. H1N1, Swine Flu, whatever you want to call it was over hyped by a bored media. A pandemic could hit at anytime but I wouldn't sit around worrying about it, the stress and fear could actually hurt you. If you remember before H1N1 there was mad cow, something else and something else going back for decades. The media just enjoys an easy story that can get the public to watch them and get their network ratings.
You're using the Bubonic Plague as an example? People back then didn't even know what germs and viruses were! They instead called this the Black Death and decided to kill off animals that they thought housed the virus.
Now, we actually have REAL science to work with. What that could have done wouldn't be 1000x as bad now.
Case in point the common cold as a child you get the virus and your body learns to adapt to it
Or you could say that there are over 200 forms of the cold virus and you never get the same one twice... That works too.
They Say if AIDS/HIV is not put under control within the next ten years it has the Ability to become Airborne simply by piggybacking on other airborne viruses such as the COLD.
My dictionary says: epidemic (noun) a widespread occurrence of an infectious disease in a community at a particular time. Usage:: A disease that quickly and severely affects a large number of people and then subsides is an epidemic. when used as an adjective: relating to the nature of an epidemic.
pandemic (adjective) of a disease prevalent over a whole country or the world. Usage: On the difference between pandemic, endemic, epidemic, see usage of epidemic. (noun) an outbreak of such a disease.
So, in other words, The epidemic, Swine (H1N1) Flu virus is pandemic in Africa, blah, blah...
Well, we aren't due for any kind of pandemic. In fact, we never were. These types of things just happen. There is no set time for when they happen, they just do.
Maybe we should deal with our crime pandemic while we're waiting.
I think this because a lot of people i know are sick with the same symptoms, a couple of my friends 2 of my teachers and the dean of my school.
That does not mean the illness is going to be the culprit of the next pandemic. Illnesses spread (obviously) and in a small environment like a school, it's bound to me more infectious. I don't think there's an upcoming pandemic. H1N1 was pretty much exaggerated by the media, whilst it was bad - it's flu - they caused a large scare which was not necessary.
Just because we now a lot more about germs/bacteria/viruses/diseases does not make us any safer.
Doctors doing their jobs is a step forwards though. Back then the doctor would wear a massive mask with reflective eyepieces because they though if they were looked in the eye by an evil glare they'd catch the disease. Not only that, none of the doctors were trained, they couldn't diagnose, they couldn't vaccinate, they couldn't give you advise - the best they could do was give you a remedy which was normally shaving a chicken's arse and attaching it to your boils.
Today our doctors can actually give medicines to fight diseases and recognise what the illness actually is. We're definitely safer. Back then doctors were stupid and didn't do their job, thus why many people died.
There are no cures for viruses. They are denaturalized through DNA synthesis. Another way to phrase this is that they are deactivated. They do remain in your body, but they are harmless. The body's immune system adapts against the said virus and inherently it gains a resistance to it. There is no immunity, only resistance. When another virus of the same type comes along the body fights it, but sometimes it gets through and can reactivate the deactivated viruses. That is the basic explaination of a virus. In response to the HIV/AIDS discussion,
AIDS is transmitted by Unprotected penetrative sex with someone who is infected. Injection or transfusion of contaminated blood or blood products, donations of semen (artificial insemination), skin grafts or organ transplants taken from someone who is infected. From a mother who is infected to her baby; this can occur during pregnancy, at birth and through breastfeeding. Sharing unsterilised injection equipment that has previously been used by someone who is infected.
that is a correct evaluation of the HIV virus. It can not be airborne transmitted, it actually will become denaturalized if it leaves the human body for an extended period of time. The Spanish Flu is only a type of flu or adaptation of flu. While the Bubonic Plague was so effective due to the limited medical knowledge of the time and the limited medicines. During our time period it would most likely be as effective as the seasonal flu.
