Abbey Thomas
Mr. Ippolito
AP Biology
19 January 2017
“What Makes This Flu Season So Bad.” National Geographic, National Geographic Society, 17 Jan.
2018,news.nationalgeographic.com/2018/01/flu-influenza-h3n2-virus-outbreak-vaccine-spd/.
For current event number 14, I reviewed “What Makes This Flu Season So Bad” by Sarah Gibbens. The article discusses how the 2017/2018 flu season has been particularly harmful because of an ineffective flu vaccine and a dangerous strand. The Center for Disease Control has reported that, “Out of every 100,000 hospitalizations in the U.S., 22.7 were for the flu in the first week in January” (CDC). These numbers are close to the data from a particularly severe flu season that occured in 2015, which had 29.9 out of 100,000 hospitalizations being flu related. The director of the National Institute of Health’s Institute of Allergies and Infectious Disease Anthony Fauci says that there are three reasons that this flu season has been particularly bad. Firstly, the main strain of influenza that is affecting people in the U.K., U.S.A, and Australia is the H3N2 strain, which is often “associated with complications” (Fauci). Secondly, H3N2 is an uncommon strain, and so people do not have a lot of exposure to the strand, and so there is no immunity built up. Lastly, the flu vaccine this year has only been 30% effective against this strand, the low effectiveness is due to a mutation in the virus that the vaccine was was incubating with.
Since this flu season has already been a severe one, it is important for people to understand how the flu works and what precautions can be taken to avoid getting sick. Even though the flu vaccine can only be 60% effective due to the flu’s rapid mutations, “that makes it at least 60 percent more effective than not getting a vaccine at all, it still means the rapidly mutating virus has a fighting chance,” (Gibbens). This article also included the future of the flu vaccine and research. Biotechnical company, Vaccitech, is looking to create a “Holy Grail” vaccine that will stop the need to remake a vaccine in each year. The CEO of Vaccitech, Tom Evens, hopes that his approach to targeting the part of the flu that does not change, the vaccine will be universal and more effective. A discovery like this will change the way the flu, and possibly other viruses, are treated in the future.
Overall Gibbens’ articles was very informative on the flu and the future of the flu. One thing she did very well was include quotes and research from very credible sources like the CDC, NIH, and the WHO, these sources increased the validity of her article. Another thing she did well was include the future of flu research. Although Gibbens’ article was very well done, one thing she could have included is more information on why the flu vaccine is not as effective, and how it can be made to be more effective before the “Holy Grail” vaccine is researched and approved. Even though the author could have included more details, her article was very informative on the flu.
Timothy Cushman
ReplyDeleteMr. Ippolito
Ap Biology - Current Events Comment
19 January 2018
Current Events #14
“What Makes This Flu Season So Bad.” National Geographic, National Geographic Society, 17 Jan.2018,news.nationalgeographic.com/2018/01/flu-influenza-h3n2-virus-outbreak-vaccine-spd/
Abbey wrote a great review of the article, “What Makes This Flu Season So Bad.” Abbey did many things well in her review. Firstly, she wrote a great summary of the article that touched on the most important topics while keeping the reader interested. For example, she went into brief detail about the three reasons the flu season has been bad, a very important part of the article. Abbey’s choices of what to include and what to leave out helped the reader gain a better understanding of the flu virus. Another aspect of her review that was done well was including data from the article. Abby wrote, “Out of every 100,000 hospitalizations in the U.S., 22.7 were for the flu in the first week in January.” This allows the reader to better grasp the severity of the flu virus. By adding data Abbey is also adding credibility to her review by backing her claims up with data. A third aspect of Abbey’s article that was done well was her paragraph about the article’s importance to society. Abbey stated, “ Since this flu season has already been a severe one, it is important for people to understand how the flu works and what precautions can be taken to avoid getting sick.” This quote helps relate the article to everyone by saying how everyone can get sick from the flu but it is preventable. She also states how despite the vaccine only being 60% effective it is still better than not having the vaccine. The inclusion of these statements allows the reader to understand how this affects everyone, but that the likelihood of getting the virus can be lowered. Abbey’s review was a very interesting and informative read.
Despite an overall great review, there were two aspects that could be improved upon. Firstly, Abbey mentions that Vaccitech is, “looking to create a “Holy Grail” vaccine that will stop the need to remake a vaccine in each year.” However, she does not include details on how they plan to do this or if they already have plans for further research. By not including these details, the reader is left wondering what is being done to try and create this new vaccine. Secondly, she talked about how the vaccine was not very effective this flu season. However, she never said anything about how the vaccine worked. It would have been interesting if she added a few sentences about how the vaccine worked to help the reader understand why it was not effective. Despite these two areas for improvement, Abbey wrote a great review.
I chose to read this article because of its title. The flu is always an important topic as scientists are trying to find vaccines for the always changing virus. I was also interested in why this specific flu season was so bad and how the vaccine was much less effective than normal. From reading this review, I learned how viruses are always changing. I knew they adapted and changed, but I never understood to what extent they did and how it was hard to adjust vaccines to deal with the changes in the viruses.
Mairead Cain
ReplyDeleteMr. Ippolito
A.P. Biology
18 January 2018
“What Makes This Flu Season So Bad.” National Geographic, National Geographic Society, 17 Jan. 2018, news.nationalgeographic.com/2018/01/flu-influenza-h3n2-virus-outbreak-vaccine-spd/.
Abbey did a very nice job with her current event review on the article “What Makes This Flu Season So Bad,” by Sarah Gibbens. I decided to review her report as the title of the original current event title was very compelling considering the fact that this issue affects millions across the world. There are many good techniques she uses throughout her report. One example is how includes many thought-provoking quotes from experts in her current event review. These quotes, all of which are from experts of the topic, provided crucial information and an overall deeper understanding of the topic at hand. Another aspect of Abbey’s writing that was done rather well was when she provided statistics from the original current event concerning the amount of people hospitalized by the flu. This was an interesting addition of information as it offered tangible data. Lastly, I appreciated how Abbey was still critical concerning some of the evident flaws of the original report. She explained how she believes that the original report should have included more reasons as to why the flu vaccine is often not very effective.
Overall, Abbey’s report was extremely interesting and informative, however there are some details that she could tweak and add to make the current event report even that much better. I recommend that she explains what, exactly, causes different strains of the flu virus. This information would have given readers an even deeper understanding of the topic in discussion. Also, she could have discussed how, exactly, the information given in the report has an impact on the world of science. It would have been interesting to see her take on the article’s research.
Abbey’s report was very informative and I learned extensively about how this flu season is extremely dangerous. Before reading the report, I had little knowledge about how this year’s flu strain is extremely harmful. Countless people across the world are affected by the flu and it is important that scientists gain a deeper understanding about how to prevent the virus. Any breakthrough would surely help millions of people across the world.
Caroline McGrath
ReplyDelete1/13/20
Current Event 13
https://bronxvilleapbiology.blogspot.com/2018/01/abbey-thomas-mr.html
“What Makes This Flu Season So Bad.” National Geographic, National Geographic Society, 17 Jan.2018, news.nationalgeographic.com/2018/01/flu-influenza-h3n2-virus-outbreak-vaccine-spd/
I thought this review was very well written, starting with the summary, which gave a brief, yet detailed description of what the article was about without going into too much detail; as it left space for her to expand but still have enough information to understand the gist. Another well done aspect of the review, was the use of data from the article. Including quotes such as “Out of every 100,000 hospitalizations in the U.S., 22.7 were for the flu in the first week in January.” . This piece of information was very important and really summed up the article in a simple sentence. I also think the author’s critic of the article was fair, and raised some interesting questions that left me wanting more.
Although this piece was well written, I still found myself questioning some things. Including what causes the flu virus, in order to improve this review, I think background on the virus would be very helpful. I also think that instead of simply stating that the vaccine was ineffective, she could have explained why this was happening and what caused the vaccine to be a failure.
I chose this article because it is flu season, and from what I have heard this season is not going so well. I thought that the article was very interesting and provided me with useful information about what the flu vaccine is, as it is a strain of what the doctors presume the flu will be like in that specific year. It is simply a prediction, and that is why is is so commonly not great. I also learned how virus adapt and change, and the quickness of this process, which really made me wonder about my life and how I can be more prepared for the changing viruses.