Math and Science in the Flu

Wow! It is has been a long time since I have blogged and I think that I need to fix that. So last weekend (October 9-11) I was at home sick with some time of cold, possibly the flu, I am not really sure. The side effects of my cold are still present (cough) and are slowly starting to go away, (finally). This week Ashwaubenon high school closed its doors for both Thursday and Friday because 41% of the student body called in sick with reported symptoms of the flu. With the H1N1 flu and other sicknesses going around right now, I started to think about where math and science fit in with the flu.

Last week I decided to stay home sick from school on Friday. I decided to stay home for two reasons. The first was because I did not feel well enough to go to school and the second reason was because I did not want to share whatever I had with others. I started to think about what would have happened if I did go to school, and math popped into my head. If I would have gone to school sick I would have easily come into close contact with at least 10 people. Those 10 people would also easily come in contact with another 10 people, and as easily as that just me and my sickness could have spread to 100 other people (that's crazy), and if all of those people come in contact with another 10 people, which is inevitable in a university setting,that's 1,000 people that could have come in contact with my germs! That's insane! It just exponentially grows. It is no wonder that 41% of the student body of Ashwaubenon high school is at home sick with the flu when last week they had homecoming, and are in contact with each other everyday (it's a giant petri dish!). It is also no surprise that the H1N1 flu virus has spread so quickly around the world. Scientists can use math to predict the spread of the H1N1 flu virus. Today, in the United States alone there are 238,366 probably/confirmed cases of the H1N1 as listed on the FluTracker website created by Dr. Henry Niman, a biomedical researcher in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Check out the information gather on the spread of the flu: FluTracker Website

Okay, so now that I have talked a little bit about math and the flu (there is no way I covered even close to every way that math can be connected to the flu) let's talk about how science can be connected to the flu. So obviously the spread of the flu can be connected to science by the way the body reacts to colds and infections, as well as how germs are spread from person to person,and how they are reproduced in the body but what I am really interested in is how scientists create flu vaccines. H1N1 flu vaccinations are just starting to be released to the general public, and there is already a shortage of the season flu vaccine in some locations. So how do they make a flue vaccine? I learned a lot of cool information about how the flu vaccine is made every year from the website www.influenza.com.

First world health officials analyze and choose which flu strains they believe will be most prevalent in the following year. World heal officials inform the FDA of which strains they believe will be most prevalent. The FDA must agree with the decision, and then the vaccines can start to be made. Millions of specially prepared chicken eggs are prepared and sent out to drug manufactures. The manufactures inject the chicken eggs with the flu virus. The chicken eggs are then incubated for a period of several days in order for the virus to multiply. The virus-loaded fluid is then removed from the egg. The fluid undergoes purification to ensure that the virus is no longer active. Different strains of the vaccine are then combined and testing begins. Once testing has been completed and any adjustments have been made the FDA needs to approve it. Once the FDA approves it, the manufactures begins to package the vaccine is vials and syringes and ship the vaccinations out.

Are you a visual person?

Annual Influenza Vaccine Production Timeline