How Long Does The Flu Virus Live In Your Body

The Flu (Flu): Causes, Symptoms & Treatment

This digitally-colorized negative-stained transmission electron micograph (TEM) shows a number of influenza A viruses. H1N1 is a strain of influenza A. (Image credit: CDC/ F.A. Tater)

The influenza (short for flu) is a respiratory virus that affects the throat, olfactory organ, bronchi and, sometimes, the lungs. There are unlike types of influenza viruses and they evolve and change from year to yr.

For almost people, the flu is an inconvenience that subsides in a few days. For others, flu can lead to health complications, visits to the hospital and even decease. Globally, 5 to 10 percent of adults and xx to xxx percent of children become the flu each twelvemonth and 3 to v million of these cases are severe, leading to nearly 250,000 to 500,000 deaths, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).

In the The states, there were an estimated 80,000 deaths and 900,000 hospitalizations from flu during the 2017 to 2018 flu flavor, making it the worst flu season in at least four decades, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

History

The word "influenza" in Italian literally means "influence," a give-and-take that Italians have used for illnesses since at least the 1500s because they, like others at the time, believed that the stars influenced health, according to the Douglas Harper Etymology Lexicon. At that place have been many major pandemics acquired by the flu throughout history. For example, the 1918 to 1919 pandemic, known as "The Great Pandemic," infected 20 to 40 percent of the worldwide population and an estimated 50 one thousand thousand people died considering of it, according to the Centers for Illness Control and Prevention (CDC). This pandemic was also named "Spanish flu" because is believed that the pandemic originated in Spain.

A more than recent pandemic occurred in 2009 to 2010, when a new form of the influenza strain H1N1 appeared. This virus is too chosen "swine flu" considering the virus is similar to a virus plant in pigs (not because information technology can be contracted from pigs or past eating pork).

The swine flu pandemic acquired an estimated 43 meg to 89 one thousand thousand illnesses in the The states between April 2009 and April 2010. The CDC estimated there were betwixt 8,870 and 18,300 H1N1-related deaths during this time.

Causes

The main three types of influenza virus that cause illness in people are named A, B, and C. Influenza A and B viruses crusade seasonal epidemics of disease almost every winter in the United States, while influenza C causes only mild respiratory symptoms and is not thought to cause epidemics, according to the CDC. The influenza A virus is broken down into subtypes, and both A and B are broken downwardly into strains for classification.

While there are many types of flu, it is important to note that the "breadbasket flu" isn't actually a type of influenza. Information technology is actually gastroenteritis, an inflammation of the lining of the intestines acquired past a virus, bacteria or parasites.

Also, avian influenza (bird flu, H5N1) is a flu virus that typically merely affects birds. It is very rare for a human to contract information technology, and but around 700 cases of this bird influenza in humans have been reported from 15 countries since 2003, according to the CDC. It is virtually ofttimes contracted directly from birds and is usually not spread from human to homo like almost types of influenza.

Another blazon of rare bird flu, called H7N9, first appeared in people in China in 2013. Since then, the virus has caused several hundred human infections per year in China; simply in that location was spike in cases from 2016 to 2017, when 766 human being cases in People's republic of china were reported. The H7N9 virus likewise does not appear to spread easily between people.

In contrast to bird flus, influenza A and B viruses are very contagious, and tin can spread from person to person by droplets from the cough or sneeze of an infected person. In 2018, researchers as well confirmed that the virus can spread just by animate, through modest particles called aerosols. Other enquiry has found that such infectious particles can travel up to half dozen feet after they are exhaled past a sick person.

Symptoms

People oftentimes get the symptoms of the common common cold and the flu mixed upwards. While information technology can be difficult to tell the difference between a cold and the flu, in general, flu symptoms tend to be more astringent than common cold symptoms, co-ordinate to the CDC. For example, people with the flu usually develop a fever, whereas people with colds rarely do. Here are some more common signs and symptoms of the flu, co-ordinate to the Mayo Clinic:

headache
aching muscles, especially in your dorsum, arms and legs
fever
chills and sweats
sore throat
dry out, persistent cough
weakness
nasal congestion

Treatment

About people infected with influenza recover within one to ii weeks without requiring medical treatment, according to the WHO. "It is very of import for anyone diagnosed with flu to take care of themselves, giving themselves enough time, plenty fluids and enough residuum to fully recover," said Dr. Susan Donelan, medical director of wellness care epidemiology at Stony Brook Academy in New York.

Over-the-counter painkillers such as ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin) and aspirin may help reduce fevers and relieve aches and pains during the flu. Decongestant drops and cough syrups may also assist ease symptoms, but always contact a medical professional before administering over-the-counter remedies to children.

Certain people are at greater run a risk for health complications from the influenza that could result in hospitalization or death. This includes people older than 65, children nether five, meaning women and people with certain health conditions, such as heart disease, asthma, kidney disease and diabetes.

In some cases, fifty-fifty seemingly healthy people tin can become severely ill from the flu. For example, the Spanish influenza killed many otherwise healthy adults ages 20 to 50 years old. The reason for the loftier death rate in young adults is even so unknown.

According to the American Higher of Emergency Physicians, signs that the flu requires emergency care include:

Difficulty breathing or shortness of breath.
Breast pain or abdominal hurting.
Sudden dizziness.
Confusion.
Severe or persistent vomiting.
Flu-like symptoms that appear to become better, but then return with a fever and worse cough.
Swelling in the rima oris or throat.

In children, emergency symptoms include:

Fast breathing or trouble animate.
Bluish peel color.
Non drinking enough fluids.
Not waking up or non interacting.
Beingness and then irritable that the child does not want to exist held.
Flu-like symptoms that improve, merely and then return with a fever and worse cough.
Fever with a rash.

At the hospital, the doctor may administer antiviral drugs, including adamantanes, such equally amantadine and rimantadine (Flumadine), and inhibitors of influenza, including neuraminidase inhibitors, such equally oseltamivir (Tamiflu) and zanamivir (Relenza), or Peramivir and laninamivir (Inavir), if the patient is seen within 48 hours of onset of symptoms, according to WHO. The CDC recommends that loftier-adventure patients with a flu-like illness become prompt treatment with influenza antiviral drugs, without waiting for testing results to confirm the flu..

Prevention

Though washing your hands regularly and practicing good hygiene are good tactics for preventing the flu, the best course of action is to receive the flu vaccine every year. Each year, researchers decide what strain of the influenza virus will be well-nigh active and vaccines are produced to prevent infection.

The CDC recommends a yearly flu vaccine for anybody 6 months and older. "For the seasonal flu, those who are younger, those who are older, and those who are immunocompromised are more likely to contract flu; and if someone in that group is unable to become vaccinated, it is important for those who have close interaction with them or care for them to go vaccinated to reduce their exposure," said Donelan.

So, why do some people yet get the flu after getting a flu shot? The flu vaccine helps protect against the viruses that are predicted to be about common for that particular twelvemonth.. But information technology is possible to contract a strain of the virus that is slightly unlike from those included in the seasonal vaccine.

Withal, studies show that when strains in the vaccine are a good lucifer with the ones that are circulating, vaccinated individuals are 60 percent less likely to take hold of the flu than people who aren't vaccinated, according to the CDC.

And, a 2013 written report establish that those who do go sick may exist less likely to develop less serve symptoms if they are vaccinated.

Additional resources

CDC: Preventing Seasonal Flu with Vaccination
National Foundation for Infectious Diseases: Influenza
U.S. Food and Drug Administration: Influenza Virus Vaccine Safety & Availability

This article was updated on Oct. two, 2018 by Live Science Senior Writer, Rachael Rettner.

Alina Bradford is a contributing writer for Live Scientific discipline. Over the by xvi years, Alina has covered everything from Ebola to androids while writing health, scientific discipline and tech articles for major publications. She has multiple wellness, safe and lifesaving certifications from Oklahoma State University. Alina's goal in life is to try as many experiences as possible. To appointment, she has been a volunteer firefighter, a dispatcher, substitute teacher, artist, janitor, children's book writer, pizza maker, result coordinator and much more.