How Influenza Virus Works
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How Influenza Spreads
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Influenza (commonly referred to as the flu) is an airborne virus and can easily spread from person to person. When you cough or sneeze you release respiratory droplets into the air. These droplets travel through the air and land on other people's bodies, onto your own body or clothing, or onto surfaces such as counter tops. When you come into contact with infected individual's respiratory droplets, either directly (they sneeze on you) or indirectly (you handle an object they've contaminated), you run the risk of infection.
If infected, you will likely be contagious one day before symptoms show themselves, so you will be prone to passing the virus to others. Furthermore, you may remain contagious for up to a week after symptoms cease, which is why influenza is so effective at propagating itself within a population.
What Influenza Does
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When the influenza virus enters your respiratory system, it invades your cells and forces them to replicate more virus particles. The replication process continues as the new viral particles invade other cells, which in turn are forced to replicate more viral particles and so on. Noticeable symptoms of the viruses' actions include fever, cough, runny nose, body aches and vomiting in some cases.
Furthermore, a study in The Journal of Leukocyte Biology found that influenza actually goes a step further and disables your immune system. Your weakened immune system will have trouble combating the influenza virus and also will leave you open to further infection from other viral or bacterial illnesses. The study found that while white blood cell count was normal in the patients they studied, the receptors (responsible for alerting and activating the immune system) had been weakened by the influenza virus.
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How Your Immune System Beats Influenza
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Most people can beat the flu by staying home and resting. Avoid contact with other people for your own protection (given your weakened immune system) as well as theirs. Certain groups may need to seek medical attention for antiviral treatment, including children under 5, adults over 65, pregnant women, people with other medical conditions likely to cause complications, and people working in professions such as health care, who have a heightened exposure to the virus.
Flu vaccines consist of injecting dead influenza viruses into your blood stream. This enhances your immune system by providing receptors and white blood cells with the "information" needed to combat a particular strain of influenza. Your immune system also is enhanced in this way if you've have the particular strain in the past. The U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention recommends you get the vaccine if you fall into one of the categories above, and they recommend you definitely should not have the vaccine if you're allergic to chicken eggs, already have fever-like symptoms, are under 6 months of age, or have had a previous negative reaction to the vaccine.
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