In the article, “Flu Widespread, Leading a Range of Winter’s Ills”, written by Donald G. McNeil Jr., was a very interesting piece in the New York Times, involving the controversial subject of the flu and how even with the vaccination, during the season of winter people are still being affected by this ailment. There have been seen this season that there are three types of this flu epidemic with an aggressive virus, a new norovirus, and a “whooping cough”. An interesting way to track the course of this virus during the flu season is seen through Google’s national flu trend map, where people have the ability to see the solid widespread red occurrences of flu areas being abundant. The flu can also be considered influenza in hospitals, and those even exhibiting symptoms such as a mild cold will be asked to wear masks and avoid the maternity wards at hospitals. There have been 532 patients this year at Mass Gen. Hospital diagnosed with influenza, with 167 patients admitted, which can show an even greater quantity than the swine flu pandemic of 2009-2010. Also this flu can prove to have detrimental effects on the population seeing as the predominant flu strain circulating is the H3N2, which was the same strain that was raging during the relatively 2003-2004 “Fujian flu”. However, the flu shots have seen to be relatively effective this year, as seen from this year’s flu shot that is well-matched to the strain. In addition to this the norovirus, or stomach flu, has also been affecting the public, and has been including new strains and first appeared in Australia and is known as the Sydney 2012 variant. It seen that this norovirus can be very contagious and in Maine there have been hospitals forced to shut down whole wards in order to decontaminate.
This article can be related to my life and the actions that are encircling in our community because as seen from the possible declaration by New York City from the city health department, this is not going to be labeled an emergency so that people do not panic, but there are those who are mildly sick showing symptoms. This is affecting our community, because I recently received my flu shot for this year and I am relieved that I am being vaccinated for a possibly lethal strain of a flu that could affect my life. In addition to this, in the town of Bronxville the stomach virus is circulating, as seen from the recent illness of Cyrus Adamiyatt, our own Biology student. Therefore, it is very important for the town to be aware of the possibility of a sickness such as the flu and to seek treatment if one feels ill.
This article was very effectively laid out by Donald McNeil because he was able to begin with interesting points about the flu, and even the different types of flus that are affecting the people today. He then continues on to illustrate the ways in which the flu has been able to tracked and then the extent and power to which this flu has showed to the public, such as a strong construction worker. This article was also helpful in describing how the flu shots work and how there is a possibility that the flu can be relatively ineffectual if the patient is elderly and thus the antibodies may not be strong enough.
-Grace O'Toole
Overall, I though grace did a very good job with her review of the article, "Flu Widespread, Leading a Range of Winter’s Ills." She kept her summary concise and to the point, and she did not include any information that was unnecessary to the summary of this article. The summary included all the important information, and it still managed to be quite short. I also liked how Grace included specific comparisons of this season's flu to epidemics of previous years, like the Swine Flu and the Fujian Flu. This gave me a better understanding of just how bad this epidemic is. Finally, Grace did a very good job of explaining how this flu epidemic might affect our lives. She helped me to understand the importance of getting vaccinated in this year's outbreak.
ReplyDeleteAlthough Grace did a very good job with her article review, there are a few places where she could have improved. I think Grace could have proof read her review a few more times because some of her sentences did not make sense, making the review hard to read. Grace also could have included some quotes form the article because these give a first hand source, and help to better explain the issue.
Overall, Grace did a very good job with her review of this article. I found it amazing how the flu can have such bad effects, since it is downplayed so much by the government and the media. I usually do not see the flu as such a serious thing, however Grace's review helped me to understand just how bad it is.
Henry Lilly AP BIO
ReplyDeleteGrace did a very good job of describing the article and its reasons for why so many people have gotten sick this winter. It did a good job describing the three main types that have come up most frequently this winter, which are the aggressive virus, a new norovirus, and a whooping cough. She also did a good job of explaining how people can track the course of the flu virus. This is done through Google’s national flu trend map, where people see the solid widespread red occurrences of flu areas being abundant. One last aspect of this review that was particularly well presented was how truly effective this virus is, as many Maine hospitals have been shut down in order to decontaminate.
I believe this article could have been improved by providing a little more background on how this virus comes up. Why does it appear so much in the winter? How is a disease like this transmitted between one another? It was a little unclear about the symptoms of the flu; so providing more detail on that also would’ve helped. I was also struggling with how doctors are attempting to treat the flu, besides the vaccine because clearly that cannot always do the job.
I was very surprised to hear that hospitals have been over flown with patients with the flu and even shut down because of it, as I thought of the flu only as a minor cold that could be easily cured through a vaccine.