Facts You Should Know About The Flu

The influenza virus causes the flu and it is a respiratory infection that attacks the respiratory system including the nose, throat, bronchial tubes and your lungs. The flu is NOT the stomach virus although some people do have nausea, diarrhea and vomiting along with respiratory symptoms when they have the flu. Anyone of any age can get the flu, newborns and the elderly and every age in-between. The flu can be very mild or it can be serious even fatal. In 1918 there was a flu pandemic (worldwide infection) that killed approximately 50 million people. As many as 36,000 people die each year from the flu in just the United States alone. The deaths are from complications from the flu.

When a person first gets the flu they may think they are coming down with a cold except the symptoms come on suddenly and they feel as if they have been hit by a truck or so people usually say. You usually feel much worse when you have the flu than when you have a cold.

Common symptoms of the flu include:

· Fever over 101 F in adults, and often as high as 103 to 105 F in children
· Chills and or sweats
· Headache
· Dry cough
· Muscular aches and stiffness, especially in your back, arms and legs
· Fatigue and weakness
· Nasal congestion (stuffy nose or runny nose)
· Loss of appetite
· Diarrhea and vomiting especially in children

It is important for young children or anyone with a chronic illness to see a doctor if they may have the flu within the first 48 hours so that they have receive antiviral medications which can prevent more serious complications. Anyone who has the flu and then develops a severe cough or brings up phlegm, has a high fever or experiences sharp pains when they breath deeply may have bacterial pneumonia which would require antibiotics to get better.

Because the flu is transmitted by air it is important to always cover your mouth when coughing or sneezing. The flu can be very contagious even before you know you have the flu so you could be passing it on when you cough or sneeze before you come down with the symptoms yourself.

Type A which is responsible for the deadly influenza pandemics usually strike every 10 to 40 years. Type A and B flu viruses are constantly changing and are the more serious types of flu. Type C flu is the milder flu.

Anyone is at risk for the flu but especially if a infant, child, over age 50, resident of a nursing home or long-term care facility, hospital, have a weakened immune system, or are pregnant during flu season (fall and winter), are in close contact with infants and young children.

Tags: influenza virus, flu, symptoms of flu

Historical Impacts of the Influenza Virus

The year was 1918 and the world was in the grips of war. Come springtime, the news headlines were fixated on the events of World War I, but a silent killer quietly emerged onto the world’s stage, one that would prove almost as deadly as the horrible war that upstaged it.

This was a prime example of how the influenza virus has made it’s mark on history. Throughout the centuries this deadly viral infection has proven itself to be able to outsmart mankind and wreak terrible death tolls.

In Fort Riley, Kansas, a soldier is admitted to the hospital with what is thought to be just the common, three day flu. The symptoms were the general aches, pains and fever, nothing to be alarmed by, but by weeks end, the base was strapped with an epidemic that resulted in over 500 personnel being admitted with a strange, deadly influenza virus. When all was done, 48 otherwise healthy young soldiers were dead from the disease. The result of this isolated base-wide epidemic was yet to show its most deadly results though.

Later that summer, as naval ships steamed over one million American soldiers toward their fate with the war in Europe, a handful of men from Fort Riley brought on board the mysterious flu virus. Soon thereafter, American ships became riddled with the disease, leaving hoards of fighting men unable to leave the ships and fight in the war. Unfortunately, there were many more that only carried the virus and did make it to the fighting lines, thus spreading the disease to more and more soldiers that came into their contact.

It seems every 30 to 40 years, the influenza virus metamorphoses itself into a deadly version and grips the world with its life threatening abilities. It manages to change itself just enough to bypass human and antibiotic resistance.

In 1918, the world experienced one of the most catastrophic results of these natural phenomena. As we can see, the military men in WWI were affected, but this pandemic was endured world wide as people died in most counties.

The deadly flu virus eventually made it’s way into Germany, France, Italy and Spain. Soon even Great Britain was ravaged with the virus. Spain, which was hit hardest by the virus was infamously credited with the naming of the epidemic; The Spanish Flu, not because it had originated there, but because of the massive death toll their country experienced.

The virus responsible for causing influenza is changing by nature. It possesses the ability to morph itself into a new form of the virus and baffle medical professionals as it does. Vaccinations have proven capable of battling the virus, but influenza eventually evolves into a new form of itself and renders the vaccine used to combat it worthless. Actually, as influenza is passed along from person to person, it uses each host body, and its own natural defenses to “learn” how to mutate itself into form that can’t be defended against.

As we can see, influenza has laid it’s mark on mankind and history with horrible results. Societies can only hope that their medical and scientific personnel can someday find a lasting remedy to the flu and it’s devastating capabilities. 

Tags: influenza virus, flu