Flu Facts
A Few Helpful Flu Facts For Your Health
Flu facts are never pretty, and the younger or more elderly the victim, the more complex and life threatening the symptoms can be. The most important flu facts have to do with diagnosis, and if you are unsure then you need to be seen by a physician. For the most part, the flu is accompanied and often begun with acute head and body aches alongside a fever which spikes quickly above 100 degrees. It is not uncommon for the fever to hold out and be unbreakable for days, and to reach upwards of 103 degrees before it is brought under control. If you or your child are unfortunate enough to include vomiting and diarrhea in their list of symptoms, dehydration becomes a grave concern and is the number one cause for hospitalization and even death.
In order to understand flu facts it is important to know what it is and where it comes from. Influenza is an airborne virus, which means that there is no cure, and antibiotics will not affect the germs in any way. That it is air borne means that it can be transferred from one being to another very easily and in a multitude of ways. Sneezing, coughing, kissing, touching a doorknob or table where the influenza virus has been left can all pass the virus easily. There only needs be a very small number of germs in order to infect any person with the sickness, though those who pick up fewer germs may take longer to show symptoms.
If you should be stricken with the unforgiving flu, facts about home remedies and available over the counter flu therapy medications will be quite pertinent to you. If you should catch your symptoms within 24 hours of their onset, you may be able to retard your overall symptoms with the use of some of these therapies. This will not end your bout with the flu, but you may escape days and days of bed ridden agony. Flu facts regarding dehydration are quite disconcerting, as the longer you are ill the better your chances are of being more violently ill. This is especially true if you are experiencing stomach and bowel illness on top of the respiratory discomforts.
When learning flu facts regarding children, you must remember that they will almost always contract stomach issues in association with their bout, and keeping them hydrated can be a great challenge. If your children are too young to understand that they need water, you may want to try Gatorade or a diluted apple juice concoction. It is of the utmost importance for children to remain sufficiently hydrated, as it takes less than 48 hours for dehydration to become fatal in small children.