Memorandum

 

To:	BioInformatics Interns
From:	Internship Coordinator
Subject:	Incidence of different subtypes of influenza in US

The connection between bioinformatics and public health is apparent in this next task.   I'd like you to obtain data from the CDC website about the incidence of different subtypes of influenza in the U.S. human population and prepare graphs in order to identify the types of influenza that have been most prevalent during the past ten seasons. 

After evaluating your graphs, be prepared to discuss the implications of your results and what the results mean in terms of predicting and in terms of developing a flu vaccine.  This can be in the form of an informal report to the whole group, your fellow interns and supervisors.   

Just to clarify: you and your team will gather and review influenza data from the past ten years and determine which strains should have been used for last year's vaccine.  At the end, you will discuss your results, along with the challenges of predicting and developing new vaccines. 

• Obtain data about the incidence of influenza in humans during the past ten years.
• Compare the incidence of infection with different strains, in different years, by graphing the data with Microsoft Excel®.
• Interpret the results and recommend a strategy with your colleagues, including:
  1. Which influenza strains should have been used in preparing the vaccine for the 2006-2007 influenza season?
  2. What are some issues that might have made it hard to develop a good vaccine for the 2006-2007 flu season?

See the Requirements for more detail. Some background information is given below.  Have fun with this!

Background

Every spring, public health officials work with epidemiological data from Asia and other parts of the world.  These data are used to identify the strains of influenza that are most prevalent in Asia and to predict which strains will be a problem in the United States during the coming season.  Once strains have been identified, virologists mix these strains of influenza with other, less harmful vaccine strains, and grow the virus in fertilized chicken eggs in order to prepare the next winter's vaccine.

During the winter, when influenza circulates in the U.S., physicians are asked to report cases of influenza to the CDC (the Center for Disease Control).  The CDC is the government agency responsible for tracking the causes of illness and death in the United States and for sharing this information with health care providers.  Each week, statistics are published on morbidity (sickness) and mortality (death) and made available through the CDC web site to public health officials across the country. 

Not only is this information about influenza cases useful for physicians and health care providers, it is useful for public health officials who need to plan for impending outbreaks and for retrospective analyses to evaluate the choices that were made in picking the viral strains used for vaccines.