Using the information of cosmic rays to predict influence epidemic

A correlation between the incidence of influenza pandemics and increased cosmic ray activity is made. A correlation is also made between the occurrence of these pandemics and the appearance of bright novae, e.g., Nova Eta Car. Four indices based on increased cosmic ray activity and novae are proposed to predict future influenza pandemics and viral antigenic shifts

Evolutionary biology and anthropology suggest biome reconstitution as a necessary approach toward dealing with immune disorders

Industrialized society currently faces a wide range of non-infectious, immune-related pandemics. These pandemics include a variety of autoimmune, inflammatory and allergic diseases that are often associated with common environmental triggers and with genetic predisposition, but that do not occur in developing societies. In this review, we briefly present the idea that these pandemics are due to a limited number of evolutionary mismatches, the most damaging being ‘biome depletion’. This particular mismatch involves the loss of species from the ecosystem of the human body, the human biome, many of which have traditionally been classified as parasites, although some may actually be commensal or even mutualistic. This view, evolved from the ‘hygiene hypothesis’, encompasses a broad ecological and evolutionary perspective that considers host-symbiont relations as plastic, changing through ecological space and evolutionary time. Fortunately, this perspective provides a blueprint, termed 'biome reconstitution', for disease treatment and especially for disease prevention. Biome reconstitution includes the controlled and population-wide reintroduction (i.e. domestication) of selected species that have been all but eradicated from the human biome in industrialized society and holds great promise for the elimination of pandemics of allergic, inflammatory and autoimmune diseases

Past Influenza pandemics and their effect in Malta

The influenza virus type A has caused repeated pandemics throughout the 19th and 20 th century causing significant morbidity and mortality on a worldwide scale. The worst pandemic on record during the 20th century was that which occurred during 1917-19, the virus being assisted in its spread by the massive movement of persons brought on by World War I. The present increasing international travel has led to increasing alarm of the possible effects of an emerging pandemic with the WHO issuing guidelines to ensure the preparedness of health authorities. The various Influenza Type A pandemics of the late 19th and 20th century have had a varying effect on the Maltese community with influenza reaching epidemic proportions during the 1889-90 Asiatic Flu, 1917-19 Spanish Flu, 1957-58 Asian Flu pandemics, and 1968-69 Hong Kong flu, but no apparent effect during the 1977-78 Russian Flu pandemic.peer-reviewe

Political Precaution, Pandemics and Protectionism

Despite strong scientific evidence and representations made by international scientific organizations, a considerable number of countries have imposed import bans on pork in response to the H1N1 pandemic. The imposition of these barriers is contrary to WTO rules. The motivation for the imposition of these barriers does not appear to have arisen from producers’ requests or consumer lobbying – political precaution provides the motivation. There appears to be little control over political precaution in the rules of international trade. Hence, the balance between the strong rules of trade desired by firms wishing to engage in international commerce and the need, at times, for politicians to respond to requests for protection may be changing in favour of more protection. Keywords: H1N1, import bans, pork, precaution, protection, swineH1N1, import bans, pork, precaution, protection, swine, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Health Economics and Policy, International Relations/Trade, Livestock Production/Industries, Political Economy, Public Economics, Risk and Uncertainty,

The origin and prevention of pandemics.

Despite the fact that most emerging diseases stem from the transmission of pathogenic agents from animals to humans, the factors that mediate this process are still ill defined. What is known, however, is that the interface between humans and animals is of paramount importance in the process. This review will discuss the importance of the human-animal interface to the disease emergence process. We also provide an overview of factors that are believed to contribute to the origin and global spread of emerging infectious diseases and offer suggestions that may serve as future prevention strategies, such as social mobilization, public health education, behavioral change, and communication strategies. Because there exists no comprehensive global surveillance system to monitor zoonotic disease emergence, the intervention measures discussed herein may prove effective temporary alternatives

What country, university or research institute, performed the best on COVID-19? Bibliometric analysis of scientific literature

In this article, we conduct data mining to discover the countries, universities and companies, produced or collaborated the most research on Covid-19 since the pandemic started. We present some interesting findings, but despite analysing all available records on COVID-19 from the Web of Science Core Collection, we failed to reach any significant conclusions on how the world responded to the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, we increased our analysis to include all available data records on pandemics and epidemics from 1900 to 2020. We discover some interesting results on countries, universities and companies, that produced collaborated most the most in research on pandemic and epidemics. Then we compared the results with the analysing on COVID-19 data records. This has created some interesting findings that are explained and graphically visualised in the article

Fighting Flu Fatigue

Reviews responses to the 2009 H1N1 flu, including vaccination rates by state. Recommends steps to increase seasonal flu vaccination rates to boost preparations for flu pandemics and enhance prevention and response efforts for other health emergencies