|
?:abstract
|
-
Among the many viruses that cause respiratory infections, influenza has a special place in medicine, not only because of the severity of the disease it produces, but also because it has caused numerous epidemics and pandemics throughout history In the last three centuries, at least 10 major influenza pandemics have been documented, but very few have received the attention of chroniclers or medical historians in Venezuela The exception is the \'Spanish Flu\' of 1918, which caused a high morbidity and mortality in the country Most influenza pandemics began in the winter months in the northern hemisphere, generating successive waves that traveled the world over the next 2 to 3 years, probably coming to an end by establishing herd immunity that interrupted the chain of transmission of the virus It is interesting to note, that the second waves were often more intense than the first The experience in the United States during the \'Spanish Fu\' was that the social distancing measures were only effective if they met three conditions: early start, large-scale implementation, and appropriate duration During the \'Spanish Flu\' pandemic in Caracas, social distancing measures were implemented very similar to those recently used in Venezuela for the containment and mitigation of the COVID-19 pandemic An analysis of the epidemiological behavior of past influenza pandemics provides important information on the possible behavior of future influenza epidemics and pandemics, as well as COVID-19 © 2020 Academia Nacional de Medicina All rights reserved
|
![[This page as RDF]](https://research.tib.eu/covid-19/static/rdf-icon.gif){kind=icon}