INFLUENZA PREVENTION

Health Beliefs of Haitian Elders Related to Influenza Prevention

Health Beliefs of Haitian Elders Related to Influenza Prevention

Introduction

Statement of the Problem

It is observed that every year, about twenty percent of the people living in the United States get affected from influenza and the majority of those who die as a consequence are over 65, most of these deaths may be preventable. The study focuses on the health beliefs, cultural practices and attitudes that are related to the prevention of influenza among the Haitian elders.

Purpose of Study

The purpose of this study is to focus on the health beliefs of Haitian elders in relation to prevention from influenza. Influenza occurs in epidemics every year with illness produced by non-pandemic strains (influenza A accounts for 80 % and influenza B 20 %), usually during the winter months (for instance, December through March in the Northern hemisphere), although influenza peaks can begin as early as October and extend into the month of May.

Research Question

Do health beliefs of Haitian elders help in increasing awareness about influenza prevention?

Hypothesis

Ho: The health beliefs of Haitian elders are enough or appropriate for influenza prevention.

Literature Review

Although influenza viruses were among the first human viruses isolated and have been studied for over 70 years, their biology still harbors many secrets. Seasonal influenza occurs annually and causes acute disease mostly in the very young, the elderly, and people with underlying health conditions (John, 2005). In addition, the virus regularly emerges in the form of pandemics that affect populations worldwide and cause high mortality in all age groups. Three pandemics emerged during the 20th century: the 1918 to 1919 Spanish flu, the 1957 to 1958 Asian flu, and the 1968 to 1969 Hong Kong flu.

Two features of the influenza virus make it a particularly influential pathogen. The first one, common to all RNA viruses, is the high rate of errors introduced during replication, as compared to DNA viruses. As a result, influenza viruses progressively incorporate small changes into the genes and the resulting proteins, a process known as antigenic drift. These slight changes make every virus slightly different from the previous one, helping it evades the human immune system, which explains why, individuals infected during one influenza season will become susceptible for re-infection in subsequent outbreaks (John, 2005). The second feature related to the segmented genome organization of some (“type A”) viruses, which enables two viruses that infect a single organism to exchange one or more genes. This process, known as antigenic shift, occurs more rarely than antigenic drift and can have much more drastic consequences. Antigenic shift only occurred three times during the 20th century, giving rise to the viruses responsible for the 1918 to 1919, 1957 to 1958, and 1968 to 1969 pandemics.

Birds constitute the natural reservoir of type A influenza viruses. Contrary to widespread belief, human influenza viruses do not easily infect avian species, and avian viruses do not efficiently infect humans either (John, 2005). However, swine are susceptible for infection with both avian and human influenza viruses, and ...