Word: shanghai
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...life signs of the U.S. economy have been shaky for months, as if it had a mild case of the Shanghai flu. Inflation is drifting upward, while economic activity seems stuck in a quagmire of intense foreign competition and excessive debt. During the last quarter of 1989, the economy grew by only 0.5%, the slowest pace in three years. Warns Kazuaki Harada, chief economist of Japan's Sanwa Bank: "The real U.S. situation is worse than the growth-rate figures would indicate." Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan, whose finger is closest to the American economic pulse, thinks the current...
...virus, named type A, in 1933 and subsequently found two other variants, now known as types B and C. Individual strains are named for the place where they are first identified. Most of this season's flu has been triggered by a nasty strain of influenza A, called A- Shanghai. A few cases of A-Taiwan and B-Yamagata (Japan) have also turned...
...immune systems, the disease can easily be fatal. Less able to fend off infections, these individuals are more susceptible to bronchitis, pneumonia and, occasionally, kidney failure and heart attacks. In an average year, flu is a factor in about 20,000 deaths in the U.S. The majority of A-Shanghai victims have been elderly, and all 50 states have discovered outbreaks in nursing homes and other long-term-care facilities...
...shots are the best protection. Though a vaccine does not necessarily prevent the disease, it can lessen the severity. But designing the right vaccine is difficult because the viruses mutate, changing their chemical profile from year to year. Today's A-Shanghai may soon be supplanted by one that is substantially different. What is more, entirely new types of flu viruses appear every few years. Months before each flu season, scientists must guess which strains will be most active and then tailor a vaccine to combat them. Sometimes their forecast is wrong, and the vaccine is virtually useless...
...vaccine seems to work, but not enough people have received it. Ordinarily, the CDC recommends the shots for senior citizens, nursing-home residents, people with AIDS, anyone who is susceptible to lung and heart ailments, and for health workers and others who deal with flu patients. This A-Shanghai strain is so virulent, however, that anyone who wants to avoid it should probably be inoculated...