Flu Facts
Some Informative Flu Facts to Know
Do you have the flu? Facts suggest that there's not a lot you can do, outside of getting plenty of rest and drinking plenty of fluids.
• You know it as the flu. Facts from scientists call it influenza. And it has three types, A, B and C. Type A is the kind that causes serious epidemics, like the last one in 1914. Type B is generally less serious than type A, but it can still cause outbreaks. Type C is a milder strain, that usually causes less serious symptoms than either of the other types.
• We get the flu in much the same way as our mothers always used to warn us – by infected people not covering their nose and mouth when they cough or sneeze. The influenza droplets are airborne, and we inhale them in when we breathe near an infected person.
• Just when you feel you're out of the woods and getting better, sometimes pneumonia will sneak in on the back of a case of the flu. Facts state that pneumonia can sometimes be very serious, and occasionally fatal, so check with your doctor if you develop fever, chills, chest pain and a productive cough that brings up yellowish-green mucus, shortly after getting over the flu.
• Doctors have five ways to fight the flu – facts say they do so with varying degrees of success. Flu vaccines are designed to stop you from catching the flu. The problem there is that there are so many strains, no one knows if this year's strain of vaccine will effectively fight this year's flu strain.
• Antivirals are used with some success, to prevent, treat, or ease flu symptoms. Anti-biotic, which the family doctor used to hand out every time someone had a cough, do nothing to prevent or treat or prevent the flu. Over the counter treatments may alleviate some of your symptoms, while they are not actually fighting the disease itself.
• Anti-biotic were so often given out by physicians that we have now developed a dangerous side-effect called antibiotic resistance. In cases of this, anti-biotic may not even work against bacteria that they used to treat, because we have used them so many times that we became immune to their effects.
• A few more flu facts: Viruses and bacteria are two totally different organisms. A virus can't reproduce on its own – it must find a living cell to infect. A cold and the flu are both respiratory diseases that are caused by two different viruses, and sometimes it's hard to tell which one you are suffering from.
• Basically, if you have a fever, aches and chills, it's probably the flu. If, instead you are experiencing sneezing, stuffy nose and a sore throat, but usually no fever, then it's likely a cold. It's “flu facts of life” in most areas in the United States, especially in the winter, that you'll suffer from one or both.