Colds and Flu Matters

I mentioned a few times about me having an allergy and truly there are times that it's annoying specially when i am in the middle of a nice sleep and all of a sudden i have to sneeze repetitively and deal with runny nose. These common traits are my buddies when i still ma not taking my daily dose of vitamins and gladly when i started taking this immune system boosters then it just changed everything.

Just there are times that I'm thinking where this flu virus came from and so i had my share of research so this is what i've got:

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What is flu?

Influenza, commonly shortened to "flu," is an extremely contagious respiratory illness caused by influenza A or B viruses. Flu appears most frequently in winter and early spring. The flu virus attacks the body by spreading through the upper and/or lower respiratory tract.

What's the difference between a cold and flu?

The common cold and flu are both contagious viral infections of the respiratory tract. Although the symptoms can be similar, flu is much worse. A cold may drag you down a bit, but the flu can make you shudder at the very thought of getting out of bed.

Congestion, sore throat, and sneezing are common with colds. Both cold and flu bring coughing, headache, and chest discomfort. With the flu, though, you are likely to run a high fever for several days and have headache, myalgia, fatigue, and weakness. Usually, complications from colds are relatively minor, but a severe case of flu can lead to a life-threatening illness such as pneumonia.

More than 100 types of cold viruses are known, and new strains of flu evolve every few years. Since both diseases are viral, antibiotics cannot conquer cold or flu. Remember: Antibiotics only treat bacterial infections.

Source:

webmd.com

Fever and Flu

I noticed flu medicine if salable nowadays. Now wonder because the weather is so unpredictable. In fact, we were just hit by a typhoon so it was raining the past few days. While a week prior to this, the sun smiles brightly so i don't know what's really the exact weather on this month. I heard a dry spell will hit us and i think it was true due to the evidence of crack lands in some places.

Anyway, going back to flu season. I had a quick research and here's what i've got:

Influenza, commonly known as the 'flu' , is an infectious disease of birds and mammals caused by RNA viruses of the family Orthomyxoviridae, the influenza viruses. The most common symptoms are chills, fever, sore throat, muscle pains, headache (often severe), coughing, weakness/fatigue and general discomfort. Although it is often confused with other influenza-like illnesses, especially the common cold, influenza is a more severe disease caused by a different type of virus.[2] Influenza may produce nausea and vomiting, particularly in children,[1] but these symptoms are more common in the unrelated gastroenteritis, which is sometimes inaccurately referred to as "stomach flu" or "24-hour flu".[3] Flu can occasionally lead to pneumonia, either direct viral pneumonia or secondary bacterial pneumonia, even for persons who are usually very healthy.

In particular it is a warning sign if a child (or presumably an adult) seems to be getting better and then relapses with a high fever as this relapse may be bacterial pneumonia.[7] Another warning sign is if the person starts to have trouble breathing.