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What is influenza?
Influenza is a respiratory
infection caused by the influenza virus. It is spread through respiratory
droplets. After you are exposed to
someone who has the flu it takes 1-4 days before you start showing symptoms.
Usually it causes sudden onset of severe headache, body-ache, fever, runny
nose, and cough. While you are sick with the flu, and even a day before
you get sick, you are contagious, meaning you can pass the virus along to
others if you have close enough contact.
Influenza is commonly called 'the
flu' which is differentiated from common cold symptoms by the severity of body
aches and fever. It is also different from the stomach flu or gastroenteritis,
which is the vomiting and diarrhea viral illness that is often referred to as the flu.
What to expect if you get sick?
The symptoms will resolve after a
week or so and most people will recover fully without any specific treatment
for the flu. There are antiviral
medications available to treat the flu (Tami flu & Relenza are two) but
these only shorten the course of being sick by a day or two; their use should
be minimized to prevent the flu virus from developing resistance to the
medication. These medications are more effective if you start them as
soon as possible after you develop flu symptoms and do almost no good if you
have been sick for more than 72 hours.
Like a cold, the cause of the infection is a virus and antibiotics will
not get you better any faster unless you develop a secondary bacterial infection
like pneumonia.
While you are sick, it is best to
stay home and treat your symptoms with tylenol or ibuprofen, drink plenty of
fluids and rest. This will allow your body to recuperate and heal itself
while preventing others from getting ill.
Occasionally, people get quite ill
and every year people die from influenza.
Usually these deaths occur in the very young and very old, or people
with chronic medical conditions. Last year, there was a higher than
expected percentage of deaths in normally healthy individuals due to the H1N1
strain of influenza.
If your breathing becomes difficult
at any point while you have influenza, you must see your doctor or go to an
urgent care or ER for an evaluation to check your oxygen saturation, maybe get
a flu test, or a chest x-ray to make sure you don't have a bacterial pneumonia
which can be a complication of influenza.
How to prevent it?
The main way to prevent getting
influenza is to avoid contact with
people with the flu, and be really good about washing your hands.
Soap and water work just fine, but if you don’t have access to a sink,
hand sanitizer will suffice. This
is good advice to follow through the entire cold and flu season.
If you get sick, be sure to stay home until 24 hours after the fever resolves. You must be vigilant about washing your
hands after touching your nose or mouth and before you touch any household
items.
Getting
the influenza vaccine when it
becomes available will allow your body to build immunity to the influenza virus
ahead of time, so that if you are exposed to the virus, you either won't get
sick or you will get a much more mild case of the flu. The vaccine does not cause influenza. It is
recommended that everyone over 6 months old get the flu vaccine.
Restrictions.
If
you have had a prior allergy to the flu vaccine
or have an egg or chicken allergy,
or currently have a fever or have a history of Guillan-Barre after the flu
vaccine, you should not get the vaccine.
More flu info at cdc.gov here http://www.cdc.gov/flu/
The Men’s
Health Center has the adult flu vaccine in stock, so you can call anytime for
an immunization appointment. It is
$40 and only takes a minute
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