Report on Influenza Infection

Running head: INFECTION
Infection
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1INFECTION
Influenza commonly known as flu is one of the most pressing infectious disease present
in the community. The influenza disease caused by different influenza virus is highly contagious
as it easily get transmitted from one person to another by air droplets when an infected person
cough. It mainly affected the nose, throat and lungs and causes illness in about 5-20% US
population each year. Influenza infection is associated with symptoms like fever, chills, muscle
pain, fatigue and runny nose. In certain cases severe complication are also seen and this is the
reason for about 2,00,000 hospitalization in US each year. There is also reported case of about
49,000 deaths every year due to influenza related complications. To control this pressing
infection, the public health agency focuses on influenza vaccination coverage every year.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDS), children should get
vaccinated before early fall because the activity of the flu increases between the month of
December and February (Influenza (Flu) 2017).
Influenza vaccination is also a targeted program in many countries like Canada and
United States. In case of Canada, the main purpose of influenza vaccination is to minimize
serious complications and rate of hospitalization and death. There are certain age group of people
who are at high risk of influenza infection such as older people above 65 years, infants between 6
months to 5 years and people suffering from other medical comorbidities (Thommes et al. 2017).
Hence, the National Advisory Committee on Immunization emphasize on vaccination in people
with high risk of influenza infection.

2INFECTION
Reference
Influenza (Flu). 2017. Nfid.org. Retrieved 18 November 2017, from
http://www.nfid.org/influenza
Thommes, E.W., Kruse, M., Kohli, M., Sharma, R. and Noorduyn, S.G., 2017. Review of
seasonal influenza in Canada: Burden of disease and the cost-effectiveness of quadrivalent
inactivated influenza vaccines. Human vaccines & immunotherapeutics, 13(4), pp.867-876.