rki-Grippeweb sucht Teilnehmende

Das Robert-Koch-Institut, Berlin (rki) ist in Deutschland für die Berichterstattung über die Influenza verantwortlich. Hier finden sich die wöchentlichen Zahlen der klinisch-labordiagnostisch bestätigten Influ­en­za­fälle, der Fallzahlen von akuten Atemwegserkrankungen aus einem großen Kreis von primärmedizinischen Praxen und seit dieser Saison die Zahlen von Individuen, die im Grippeweb zusammengefasst sind.
Die ersten beiden Ebenen helfen bereits bei der Feststellung der zeitlichen und räumlichen Verteilung der Influenzafälle in der jährlichen Saison.
Influenza ist eine lebensgefährliche Krankheit an der und seinen Sekundärerkrankungen etwa ein Prozent der hospitalisierten Fälle stirbt. Für die Influenza-Saison 2008-2009 werden vom rki etwa 19.000 Tote geschätzt (Jahresbericht 2011-2012, S. 38).
Die Epidemiologie, Morbidität und Mortalität der Influenza wird weiterhin nicht voll verstanden und so sind weitere Datenquellen erwünscht.
Das Robert-Koch-Institut sucht Freiwillige, die wöchentlich melden, ob in ihrem Haushalt eine neue akute Atemwegserkrankung ausgebrochen ist. Wer aktuelle Forschung unterstützen möchte sollte sich beim Grippeweb registrieren.

(Modell des Influenza-Virus, Abb. aus der Wikipedia)

Zu meiner persönlichen Motivation verweise ich auf meine langjährige Forschung zur Spanischen Influenza 1918-1920. Zwei kleinere Schriften sind auch hier im Blog zu finden (Unterseite Wissenschaft).
Mit der Influenza-Saison 2012/13 stieg die Zahl der Teilnehmenden am GrippeWeb deutlich an:

(Abbildung aus GrippeWeb beim RKI)

Citizen Science, die Beteiligung von sehr viele Menschen an diesem Forschungsprojekt, wird hoffentlich helfen, einige der Rätsel dieser Krankheit und ihrer Ausbreitung zu lösen.

Spanish Influenza - Etymology and local names

In September 1998 I attended the international conference "The Spanish Flu 1918-1998: Reflections on the Influenza Pandemic of 1918-1919 after 80 Years", where I helped a little bit with the organization, presented a paper on etymology, a poster on epidemiology and a working bibliography. The conference was organized by Dr. Howard Phillips (Historian, University of Cape Town) and Prof. David Killingray (Historian, Goldsmiths College, University of London) both are well known for their research on Spanish Influenza.
Between September 12 and 15 1998 research groups from 15 countries presented 37 papers arranged in 12 sessions. Virologists and medical historians talked about the virus, epidemiology and the medical experience; geographers, ethnologists, statisticians and historians presented case studies and put the pandemic into a greater perspective (regional, demographical, historical). 16 Papers were later published in the book "The Spanish Influenza Pandemic of 1918-19 - New perspectives", edited by Howard Phillips and David Killingray (Routledge Studies in the Social History of Medicine 12; London 2003) (here a link to the publisher).
My paper had a very long title: "What’s in a name. Spanish Influenza in sub-Saharan Africa and what local names say about the perception of this pandemic" and was presented in session 10 „Recollections of the pandemic”. This paper was not selected for publication in the mentioned book and I converted the paper into a pdf-file that you can find here.
At least my 50 pages bibliography on regional studies could be found in the mentioned book!

Here is an abstract of my paper:

During research for an interregional comparative study on social and economic patterns of reaction to the Spanish Influenza in sub-Saharan Africa I came across many local and regional names for this disease. Out of curiosity I started a data base with these different names.
It will be argued that names and descriptions for Spanish Influenza mirror patterns of reaction. Names are somehow sources for history. I do not want to overemphasise the process of naming but I just want to show how popular perceptions help to understand the pandemic.
I start with a general look at the Spanish Influenza and give examples for names pinpointing to areas of origin. The question who was responsible for the calamity leads to a discussion of an „imperial” disease introduced by the „White Man”. The paper continues with examples for religious explanations and descriptions of the disease as a natural disaster. The perceived strangeness of the disease lead to several names that are describing the most important symptoms. My paper ends with remarks on the importance of the Spanish influenza for personal periodization in oral history and oral tradition.
Naming is based on perception of significance of an event. What was Spanish on the „Spanish Influenza” and why is the disease called „Influenza” after all. Therefore the papers starts with the etymology of the name "Influenza" and I argue that a combination of a strange astronomical phenomenon and a serious epidemic in the winter 1503-1504 in Italy baptised the disease as influenza.

An introduction to my earlier case study on Spanish Influenza in Kenya could be found here.

Keywords: Spanish Influenza, Spanische Grippe, pandemic, Pandemie, epidemic, Epidemie, epidemiology, Etymologie, Wortursprung, 1918-1920
Regional focus: Africa, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Gold Coast, Ghana, Kenya, South Africa, South Rhodesia, Zimbabwe

Spanish Influenza in Kenya

During my research for a dissertation on the social and economic impact of the Spanish Influenza Pandemic of 1918-1920 in sub-Saharan Africa I spend two months in Nairobi in the Kenya National Archives. On invitation I gave a paper at the History Department of the University of Nairobi. Copies of the paper were circulated as Staff Seminar Papers.
My research findings from Kenya never got public because my PhD was put on the shelf. I have converted the paper into a pdf document that you can find here.

Bibliographical notation
MUELLER, Juergen D. (1995) :Pattern of reaction to a demographic crisis. The Spanish Influenza pandemic (1918-1919) in sub-Saharan Africa. A research proposal and preliminary regional and comparative findings (University of Nairobi. Department of History. Staff Seminar Paper No. 6). Nairobi, 18 pp.

Summary
The pandemic of Spanish Influenza is commonly described as one of the grave global infectious diseases of the 20th Century. Nevertheless there are only few studies on the social and economic impact of this disease. This applies especially for sub-Saharan Africa. New approaches towards a social history of sickness and healing attempt to understand underlying social crises and try to relate major epidemics and pandemics into a context of social, economic and ecological transformations.

As in the case of African rural societies it is said that they have a general susceptibility to crises by external interferences. These vulnerability hypothesis offer an approach for an analysis of the Spanish Influenza in Africa. This research project tries to reconstruct and valuate this pandemic.

In the second part of this paper it is a case study of Kenya based on files and newspapers in the Kenya National Archives in Nairobi.

Keywords: influenza, pandemic, epidemic, mortality, morbidity, vulnerability, medical history, age-set, rika
Regional keywords: East African Protectorate, Kenya, Nairobi, Naivasha, Ukamba, Seyidie, Northern Frontier, Mombasa, Taita, Kikuyu, Kiambu, Meru, Murang'a, Fort Hall, Malindi, Turkana, Ulu, Nakuru, Lamu, Nandi, Kericho, Kavirondo, Machakos
[Deutsche Schlüsselwörter]: Geschichte Spanische Influenza, Grippe-Pandemie, Kenia, Mortalität, Morbidität, Verwundbarkeit

Another paper on Spanish Influenza in Africa ("Etymology - What local names say about the perception of the pandemic") is introduced in a separate blog entry.