1 Vaccine to kill them all
The flu
Words:
epidemic - A widespread disease going from person to person
immune system - System in human body to try and prevent decease
Story: Currently the flu virus is the highest killing disease in the world killing about a million every year. Every year in the winter people flock to hospitals to get their flu shot even though sometimes they can get sick anyway. The flu virus can kill someone in many different ways, mainly indirectly or directly. The flu directly kills you by spreading through your body killing numerous cells until you die. However it also weakens your immune system which leaves you vulnerable to other infections or disease. That is how it indirectly leads to your undoing. The problem with vaccines against the flu is that it changes every year to something else, where diseases such as small pox are the same and can be erratic-ed. The flu virus is one of the smartest in that it mutates every season to evolve so your immune system cannot stop it again. Every year scientist make an educated guess as to which one it will be, however it is hard to predict the right one. There have been ideas, recently, to attack parts of the flu that cannot change and therefore will not mutate and will make the disease ineffective. At the moment scientists are testing safety issues on a vaccine that could be the answer to stopping the flu and saving lives. In the end only time will tell if we will be able to stop the flu.
Discussion: I chose this article because I have always been interested in the flu virus. The fact that it can change shape every year and spreads so rapidly is quite intriguing. Although this virus kills many people every year I believe people can learn a lot from it and how to stop it. In the future I hope to see change in the way people treat the flu.
Questions:
When will the vaccine be ready?
How does the flu virus mutate?
Will the vaccine be safe?
Will the vaccine really work?
