What is flu?
Influenza or flu is a very infectious respiratory disease caused by A or B influenza viruses.
Flu often appears during winter and early spring.
The flu virus attacks the body by spreading through the upper and/or lower respiratory tract.
How is the Flu Virus Spread?
The flu virus is spread when an infected person sneezes or coughs and someone, or another person in near proximity either inhales the infected droplets in the air or when he comes in direct contact with the infected person’s secretions through the following: hand to hand contact, sharing handkerchiefs and other items, through the sharing of objects such as spoons and forks, and kissing. The virus can also be transferred when a person touches smooth surfaces such as equipment handles, doorknobs, computer mouse, computer keyboard, television remote control, mobile phones, game consoles, and telephones. The person becomes infected as the flu virus is absorbed by the body when he touches his hands to his eyes, nose, or his mouth.
To protect people from contacting flu, frequent and thorough hand washing is encouraged in densely populated areas such as in schools, hospitals, offices, military barracks, market places, even in restaurants and fast food chains.
What are the Symptoms of Flu?
Since the symptoms of flu are almost similar to the symptoms of colds, many people commit the mistake of not realizing that it’s flu they have and not colds. When this happens, flu is not treated accordingly and this can be very bad for the patient suffering from flu because flu is much worse than colds.
So the most common question asked is what’s the difference between a colds and flu? Or going directly to the point, what are the symptoms of flu?
First, a common cold may cause weakness and malaise and may drag you down a bit, but the flu makes getting out of bed very difficult.
Colds and flu cause sore throat, sneezing, coughing, headache, congestion, and chest discomfort. However, when the person runs a high fever for several days and has the following: headache, myalgia, fatigue, and weakness, then its definitely flu. In severe flu cases, complications can happen such as pneumonia which is a life-threatening illness.
What is the Treatment for Flu?
Is there a treatment for flu? This is a good question!
There’s really no cure for flu, but there are medications that can ease or help reduce the flu symptoms. A few antiviral medications are available and antibiotics may be helpful if there is a secondary bacterial infection. Remember this though; antibiotics will not cure flu because flu is a viral infection and antibiotics are for bacterial infections.
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