{"id":200091,"date":"2024-11-24T15:24:47","date_gmt":"2024-11-24T21:24:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2024\/11\/influenza-influenza-commonly-known-as-the-flu-is-an-infectious-disease-caused-by-influenza-viruses"},"modified":"2024-11-24T15:24:47","modified_gmt":"2024-11-24T21:24:47","slug":"influenza-influenza-commonly-known-as-the-flu-is-an-infectious-disease-caused-by-influenza-viruses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2024\/11\/influenza-influenza-commonly-known-as-the-flu-is-an-infectious-disease-caused-by-influenza-viruses","title":{"rendered":"Influenza: Influenza, commonly known as the flu, is an infectious disease caused by influenza viruses"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a><\/p>\n

Influenza<\/i><\/b>, commonly known as the flu<\/b>, is an infectious disease<\/a> caused by . Symptoms range from mild to severe and often include fever<\/a>, runny nose<\/a>, sore throat<\/a>, muscle pain<\/a>, headache<\/a>, coughing<\/a>, and fatigue<\/a>. These symptoms begin one to four (typically two) days after exposure to the virus and last for about two to eight days. Diarrhea<\/a> and vomiting<\/a> can occur, particularly in children. may progress to pneumonia<\/a> from the virus or a subsequent bacterial infection<\/a>. Other complications include acute respiratory distress syndrome<\/a>, meningitis<\/a>, encephalitis<\/a>, and worsening of pre-existing health problems such as asthma<\/a> and cardiovascular disease<\/a>.<\/p>\n

There are four types of virus: types A, B, C, and D. Aquatic birds<\/a> are the primary source of (IAV), which is also widespread in various mammals, including humans and pigs. (IBV) and (ICV) primarily infect humans, and <a href=\u201chttps:\/\/en.m.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Influenza_D_virus\u201d title=\u201cInfluenza D D virus<\/a> (IDV) is found in cattle and pigs. A virus and B virus circulate in humans and cause seasonal epidemics<\/a>, and C virus causes a mild infection, primarily in children. D virus can infect humans but is not known to cause illness. In humans, viruses are primarily transmitted<\/a> through respiratory droplets<\/a> from coughing and sneezing. Transmission through aerosols<\/a> and surfaces contaminated by the virus also occur.<\/p>\n

Frequent hand washing<\/a> and covering one\u2019s mouth and nose when coughing and sneezing reduce transmission, as does wearing a mask. Annual vaccination<\/a> can help to provide protection against viruses, particularly A virus, evolve quickly, so flu vaccines are updated regularly to match which strains are in circulation. Vaccines provide protection against A virus subtypes H1N1<\/a> and H3N2<\/a> and one or two B virus subtypes. infection is diagnosed with laboratory methods such as antibody<\/a> or antigen<\/a> tests and a polymerase chain reaction (PCR<\/a>) to identify viral nucleic acid<\/a>. The disease can be treated with supportive measures<\/a> and, in severe cases, with antiviral drugs<\/a> such as oseltamivir<\/a>. In healthy individuals, is typically self-limiting<\/a> and rarely fatal, but it can be deadly in high-risk groups.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Influenza, commonly known as the flu, is an infectious disease caused by<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":661,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-200091","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-biotech-medical"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200091","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/661"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=200091"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200091\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=200091"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=200091"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=200091"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}