Just got out of the Hospital. I had a flu, pneumonia, Whooping Cough and TB Shot! I still got it. Sepsis and cytokine storm Sepsis is a severe systemic inflammatory response and is one example of a pathologic condition associated with cytokine storm. Sepsis is an often lethal hemodynamic collapse which is usually the result of a super infection by gram-negative bacterial endotoxins. Sepsis is also classified as septic shock syndrome (SSS). Cytokine storm can also result from viral infections such as influenza, and an exaggerated systemic immune response to that particular viral infection (designated a type A, subtype H1N1 virus) may have been the cause of high lethality seen in the influenza pandemic of 1918 to 1919. The great influenza pandemic was the most destructive pandemic in recorded world history, and killed more people (estimated between 20 to 50 million) than all casualties resulting from the first World War. Although the Spanish Flu pandemic affected an enormous percentage of the world wide population (up to 20% of the world population according to some sources), and killed between 20 and 50 million persons, no more than 5% of the people who contracted the Spanish Flu died (Brown et. al reported the highest death rate in India at 50 deaths per 1000 persons contracting the disease, or a five percent fatality rate). By comparison, the swine flu pandemic of 2009 killed an estimated 284,000 people. After 218 human cases of bird flu had been confirmed world-wide (as of May, 2006) the lethality rate stood at 57%. Should this strain develop into a pandemic, and should it keep its current mortality rate, it has the potential to be 10 times more lethal than the 1918 pandemic. Influenza A, The most lethal influenza and the precursor of all Pandemic Viruses Influenza viruses responsible for causing pandemics are influenza type A viruses which emerge as a result of a process called antigenic shift”. Antigenic shift causes an abrupt or sudden, major change in certain proteins on the surface of the influenza A virus (specifically the hemagglutinin or “HA” protein and the neuraminidase or the “NA” protein). Certain antigenic shifts may allow the virus to become more easily transmissible, more contagious. Once this type of shift occurs, wide-spread infection usually follows quickly. Antigenic shift is most dangerous when it occurs in a virus that has demonstrated high lethality, such as the H5N1 bird flu.
Posted on: Fri, 24 Jan 2014 01:11:02 +0000