This Blog post will provide information about Influenza virus or Flu. It will highlight the environmental and other general Causes of Flu. It will explain the common Symptoms. Then it will shine a light on the Types of Influenza Virus. It will make you aware of the Suitable Treatments for Flu, Medication for Flu and Prevention for Influenza virus (Flu). This will inform you about the causes, symptoms, treatment and prevention of Flu.

What is Flu?

“Flu or influenza is an infection of nose, throat and lungs, which are a part of respiratory system.”

Influenza is an acute viral infection of the upper or lower respiratory tract that is marked by fever, chills, and a generalized feeling of weakness and pain in the muscles, together with varying degrees of soreness in the head and abdomen. Between worldwide outbreaks, known as pandemics, influenza viruses undergo constant, rapid evolution (a process called antigenic drift), which is lead to mutations in the genes encoding antigen proteins. Periodically, the viruses undergo major evolutionary change by acquiring a new genome segment from another influenza virus (antigenic shift), effectively becoming a new sub-type. You will get to know about Causes, Symptoms, Treatment, and Prevention of flu in this blog.

Causes of Flu:

Following are the major causes of Flu:

1.Influenza Virus or Flu Virus:

The most common cause of Flu is the exposure of influenza virus to your body. Flu can be minor or severe according to the extent of the symptoms. Flu will only cause when the influenza virus enters in your body. Sometimes it can be cured without any medication. While sometimes it needs medication and proper treatment with proper care.

2.Airborne droplets:

Flu can also be cause by transmission of tiny airborne droplets from an infected person to a healthy individual. These can be in the form of cough, sneeze, or other body fluids. This can make a healthy person prone to Flu. We should stay away from infected patients or use masks while being near to flu patients. Airborne pollutants containing this virus can also cause Flu. Air borne droplets are main causes of flu, prevention of airborne droplets is must to stay healthy. Early treatment is required in such situation.

3.Contact with things containing Flu virus:

We can get flu by physical interaction with anything or any person. It is obvious that if the virus will be present in our surroundings and the things we touch and feel with hands, and then we touch our nose or mouth we can get Influenza virus easily. It is because its spread is way easier and dangerous for us than we can think. Being in contact with infected medical equipment are an example of spread of Flu.

4.Air Pollution:

The people who are exposed to extreme levels of air pollution, can be prone to respiratory diseases such as flu and asthma. This happens because when the extreme air pollution gets into the respiratory tract, it make it sensitive and more vulnerable to respiratory illness. People living in toxic air quality or presence of major air pollutants, are more at risk to get flu and other respiratory disorders as compared to those who live in healthy environments.

These are few possible causes of getting Flu.

Causes of Flu

Symptoms of Flu:

Following are some of the symptoms of Flu:

Fever or feeling feverish/chills.

Cough.

Sore throat.

Runny or stuffy nose.

Muscle or body aches.

Headaches.

Fatigue (tiredness)

Some people may have vomiting and diarrhea, though this is more common in children than adults.

These are few common symptoms of flu in humans.

Types of Influenza Virus:

There are four types of Influenza viruses that can be the cause of Flu:

• Influenza A Flu virus:

Type A flu or influenza viruses can infect animals, although it is more common for people to suffer the ailments associated with this type of flu. Wild birds commonly act as the hosts for this flu virus.
Type A flu virus is constantly changing and is responsible for the large flu epidemics.
The influenza A2 virus (and other variants of influenza) is spread by already infected people. The most usual flu hotspots are those surfaces that an infected person has touched and rooms where they have been recently, especially areas where they have been sneezing.

• Influenza B virus:

Unlike type A flu viruses, type B flu is only found in humans. Type B flu may cause a less severe reaction than type A flu virus, but occasionally, type B flu can still be extremely harmful. Influenza type B viruses are not classified by subtype and do not cause pandemics. It can effect a small number of people such as a family or a society but not more than it.

• Influenza C virus:

Influenza C virus is found in people. They are, however, less harmful than either type A or B. People usually do not become very ill from the influenza type C viruses. Type C flu viruses do not cause epidemics. Influenza viruses do not spread at high rates and have mild symptoms than all other types of Influenza Viruses.

• Influenza D virus:

Influenza D virus has been isolated from pigs and cattle, the later being the natural reservoir. Infection has also been observed in humans, horses, dromedary camels, and small ruminants such as goats and sheep. Influenza D virus is rarely related to influenza C virus. While cattle workers occasionally tests positive to prior influenza D virus infection because it cause disease in humans.

These are the types of Influenza Viruses.

Flu Test:

Diagnosis of Flu requires a respiratory sample. Following are some ways to test Flu:

• Flu can be diagnosed from a specimen from your nasal cavity with a swab. This sample is tested in the laboratory and its reports will tell you either you have flu or not.

• Another way to test flu is injecting a saline fluid to your nasal cavity and then removes that sample with a gentle suction. This method is useful for young children.

• Flu can be tested by taking sample with a swab from upper part of your throat through your nose. This test may be painful in the flu condition but is the best way to diagnose flu in any patients.

Treatment of Flu:

Following are common treatments of the flu:

Treatment at Home:

Usually, you need and nothing more than rest and suitable fluids or syrups to treat the flu. Taking rest and fluids will help the patients to feel less pain and irritation during flu and help you to recover. But if you have a severe infection or are at high risk of complications, your health care provider may prescribe an antiviral medication to treat the flu.

Anti-viral Treatment:

If you get sick with flu, influenza antiviral drugs may be a treatment option. Antiviral drugs work best when started early, ideally no later than two days after your flu symptoms begin. Check with your doctor promptly if you are at higher risk of serious flu complications and you get flu symptoms. People at higher risk of flu complications include young children, adults 65 years of age and older, pregnant people, and people with certain medical conditions such as asthma, diabetes and heart disease.

Symptomatic Treatment:

Flu is a complicated disease because its symptoms vary in every person. Some people has coughs and sneezes. While some has fever and vomiting. Some become more sensitive to cold while some feel suffocated. So, the treatment varies according to the symptoms of Flu that a person gets. Such as, if you feel cold, you should drink hot fluids such as hot water, coffee or tea. In this way the treatment and medication varies with the dominating symptoms.

Medication for Flu:

Drugs that can cure Flu include oseltamivir (Tamiflu), zanamivir (Relenza), peramivir (Rapivab) or baloxavir (Xofluza). These medications may shorten your illness by a day or so and help prevent serious complications.

Oseltamivir is a medicine we can by mouth. Zanamivir is inhaled through a device similar to an asthma inhaler. It shouldn’t be used by anyone with certain chronic respiratory problems, such as asthma and lung disease.

Antiviral medication side effects may include nausea and vomiting. We can tackle these side effects with the medication along with the food.

Awareness about flu:

With awareness you can avoid to get flu and by knowing its base, you can treat it well i.e. by avoiding cold drinks or ice cream etc. It is definite that this flue will last for four to five days, but if it last for more than expected duration than it is dangerous and can cause more infections and can be more painful. The most important way to treat flu is to take proper rest and avoid few things that are harmful in this condition. In addition you can use hot drinks i.e. tea, coffee, soup etc. to improve condition of flu. Other treatments involve medication and vaccine of different types. If left untreated it can be life threatening or fatal. Prevention of flu is very important to know the causes in order to avoid extreme symptoms of flu to choose suitable treatment.

Prevention from Flu:

The best way to prevent flu is getting flu vaccination every year. Vaccinations has proven successful in the terms of reducing symptoms of many fatal diseases. Vaccines may help to prevent extreme symptoms of any disease and help the patient to survive. Flu vaccinations has proved to be effective from past 60 years. Prevention of flu is must to avoid causes to avoid extreme symptoms of the flu, in order to get early treatment.

We can prevent Flu by drinking hot water with honey and lemon, as we feel irritation in our nose or throat. We should wear mask while going into a gathering where we will be around people. This will decrease the risk of flu from any other infected person. We should avoid going into any industrial area or polluted area with a mask and other protective equipment to stop the virus from entering in our body. If we get flu, the best way to treat is to drink hot water, get good sleep and take plenty of rest to get rid of severe symptoms. In case of prolonged flu, you should get medical help immediately. These preventive measures will help you to prevent flu as well as other Seasonal Allergies. We should be well aware about causes, symptoms, treatment and prevention of flu in order to avoid.

Prevention of Flu

To learn about more diseases click the links below:

Diabetes

Pneumonia

Malaria

Adenovirus Infection

Asthma

Types of Chest Infections

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