The Bird Flu

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 103F 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 isnt 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 doesnt 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 years vaccines.

Influenza A viruses are very hard to control because they undergo changes, making it harder for.