Influenza Virus, Its Sign and Symptoms and Complications

Influenza virus is an infection that affects your whole respiratory system from your nose to your throat to your lungs. Commonly it is called flu. In most of the people the influenza virus does not need any proper treatment and resolves on its own but in some people it gets severe and needs a proper treatment. People who are at higher risk of getting influenza virus are:

1. Children who are under the age of 5.
2. Adults older than 60.
3. Women postpartum and women who are pregnant.
4. People who have weak immune systems.
5. People with chronic illnesses.
6. People who are overweight and who’s BMI (body mass index) is more than 40.

Signs and Symptoms of influenza

When the flu begins it seems like a common cold with sore throat, sneezing and a runny nose. The major difference between the common cold and flu is that common cold occurs slowly and gradually yet the flu occurs all of a sudden. Although the common cold is just so irritating and nuisance but the flu is really worse. Common symptoms of flu are:

○ Aching muscles

○ Headache

○ Sweats and chills

○ Persistent and dry cough

○ Weakness

○ Fatigue

○ Nasal congestion

○ Sore throat

 Causes

Flu travels through the droplets that are already present in the air when the person who is suffering through the disease sneezes, coughs or talks. You can get it from the object for example your cell phone or keyboard of the computer or you might also breathe in the droplets. When you get it from the objects you can easily and unknowingly transfer it to your nose, mouth or throat. People who have the infection are contagious from the time when they get the disease in them till the 5th day of your disease. Children because of their weak immunity and people with the weakened immune system might be contagious for a little longer. Influenza virus changes its strands continuously so it is very difficult to treat. When you suffer through influenza and get treated your body produces antibodies against it but when it occurs for the next time it appears with the new strands and your body does not have antibodies for that so you get sick. Your body will only protect you against the strands that already happened in your body but not against the new strands. So when it attacks again you need new antibodies to be formed in your body.

 Risk factors

Following are the risk factors of influenza virus:

○ Age

○ Chronic illness

○ Weak immune systems

○ Working or living conditions

○ Obesity

○ Pregnancy

○ Aspirin

• Age

Influenza has the most effect on the children who are under the age of 12 and those who are older than 60. They have a greater chance of getting influenza virus.

• Chronic illness:

Chronic illness, like different lung diseases for example asthma, diabetes, heart diseases, neurological problems, abnormality of the airways, kidney problems increase your risk of getting influenza virus.

• Weak immune systems: anti rejection medicines, steroids long term use, treatment of cancer, AIDS, blood cancer weaken immune system. When you have any of these diseases your immune system gets weakened and you are a very easy target for the disease so you can easily catch influenza.
• Working or living conditions:

Those people who work under conditions like hospitals etc and do the jobs like nursing are at the greater risk of getting influenza virus. Hospitalized people are even more at the risk of getting the virus.

• Obesity: People who are overweight and have a higher BMI are at a greater risk of getting influenza.
• Pregnancy: Pregnant ladies are more likely to develop flu complications, especially within the second and third trimesters. Ladies up to two weeks postpartum too are more likely to create influenza-related problems.
• Aspirin: People who start taking aspirin before the age of 19 and keep taking it are more likely to develop influenza virus and if they develop influenza they have a risk of getting Reye’s syndrome.

 Complications

If you are healthy and your immune system is strong then you will get fine in just few days without getting any treatment but if you are not and you have not gotten any disinfectant like powrTwin 8900 disinfectant sprayer then you can easily get highly infected and can have many more complications. Some of the major complications are:

○ Bronchitis

○ Heart problems

○ Pneumonia

○ Infections of air

○ Asthma

You can easily get the disinfectants sprayer from different places like titan parts etc. Influenza virus is one of those diseases that when it gets severe does not get treated easily so you should always be careful and always consult your doctor before taking any medicine. You should never take the medication without prescription because it might be very dangerous for you to take. Always take care of your health and be very conscious when you are taking medications.