Do You Really, Really Need A Flu Shot?
In a word, yes. As long as you claim to be human, you stand a pretty good chance of contracting the flu at one time or another. But why let that happen? Influenza can be a very serious sickness; and there’s absolutely no sense of getting it if you could have avoided it. Continue reading »

What is Avian Flu?
Avian Influenza, also known as the Bird Flu, is an infection caused the family of flu viruses occurring naturally in birds. Wild birds worldwide carry bird flu viruses in their intestines, but they do not get sick from them. It is only domesticated birds that have little resistance to the bird flu. Chickens, ducks, and turkeys are especially at risk, and very likely to die once they have been infected. Continue reading »

The influenza viruses causes millions of people across the world to come down with some very annoying symptoms, and it can even lead to death in some cases. It’s a type of illness that is very common, but not many people understand it. In this article, we’ll examine some of the myths that surround the flu.
Myth: By taking the vaccine that can help you to avoid the flu when flu season rolls around, you will come down with the flu early.
Truth: The vaccine for the flu is an efficient method of avoiding the possibility of coming down with the flu when the flu season rolls around. The vaccines are changed from year to year to reflect the mutations that the flu strains have gone through in recent times. When you take a vaccine in order to prevent the flu, you are actually exposing your body to inactivated flu viruses. That means that you should not come down with the flu if you take the vaccine properly, as it is merely showing your body how to fight against the virus while it is in a disabled state. You shouldn’t worry about the consequences of getting a flu vaccine, and they are highly recommended to those who are especially at-risk for damage from the flu, such as senior citizens.
Myth: The flu is a common illness that goes away over a short period of time.
Truth: While the flu affects most of us to some degree where we get a fever, headache, and many other symptoms, the flu can be deadly. As many as twenty to forty thousand people in the United States die per year due to complications of the flu. While the common cold is often confused with the flu, the flu is a much more serious respiratory illness that can lead to infections and pneumonia in advanced cases.
Myth: There is no way to combat influenza besides getting rest and drinking fluids.
Truth: There are actually many ways to combat the flu that are currently available. The Food and Drug Administration of the United States has approved four different antiviral drugs that can be used to help to keep the flu at bay by damaging the virus’s ability to replicate. These drugs can be used preventatively if you are in a location where the flu is likely to strike, and they can also be used in order to help your body in fighting the flu. Those who take the drugs to remedy an already-present case of influenza can experience lessened symptoms as well as a quicker recovery time.
Myth: It can be tough to diagnose influenza
Truth: While it has been difficult to figure out exactly what respiratory illness a patient was facing in the past, we’ve now developed a type of mouth swab test that can prove to show if someone is afflicted with influenza with a 99.9% success rate. The results are produced quickly and doctors can subsequently prescribe the right solution to solving your problem.

The flu is quite a problem all on its own. The sneezing, coughing, fever and headache that one may experience when they are suffering from the influenza virus can cause considerable damage to your day-to-day activities. Sometimes people take the flu with a grain of salt due to how often it infects people, but few realize that the flu can actually cause some life-threatening complications. In this article, we’ll discuss some of the problems that can arise when the flu takes hold.
First, it’s important to consider your risk for flu complications. The flu tends to be a problem that is easily overcome by those who have a healthy immune system, and young adults are most likely to recover quickly. Young children and the elderly may be at more of a risk for the complications, and for that reason, they should exercise extra care when it comes to influenza preparations. You may want to consider getting a flu vaccine in order to eliminate the possibility that you will fall victim to the flu. Also, you may want to consider getting preventative medications such as antiviral treatments or Tamiflu in order to ensure that you’ll be protected in case the virus strikes within your household.
The most common complication that is of a dire nature when it comes to influenza is the threat of pneumococcal pneumonia. Pneumococcal pneumonia is an infection of bacteria within the lungs, and it can lead to death if untreated. If you are in a high-risk group for developing complications from the flu, you may want to consider getting a vaccination against pneumococcal pneumonia as well as against influenza. Where flu vaccines need to be taken yearly to be effective, the pneumococcal pneumonia vaccine can last upwards of ten years without a need for another vaccination.
Bronchitis is another threat that the flu presents to those at a high risk for complications. Bronchitis causes an inflammation of the bronchi that are located within the lungs, resulting in a painful cough that doesn’t go away. Throat pain and symptoms that you might expect from a cold may also occur if you have bronchitis.
If you suspect that your flu case is serious enough to merit the possibility of complications, be sure to speak to a doctor as soon as possible. They can prescribe you with medications that keep the flu at bay by eliminating the virus’s ability to replicate. This can help you to get better from the flu quicker and may help to prevent the spread of the virus to another victim. As always, prevention is the first step when it comes to dealing with the problem of influenza. Be sure to exercise caution and be very hygienic when it comes to washing your hands. You shouldn’t touch your face with unclean hands, as it provides a means for flu viruses that you might have on your hands to get into your respiratory tract, infecting you with the virus. Your health is your responsibility, so stay safe!

Influenza is a deadly disease that kills hundreds of people each year, and one that has killed tens of millions in the past. So how come you don’t know so much about it? If you want to beat such a deadly illness, you might want to read on. Here are five facts about the flu that you need to keep in mind.
Number One: The Flu Is Dangerous to Your Health
You may not think that it is, given today’s present state of medical development. The flu is often taken to be something that happens as a matter of course, especially if you have not taken a flu shot. Although hundreds of thousands of people die each year of the flu worldwide, we might even be perversely thankful for that. A little less than a hundred years ago, tens of millions of people were dying from the flu, in what was dubbed the Spanish flu Pandemic. As recently as 40 years ago, one million people died in Hong Kong because of an outbreak of the flu.
So the next time flu season comes along, don’t just shrug it off. It’s not much of a stretch to say that the flu has killed fifty million people in the past century. With such a deadly killer on the loose, you would be remiss not get your annual flu shot. After all, don’t you want to stay away from something so dangerous?
Number Two: The Flu Has Many Symptoms 
The flu causes your body to exhibit a number of symptoms, none of them particularly pleasant. These symptoms include muscle aches, tiredness, headaches, runny nose, stuffed nose, stomach problems, fever, and many others. It lowers your powers of resistance and can exacerbate other conditions, especially those that involve the heart, the lungs, and the kidneys.
Number Three: The Flu is Contagious
Current strains of human influenza are transmitted through a variety of ways, but mostly by contact with airborne viruses. When infected people sneeze, talk, and even spit, the virus is transmitted. Accordingly, people who have the flu should stay away from other people, and other people should stay away from someone who is infected. 
Number Four: The Flu Is Changing
Influenza strains are constantly in a state of mutation. This means that each year, they are at least slightly different from the preceding year. To combat this, a different vaccine mix is prepared each year. The fact that flu viruses change from year to year can be a cause for concern: there might come a time when our vaccines no longer work against it.
Number Five: The Flu Can Be Prevented 
The flu is dangerous, true, but it can be prevented. An annual flu shot is usually the best course to take to avoid its ill effects. The flu shot, which is covered by most insurance policies, contains the virus strains that scientists and medical practitioners believe to be currently spreading among the population. These viruses are weakened and “fed” to your immune system, which soon envelops, destroys, and becomes more efficient against the invaders.
 

Flu pandemics occur on a relatively predictable ratio of 3 per century, as the flu virus has “pattern cycles” which last around 40 years. For that period of 40 years, the virus will slowly evolve into newer strains, however when the pattern cycle is over, it will form an almost radically different strain of the virus, which is harder to combat by the body and easier to transmit. Since the last great pandemic was the 1957-1958 Asian Flu (there were a couple of other epidemics after that, however they were quickly quelled and did not reach the status of a pandemic) it is predicted that we are on the brink of a new flu pandemic threat. This theory has been confirmed in 1997, when bird flu triggered a shockwave in the scientific community as the disease killed thousands of flocks of birds all over the world and infected several humans.

It must be noted that the H5N1 virus is not yet capable of starting a new pandemic. In order for a virus to be a pandemic threat, it needs to fulfill three conditions: it needs to have the properties to cause a lethal condition, it needs to have an efficient way of passing from the carrier (birds in this case) to humans and it needs to have a quick way of spreading from human to human. At this point, the H5N1 virus only fully completes the first condition, of being deadly to humans.

The virus itself is not deadly, however it can cause several other conditions that are highly dangerous. The most common one produced by the H5N1 virus is the SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome. This syndrome blocks air paths and affects the lungs quickly after the body has been infected and is in most cases lethal. If found on time, SARS can be treated but in most cases, the infected person will not realize he has the syndrome until it is too late.

The second condition, of the virus being transmittable from the carrier to a human being is not yet entirely fulfilled by the H5N1. Although the first few cases of bird flu in humans have been reported as early as 1997, the total number of documented cases remains under 300 on a world scale. The number itself is not alarming, however the rate with which the infections increased with each flu season is. Whereas in 2004 only 25 cases were documented, by January 2005 the 100 mark was hit. By April 2006 200 cases were reported and this summer the 250 mark was hit.

Lastly, the final condition for triggering a new flu pandemic is also not entirely complete. The H5N1 virus cannot transmit itself from human to human with ease and until a few years ago it was considered impossible for the virus to do so. And although only a handful of human-to-human spread cases are documented, it is alarming that the virus found a way to do so.