Talk:Influenza

Fatality rate numbers

Are the fatality rate numbers correct? See here: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File_talk:InfluenzaCaseMortality.svg .

Abbreviations

I see there are some edits regarding these. I think we should spell out the viruses' names because no one (virologist) uses them. Unlike HAV for hepatitis A virus and HCV for hepatitis C virus most sources, and I have two books open in front of me, say influenza A virus and so forth. (Some sources reduce this to just influenza A but this is really the name of the disease and not the virus). Graham Beards (talk) 13:41, 29 May 2024 (UTC)

Looking at the literature on the topic, it does appear that the abbreviations are fairly commonly used - eg Journal of Virology, Current Opinion in Virology, etc. Nikkimaria (talk) 01:09, 31 May 2024 (UTC)

Yes, I see, thanks. But those are just the author's choice rather than standard, accepted abbreviations. This list of accepted abbreviations only has a couple of viruses on it and one is HIV: [1]. Abbreviating viruses' names stems from the days of paper journals and manual typewriters, to save space and time. I quickly checked the Manuals of Style for Virology (journal) and The Journal of Virology, but there was no guidance on this. I think for our, mainly lay, readers it is best to spell the names out in this article. Graham Beards (talk) 10:10, 31 May 2024 (UTC)

I think it would be better to restore the previous version - it's pretty standard to introduce the full phrase at first appearance and abbreviate thereafter. Nikkimaria (talk) 00:10, 1 June 2024 (UTC)

I disagree. They have enough to take in with H1N2, H2N3, H3N2 and so on, which stand for haemagglutinin and neuraminidase. The article will be riddled with abbreviations. Graham Beards (talk) 06:32, 1 June 2024 (UTC)

Not at all. There isn't a requirement that these be the only abbreviations used, and the article was accessible (and less wordy) in the previous version. Nikkimaria (talk) 04:54, 2 June 2024 (UTC)

Two editors disagree with you. Graham Beards (talk) 05:19, 2 June 2024 (UTC)

Flu Doesn't Only have A, B, C, & D

There Is A H Copy Too - It Is The Same As Flu Except It Does Not Have Vomit Syptom. I Have Ever Had It In Life Except I Did Not Vomit To It 2601:680:8300:7670:D5C5:A607:61B2:93E2 (talk) 01:52, 7 June 2024 (UTC)

The H refers to the strain as in H1N1 and not the type. Graham Beards (talk) 05:36, 7 June 2024 (UTC)

WHO research streams

Hi @Nikkimaria, thanks for taking a look at my edits. You have taken out my elaboration of the WHO research streams as "overdetail". I would like to put them back. Without explanatory text they are just five sentences of waffle.

It is important to recognise that much of the research into prevention and control of disease is not just virology or pharmacology, which was the content prior to my edit. There are social aspects to controlling disease (as we discovered with COVID), prevention of zoonosis, research into predispositions and comorbitities, etc. Bob (talk) 07:46, 5 July 2024 (UTC)

Isn't that WHO report getting rather old? We are already seven years into the five to ten year plan. Also, I am skeptical that the Research sections in articles adds much encyclopedic value; they are often too speculative. Graham Beards (talk) 09:30, 5 July 2024 (UTC)

Hi @Graham Beards, I agree with you one both counts - but that doesn't invalidate my edit.

Yes the research streams have been around for a while - so maybe they should have been included a long time ago. The streams are still valid and form a good framework for the research section. WHO have a poor record at keeping their own deadlines, I expect they will get round to updating eventually.

Agree that the "research" section is often non-encyclopedic, I suppose that's why it's usually tucked away at the bottom of an article. I took a look at a couple of the named drug candidates in the "treatment" paragraph - one has completed trials and is licenced, the other flopped. Neither qualify for inclusion any more. But it's good to have it if only as a place for inexperienced editors to drop in something they have come across.

A summary of research directions (priorities, themes, streams, whatever) seems appropriate and should be OK without revision for a few years.

Cheers, Bob (talk) 19:37, 5 July 2024 (UTC)

To be honest this sounds like a better rationale for removing the section entirely than for expanding it - we shouldn't have a section sitting around just to act as a junk drawer for people to drop stuff in. Nikkimaria (talk) 00:05, 6 July 2024 (UTC)

I agree with you. Graham Beards (talk) 08:30, 6 July 2024 (UTC)

Misleading illustration

I would like to replace this illustration File:Influenza geneticshift.svg which appears in the section "Antigenic drift and shift". Reasons:

1. It is an inaccurate reproduction of the source . The two "parents" are correctly labeled, but in the original the progeny is not given a description whereas the Wikimedia reproduction labels the progeny as "highly pathogenic human strain". Accompanying text in the original explains that a human strain may acquire characteristics from a highly pathogenic avian strain, but makes no assumption about the characteristics of the progeny.
2. This section contains no explanation of pathogenicity
3. The image only illustrates shift, not drift.

Here's a possible replacement File:Viruses-10-00497-g003.png

Bob (talk) 21:21, 16 July 2024 (UTC)

Bob (talk) 21:21, 16 July 2024 (UTC)

References