Influenza...

*QUESTIONS*

1. What is an epidemic?
- A widespread outbreak of an infectious disease; many people are infected at the same time.

2. What is a pandemic?
- An epidemic that spreads over a very wide area, such as an entire country or continent.

3. What is an infectious disease?
- A disease caused by a microorganism or other agent, such as a bacterium, fungus, or virus, that enters the body of an organism.

4. What is a virus?
- A microorganism that is smaller than a bacterium and can cause disease in humans, animals, or plants.

5. What makes the H1N1 virus a "novel" or "new" virus?
- That it has spread widely in the United States, causing mild symptoms in most of the 8,829 patients infected to date and killed 74 people.

6. How do viruses mutate?
- The changing of the virus genome happens in two ways: antigenic drift and antigenic shift.
*Antigenic drift: refers to the random, spontaneous mutations in viruses’ RNA that happen over time.
*Antigenic shift: is a very large and sudden mutation (changing of many nucleotides/many genes), that happens all at once.

7. What does it mean that this virus has "parts" from other known swine flus, human flus and American bird flus?
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8. How does that process happen?
- Antigenic drift: These mutations are small, usually the alteration of one nucleotide at a time. Viruses will gradually accumulate more and more mutations in their RNA, eventually causing them to become new strains.
-Antigenic shift: happens when two different types of virus infect the same cell. The viruses’ RNA get mixed up, forming new viruses that have major changes in their genome.

9. How is the flu vaccine created?
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10. Why are some viruses transmittable from human to human while others are not (avian flu)?
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11. How does Tamiflu work?
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12. Scientists worry that H1N1 might become resistant to Tamiflu. How might that happen?
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*READING COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS *

1. What is the most predictable thing about influenza?
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2. How many people have died in Mexico? (based on the article as well as on latest news)
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3. Name 3 countries where swine flu has been confirmed in the last three days.
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4. What are the symptoms of the swine flu?
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5. When was the outbreak of the Spanish flu?
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6. What percentage of the world population died of influenza then?
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7. Why was there an emergency vaccination program in 1976?
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8. Name a few actions the Mexican government has done to curb the spread of swine flu.
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9. What were the consequences for Mexico and Mexicans due to the actions taken by the government?
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10. What industries were particularly hard hit?
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*DISCUSSION QUESTIONS*

1. Mexico has shut down schools and other public spaces; do you think that was the correct thing to do? Why or why not?
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2. More people die from the regular flu then from swine flu, why do you think this became a big news story?
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3. Why did people stop visiting Mexico? Why have Mexicans been discriminated? Do you think the fear of the disease is justified?
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4. What questions about individual and human rights does preventing the spread of flu raise?
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