The H1N1 flu pandemic began in 2009 after the world had already faced a flu pandemic shortly before that. The H5N1 pandemic had affected the areas of health care, government regulations, and media communications. The H1N1 virus (swine influenza) was first detected in a patient from California (The 2009 H1N1 Pandemic, 2010). After several such cases with patients who had not been connected in any way, the medical community started talking about a pandemic. Extensive studies of the virus confirmed that it possessed certain characteristics that had not been detected in similar viruses before. In summer, the pandemic was officially declared.
The vaccination campaign started in October. In early 2010, the World Health Organization (WHO) published its recommendations for the vaccine’s composition (The 2009 H1N1 Pandemic, 2010). A crucial factor in the struggle against the pandemic was communication. It ensured collaboration between different levels of society. It was also necessary to communicate with people who can be infected what the disease is about and how to behave to prevent it.
It is estimated that approximately every fifth person in the world was infected with the swine flu, and the disease became the cause of death of 200,000 people around the world (Tracking the progress of H1N1 swine flu, 2010). The end of the pandemic was announced in August 2010.
The incidence of the flu virus was lower than it had been feared. One of the possible reasons for the lower-than-anticipated infection rates is that elderly people were partially protected from the virus by antibodies from previous vaccinations and contacting similar viruses (The 2009 H1N1 Pandemic, 2010). Indeed, elderly people demonstrated significantly lower infection rates.
References
The 2009 H1N1 Pandemic: Summary Highlights, April 2009-April 2010. (2010). Web.
Tracking the progress of H1N1 swine flu. (2010). Web.