Disscusion Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 10

Disscusion - Essay Example The CDF (2014) affirms that no cases of the new H7N9 virus have been detected in people and birds within the United States. A number of avian influenza viruses have been able to cross the species barrier on a few occasions with the effect of having a varying impact on human health. Kreijtz et al, (2013), point out that the majority of the humans infected with avian virus have presented with severe viral pneumonia before they eventually became critically ill. These symptoms are supported by findings by the CDC (2014) which reports that while some relatively mild cases of human H7N9 infection have been reported with most of these patients being diagnosed as having severe respiratory illnesses, an alarming one-third of infections result in death. The pandemic potential of the H7N9 virus is evidenced by the fact that the estimated mortality rate of one-third of infected patients provided by the CDC (2014) is found to be similar to the results of an epidemiologic study that was conducted on 82 confirmed cases of persons infected with the H7N9 virus in china by Li et al. (2013). In the study, it was found that the mortality rate for the disease was at about 21%, however, Li et al, (2013), highlighted the fact that this percentage was quite likely to increase as most of the patients in the study who were confirmed as having the H7N9 virus infection remained critically ill. Attempts to try and control the spread of the avian A (H7N9) virus by the controlled culling of birds in affected areas might not be particularly successful as is shown by the results of a study conducted by Olson et al, (2013). In the study, the researchers established that controlling human infection with the H7N9 avian influenza subtype by the culling of birds might prove to be quite challenging as a result of the probability that some of the infected domestic flocks might be asymptomatic. Olson et al, (2013), also