Thu 15 Oct 2009
H1N1 in NYC
Posted by morrisd under Beats
[5] Comments
Well ladies and gentlemen it’s that time of year again. The air is becoming crisp and the foliage is changing colors… That’s right it’s flu season. Earlier this year the H1N1 virus or “swine flu” spread around the country and caused many deaths and an ensuing media frenzy. According to a Fox News report in July, more than nine hundred New Yorkers have been hospitalized with swine flu since April and a staggering forty-seven have died as a result of the flu.
What is the H1N1 virus and how is it different than the standard seasonal influenza? H1N1, which was referred to as “swine flu” because it contains many of the same genes as influenza viruses that occur in pigs, was first detected in the United States in April of 2009. Further studies on the H1N1 strain showed that it contained two genes from pig influenza, and one gene from bird and human influenza strains. Scientists call such a virus a “quadruple reassortant” virus. The fact that it is a triple hybrid makes the H1N1 strain extra virulent. The World Health Organization (WHO) declared on June 11th, 2009 that a pandemic of H1N1 was imminent.
According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), an average of 36,000 people in the United States die from influenza related complications and 200,000 people are hospitalized with flu-like symptoms. Over ninety percent of the deaths occur in people above the age of sixty-five years old. After the CDC analyzed their data about the 2009 outbreak of H1N1 they deduced that the H1N1 strain “caused greater disease burden in people younger than twenty-five years of age than older people. At this time, there are few cases and few deaths reported in people older than sixty-four years old, which is unusual when compared to seasonal flu.”
The H1N1 virus is contagious and spreads easily from human to human. People may contract the virus by being in close contact with a virus carrier. Coughing and sneezing by an infected person may spread the virus. People who touch contaminated surfaces and then touch their nose or mouth may also contract the virus. Infected people may spread the virus to others from one day before getting sick up to about a week after getting sick.
There has been speculation that the H1N1 strain has perhaps mutated since cases of swine flu have been popping up at a faster rate than earlier this year and deaths seem to be increasing. New wave swine flu fears first arose when a Cornell University student died from complications associated with the virus in early September. Cornell reported that over five hundred students had come down with flu-like symptoms in the first few weeks of classes. It is only a matter of time before this “new wave” makes its way to New York City’s limits. In early September, the WHO reported that in the week preceding their report six hundred and twenty five people died from swine flu across the globe. That number equates to more than twenty percent of the 2,837 known deaths since the virus first emerged in Mexico and the United States this past April. The United Nations agency in charge of monitoring the strain for any mutations reports that, “There is no sense that the virus has mutated or changed in any sense. We are continuing to see many more deaths because we are seeing many, many more cases.” We are fortunate that the swine flu showed no signs of mutation because with flu season fast approaching scientists will be able to work better with their current samples to produce an effective vaccine.
Focusing on New York City, we seem to be more prone to a severe outbreak because of our high population density. The CDC estimated that by this past July, over half a million New York City residents had been infected by the H1N1 virus. They make this claim using statistical models and say that the number of infections is much greater than the actual number of reported cases.
To preempt flu season, schools all over the city are distributing flu vaccines to students, and ads on trains urge people to avoid public transportation if they have flu like symptoms. Baruch College, located in the Flatiron district of Manhattan, seems to be doing a good job in preventing an outbreak of the flu within their student body. At Baruch there have been no reported cases of H1N1 last spring or to date, this fall. When asked about this “new wave” of swine flu, nurse practitioner Juliette Blount, who works at the Baruch College student Health Center said, “there have not been any reports of clusters [more than six confirmed cases in one location] here in New York city to my knowledge, to date this fall.
There are many simple steps New Yorkers can take to ensure they don’t get infected. One of the best things people can do to prevent the spread of the flu is to cover their mouths’ with a tissue when coughing or sneezing, and avoid coughing or sneezing into their hands. People should often wash their hands with soap and water or use alcohol based hand sanitizers after coughing or sneezing. Avoid people who are sick, and avoid contact with others if you are sick yourself. To stress the severity of swine flu, a 19 year old Brooklyn resident who suffered from the disease in June told me “As far as I can remember, it [having swine flu] was hands down the worst I have ever felt in my entire life. It was the worst week ever.”
As we approach flu season I urge all New Yorkers to get vaccinated at a local clinic or school. One may find the nearest clinic to their homes at www.nyc.gov/flu. Everyone should make sure to maintain sound hygienic practices to ensure the good health of your fellow New Yorkers and say “Fuhgeddaboudit” to swine flu.
I agree with the comments before me. While the witty introduction grabbed my attention and was entertaining, swine flu is a serious issue causing numerous deaths; so perhaps you can re-word it to still make it interesting, but serious.
I would also suggest speaking in the third person and using references, such as “Doctors recommend…” as to build more credibility.
Your introduction immediately caught my attention. However, it would have been better if it was a more formal introduction since the rest of your article seemed so scientific. Your intro was catchy, but I do not think it was appropriate for a scientific article.
I definitely agree with the other comments — your article is understandable and contains a lot of good info. Though the colloquial language definitely changes the tone of your article a little and makes it sound more like an editorial at times (i.e. using “I”, “we” or “your”). I don’t think it’s too much of an issue, if that’s the approach that you want to use to relate more directly to your audience– though if so, I think it should be a more cohesive tone throughout the whole article.
Your humor caught my attention, but since you point out that swine flu is a serious issue, you should stick more to scientific language. I appreciated that you didn’t stuff your writing with overcomplicated words and explained the H1N1 virus in a way that was comprehensible.
If you know statistics about which borough or neighborhood has the greatest rate of the swine flu, you can go into detail about that. I like that you included a source who suffered from the swine flu because it added a more human touch. But perhaps you could clarify further on how the swine flu affected the Brooklyn resident and disrupted his/her life to really stress the seriousness of the situation.
You should try to work on being less colloquial, because with science articles, that detracts from your credibility. Also, I didn’t really get a sense of what neighborhood you were focusing on. I think it might be interesting to look at the neighborhood with the first NY high school to be infected, from those kids who came from Mexico after spring break.
In paragraph 3 you could parallel H1N1 to the influenza epidemic at the beginning of the last century. This bit: “caused greater disease burden in people younger than twenty-five years of age than older people,” is what made me think of that connection. I think it could strengthen your article by making it seem urgent & important.