Influenza Epidemiology Report

Epidemiology is the scientific approach of studying factorial determinants that affect the spread of communicable, or infectious, disease in an effort to control its occurrence and distribution. For the purpose of this paper, we will be examining the incidence and epidemiology of influenza. Influenza, or flu, is a viral infection that affects the respiratory system. There are three types of influenza virus: A, B, and C (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2014). Types A and B are responsible for the occurrence of seasonal epidemics that affect up to 20% of the population each year. Type C is not usually associated with epidemics, and symptoms are typically mild in comparison to Type A and B flu virus.
Influenza causes between 3,000 and 49,000 deaths and 200,000 hospitalizations annually in the United States (WebMD, 2016). Common symptoms include fever, headache, myalgia, rhinitis, sore throat, malaise, and an unproductive, persistent cough. Many of these symptoms mimic those of the common cold, except colds are usually not accompanied by fever, myalgia, headache, or malaise. Historically, people have referred to gastrointestinal issues, such as nausea, vomiting, or diarrhea, as having the ‘stomach flu.’ However, there is no such thing as a ‘stomach flu’ and the symptoms that individuals experience are likely from gastrointestinal viruses. While nausea and vomiting can accompany influenza, it is primarily respiratory in nature. Infected …show more content…
Factors influencing vaccination include vaccine supply, socioeconomic status, public health promotion, ethnicity, language and literacy barriers, personal beliefs, perception, and co-morbidities (Nagata et al., 2013). Here again, education and access to healthcare may be limited due to the lack of financial resources to attain vaccination, isolated socioeconomic status, language or literacy barriers, and public health promotion