Recently, flu began to spread among the crowd quietly, and CDC in many places issued early warnings.
Last week, our hospital had more than 300 confirmed cases of influenza in the last day.
Let me tell you everything about the flu.
1. What is influenza
Influenza is the abbreviation of influenza . It is caused by influenza virus and is highly contagious respiratory disease. It mainly relies on droplet transmission.
Influenza is not a common cold . Although the two sound or look very similar, the flu is far more contagious than a common cold, and may cause serious complications and cause death.
After the emergence of 1918, the "Spanish Flu" , which swept the world, caused tens of millions of people around the world to die, which shows the power of the flu.
2. What is influenza virus
The essence of influenza virus is an RNA virus.
It is divided into three types A, B, and C. Type A is divided into many different subtypes, such as H1N1, H3N2, and H7N9. Currently, the main infections of humans are the H1N1, H3N2 subtypes in influenza A virus and the Victoria and Yamagata lines in influenza B virus.
3, influenza susceptible population
The whole population is generally susceptible to influenza virus , and after infection, it gains immunity to the homogeneous virus, but the duration is short, and there is no cross-immunity between various types and subtypes, which can cause repeated diseases.
Children, the elderly, pregnant women, and chronic patients are high-risk groups for influenza , which is even more serious after influenza infection.
4. How to judge that you have influenza?
The symptoms and signs of influenza are lacking specificity, which is easily confused with common cold and other upper respiratory tract infections .
The main symptoms of influenza: sudden onset, fever (some cases may experience high fever, up to 39-40℃), cough, sore throat, runny nose, nasal congestion, physical pain, chills, fatigue, diarrhea, vomiting and other symptoms.
Influenza diagnosis depends on laboratory diagnosis, and the detection methods include viral nucleic acid detection, virus isolation and culture, antigen detection and serological detection.
If you have the following symptoms, you should seek medical treatment in time:
- continues to high fever (more than 3 days), accompanied by severe cough, coughing of pus, bloody phlegm, or chest pain ;
- quick breathing, difficulty breathing, and cyanosis of the lips;
- nervous system symptoms: slow reaction, drowsiness , agitation, convulsions;
- severe vomiting and diarrhea, and dehydration;
- original underlying diseases are significantly aggravated;
- other obvious discomforts.
5. How to prevent influenza?
- The most effective preventive measure is to get the flu vaccine.
Influenza vaccination is the most effective means to prevent influenza and can significantly reduce the risk of influenza and serious complications in vaccinated people. Influenza viruses are prone to mutation, and the immunity of vaccination will gradually weaken over time, so influenza vaccines need to be vaccinated every year.
- Avoid contact with people with symptoms of "cold".
Influenza patients are the main source of infection. If someone at home is infected with the flu, it is recommended to isolate as much as possible, especially reduce contact with children and the elderly.
- keeps indoor air circulating.
Open the windows at least twice a day for 10 to 15 minutes each time. Pay attention to avoid catching cold during ventilation.
- Try not to go to densely populated areas. If you need to go, it is best to wear a medical mask.
- Wash your hands frequently and pay attention to personal hygiene.
6. Influenza often mutates, and the strains that are popular every year are different. Should we get influenza vaccine?
Research by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that during the 2004-2018 flu season, the flu vaccine prevented the overall population by ≥35%.
Children have more obvious prevention effects than adults.Data shows that during the 2018-2019 influenza season, the influenza protection effect of children aged 6 months to 17 years old reached 61%, which means that 61 out of 100 people who have been vaccinated can avoid influenza virus infection in that season.
Even if people who have been vaccinated with influenza, their corresponding symptoms and conditions will be more gentle than those who have not been vaccinated with influenza.
To match the ever-mutating influenza virus, World Health Organization (WHO) generally announces vaccine recommendations for the next flu season in the northern hemisphere in February each year. The scientific basis is that the WHO cooperation center and the global national influenza center form a powerful monitoring network. Through the monitoring results of hundreds of national influenza centers, the influenza strains of the next epidemic season are screened out and recommended to influenza vaccine manufacturers to prepare vaccines.
It can be said that the flu vaccine has been monitoring and hunting down the ever-changing flu virus.
So, of course, needs to be vaccinated with influenza vaccine .
and mutates due to influenza vaccine, recommends getting influenza vaccine every year.
I am Dr. Huang Dingding. Follow me and continue to bring you medical popularization.
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