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5 Things You Must Know About Flu

1.What causes the flu?

Influenza virus causes the flu,it can be divided into three groups,A,B and C. Seasonal epidemic flu is caused by the human influenza viruses A and B and it is appears in November and lasts usually until April. Influenza C type has very mild symptoms and does not have an impact on the public health. Efforts to control influenza are in most cases aimed at the virus types A and B.

2.How it spreads?

The virus is spread very easily through sneezing,coughing,or even speaking with a infected person.The virus is situated in the respiratory system where it replicates. Infected people are able to spread it from five to seven days but the highest concentration of the virus is usually found on the second day of the infection. it is preferable that people who are infected stay at home so they won't be capable of spreading the virus and causing the epidemic. Most people are not aware of this problem so they go into public and spread the virus everywhere.Once the person got into contact with the virus it spreads in a very short time,that is why flu virus is so contagious.

3.Signs and symptoms

The most common symptoms of the flu are coughing,headache,sore throat and a fever.It is not hard to detect when someone has the flu because most of the symptoms are obvious. Most of the symptoms last for 5-7 days and they go away after that period of time. The problem is that people with weakened immune system like those that suffer from chronic diseases,children and older people have a higher risk of health complications caused by the flu. symptoms can be detected without visiting a doctor and most people just stay at home and wait for the infection to go away.

4. treatment

It is possible to treat the flu in two ways,first one is to take antiviral medications to attack the virus directly,the second possibility is to treat the symptoms while our immune system takes care of the virus. Antivirals are supposed to be given within the 48 hours to take effect. Another possibility is to treat symptoms and hope that our immune system will do the rest,there were many cases where people tried to get better without taking professional help but in the end they had to visit the doctor because the symptoms were getting worse. The success of fighting the flu depends on our immune system and how strong it is.

5.Prevention

The most effective way to protect ourselves from getting a flu is vaccination.The best time to do this is at the beginning of the flu season. Usually healthy people do not get flu vaccine but it is preferable that people with chronic diseases and weakened immune system do that. There are many other preventive methods like washing hands which is the best prevention method after vaccination. virus is everywhere around us during its season so washing hands is a great way to protect our health.