The main change in the treatment of Influenza over time was the development of the Flu vaccine, which reduces the risk of the pathogen infecting you by 50% - 60%. This and the develop of Adamantamine which was the first antiviral drug to have a potent enough effect against any virus. These new technologies were made possible by the ability that technology has given scientists to share their research. The idea of the flu vaccine only came about because of the development of vaccines of other diseases. This new technology would have given Jonas Salk and Thomas Francis the help they needed to invent the flu vaccine. …show more content…
The biggest impact of Influenza on human population was the 1918 - 1919 Influenza Pandemic.
The beginning of this pandemic (In the Spring 1918) was fairly mild, the people who did get sick experienced the normal symptoms, and recovered after a few days. But in the fall of the same year a second and extremely contagious wave of this virus appeared. After showing symptoms, patients would die between hours and days. Due to this the average life expectancy in America was reduced by 12 years. The deaths that this pandemic caused have been estimated at 20 - 50 million. But the most unusual aspect of this strain of influenza was that it infected so many young men and women; people who were normally not affected by the
pathogen.