INFLUENZA

Influenza, also known as “the flu,” is a virus that infects the respiratory tract. Although Influenza is not as severe as many viral infections it's almost the worst for viral infections of the respiratory tract. Typically, when someone is infected with influenza they experience fever (usually 100° to 103°F in adults, but even higher in children) and causes a cough, sore throat, runny or stuffy nose, and also headaches, muscle aches, and usually extreme tiredness. There are sometimes other symptoms such as nausea, vomiting and diarrhea but usually only in rare cases with young children. One other note: The term “Stomach flu” isn’t really caused by the influenza virus.

The average recovery time from the flu is about 1-2 weeks, although some patients do develop more severe complications such as pneumonia, which are capable of being life threatening. On average, influenza is associated with more than 20,000 deaths nationwide and more than 100,000 hospitalizations. These are usually from patients who develop complications and they are usually children or the elderly, although complications can develop at any age.

There are three types of influenza viruses, Groups A, B, and C. Only Groups A and B are responsible for causing the epidemics of flu that occur almost every year. Influenza C is different in several ways because it causes mild to no symptoms and doesn’t cause the yearly epidemics. Scientists put out most of their effort to control influenza A and B because of their huge impact on the nation and the world. Influenza type A viruses have two proteins that determine their specific type. Take Influenza A(H1N1) the H stands for hemagglutinin and the N stands for neuraminidase. The current types of Influenza A are A(H1N1) and A(H3N2). Influenza A(H1N1), A(H3N2), and Influenza B strains are included in each year’s vaccines.

Influenza A viruses are very hard to control because they undergo changes, making it harder for human’s immune systems to detect them. There are two types of changes. The first is a series of mutations that occur over time and cause a gradual change in the virus. This is called antigenic “drift.” This process allows the virus to make a more stable change yet still evade the immune system. The second type of change is an abrupt change in the hemagglutinin and/or the neuraminidase proteins. This is called antigenic "shift.” It isn’t as s...

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...uenza vaccines, since the vaccine is prepared from influenza grown in eggs. The most common side effect is mild soreness at the injection site. Serious side effects such as such as life-threatening allergic reactions or Guilain-Barre syndrome are rare (fewer than 1to 2 cases per million vaccine recipients).

Although the virus will continue to change and we will continue to try to defeat it, we never will. Just in the past three years two new strains have been discovered but were isolated and wiped out quickly. Maybe next time we won’t be so lucky but maybe we will. After all, it’s only the flu and humans didn’t get this far by worrying about it.

Works Cited (I did it in MLA Format so be happy):P

References:

“Influenza A(H5N1).” Who.gov. Online. January, 1998.

“Isolation of Avian Influenza A(H5N10 Viruses from Humans.” CDC.Gov. Online. Hong Kong, May-December, 1997.

Larson, Erik. “The Flu Hunters.” TIME. February 23, 1998. Britannica.com.

Simao, Paul. “Flu Season.” Rueters. Thursday March 22, 2001. Britannica.com.

Stannard, Linda M. “Influenza Virus.” 1995. Uct.ac.za.

By

Grant Wade

April 22, 2001

Fayetteville, Arkansas

Email me at [e-mail] if you use this paper please.