HIV and Influenza Public Health Responses

Compare and contrast the public health responses to HIV and influenza epidemics.  There are many ways to try to respond to the threat from a pathogen.  These include surveillance of nonhuman host populations for potentially dangerous new strains, surveillance of hospitals to track unusual occurrences of diseases, attempts to predict the evolution of novel strains, development of vaccines, development of drug therapies, campaigns to change people’s behavior, implementation of biosecurity practices for livestock, development of tests for disease and protocols for who to test.  Please describe what measures have been employed to prevent or contain HIV and influenza outbreaks, and why they have been employed.

 For example, one method to prevent influenza epidemics is to implement biosecurity practices for livestock.  Wild avian flu viruses can jump into farmed poultry before jumping from poultry into humans.  Therefore, implementing basic biosafety measures (such as erecting physical barriers to prevent contact between wild birds and poultry, restricting the movement of poultry between farms, and vaccinating poultry) can greatly reduce the risk of the infection of poultry with wild influenza viruses.