Influenza

Influenza, commonly known as the flu, is an infectious disease of birds and mammals caused by an RNA virus of the family Orthomyxoviridae. In humans, common symptoms of influenza infection are fever, nausea, vomiting, sore throat, muscle pains, severe headache, coughing, and weakness and fatigue. In more serious cases, influenza causes pneumonia, which can be fatal, particularly in young children and the elderly. Sometimes confused with the common cold, influenza is a much more severe disease and is caused by a different type of virus Similarly, the unrelated gastroenteritis is sometimes called "stomach flu" or "24-hour flu".

Typically, influenza is transmitted from infected mammals through the air by coughs or sneezes, creating aerosols containing the virus, and from infected birds through their droppings. Influenza can also be transmitted by saliva, nasal secretions, feces and blood. Infections occur through contact with these bodily fluids or with contaminated surfaces. Flu viruses can remain infectious for about one week at human body temperature, over 30 days at 0 °C, and indefinitely at very low temperatures. They can be inactivated easily by disinfectants and detergents.

Flu spreads around the world in seasonal epidemics, killing millions of people in pandemic years and hundreds of thousands in non-pandemic years. Three influenza pandemics occurred in the 20th century—each following a major genetic change in the virus—and killed tens of millions of people. Often, these pandemics result from the spread of a flu virus between animal species. Since it first killed humans in Asia in the 1990s, a deadly avian strain of H5N1 has posed the greatest risk for a new influenza pandemic. However, this virus has not mutated to spread easily between people.

Vaccinations against influenza are most commonly given to high-risk humans in industrialised countries and to farmed poultry. The most common human vaccine is the trivalent flu vaccine that contains purified and inactivated material from three viral strains. Typically this vaccine includes material from two influenza A virus subtypes and one influenza B virus strain. A vaccine formulated for one year may be ineffective in the following year, since the influenza virus changes rapidly over time and different strains become dominant. Antiviral drugs can be used to treat influenza, with neuraminidase inhibitors being particularly effective.

People with the flu are advised to get plenty of rest, drink a lot of liquids, avoid using alcohol and tobacco and, if necessary, take medications such as paracetamol to relieve the fever and muscle aches associated with the flu. Children and teenagers with flu symptoms should avoid taking aspirin during an influenza infection because doing so can lead to Reye syndrome, a rare but potentially fatal disease of the liver. Since influenza is caused by a virus, antibiotics have no effect on the infection; unless prescribed for secondary infections such as bacterial pneumonia, they may lead to resistant bacteria. Antiviral medication is sometimes effective, but viruses can develop resistance to the standard antiviral drugs.

...More at Wikipedia 

Related Links:

• US National Library of Medicine
• Mayo Clinic

Recent Hope Cube Blog Entries For Influenza

• sick again..... Wed, November 14, 2007 - [view]
  im sick again god i feel awful i just wanna cry im sick of it i might attempt suicide again actually my head hurts and im all week i went to hostpital again for a check-up and im on about 5 new medications that make me drowsy im really tired