All you need to know about seasonal flu

This is an automatically translated article.

Seasonal flu tends to spread into epidemics in the winter, the disease is highly contagious through the respiratory tract, through droplets of saliva or nasopharyngeal secretions caused by sneezing. Here are basic information and ways to prevent seasonal flu.

1. What is the flu?

Influenza is a contagious viral illness that attacks an infected person's respiratory system - the nose, throat, and lungs. For most people, the flu will go away on its own. But sometimes, the flu and its complications can be fatal in people who are at high risk for flu complications.
>>>> All you need to know about flu

2. Causes of colds

Influenza is caused by the Influenza virus, which constantly mutates with new strains appearing frequently.
Continuous small changes called antigenic drift cause small and medium outbreaks. When small changes gradually accumulate into large changes, a new type of antigen is created, which is caused by recombination between the influenza virus strains and human influenza. These new antigenic subtypes will cause global influenza pandemics.
>>> Formation of influenza

3. Flu warning signs

Symptoms of the flu can range from mild to severe and can lead to death. Unlike a cold, the flu usually comes on suddenly. People with the flu usually have some or all of these symptoms, such as fever, feeling feverish, chills, cough, sore throat, runny or stuffy nose, muscle aches, headache, fatigue, in children it may be vomiting and diarrhea.
>>> Danger warning signs of flu

4. Path of transmission

Influenza is spread mainly through droplets of saliva that are released into the air by an infected person. The period of flu virus shedding often begins before the sick person feels unwell or has just had the first few symptoms.
>>>> How does the flu virus spread and spread?

5. Flu complications

Although there are mild and common symptoms, if subjective, it will easily lead to extremely dangerous flu complications.
When the flu becomes severe, it will lead to respiratory failure, pneumonia, bronchial asthma, heart failure, diabetes, coronary heart disease, immunosuppression, otitis media, sinusitis, urinary tract infections.. Children and the elderly over 65 years old are the most susceptible to complications.
For pregnant women, flu complications can cause miscarriage or fetal disease if pregnant women catch flu in the first 3 months.
>>> People at high risk of flu complications

6. How is the flu treated?

The common flu is a benign disease and usually goes away on its own after 5-7 days, there is no specific medicine to treat flu, but the patient can treat the symptoms of the disease with some drugs as directed by the doctor:
To relieve symptoms of fever, headache, sore throat, you can use Paracetamol (another name is Acetaminophen). Vasoconstrictor drugs such as naphazoline, oxymetazoline, and xylometazoline are used in the form of nasal drops to help relieve nasal congestion in people with flu. However, the drug has many different concentrations, each drug has an age limit for use, consult a medical staff to choose an appropriate drug. If the patient has mild, insignificant cough symptoms, there is no need to use medicine because coughing is a good response of the body, helping to expel foreign objects in the airways. If the cough is dry, you can use Dextromethophan, codeine, if the cough is dry with stuffy nose and runny nose, you can use combination drugs such as Atussin, Decolsin, Rhumenol,... If the symptoms of flu persist for more than a week, the patient If the patient has a high fever for a long time, the use of common antipyretic drugs does not help, cough a lot, chest tightness, shortness of breath, pain, and fatigue increase, the patient should be taken to medical facilities for timely monitoring and treatment.
>>> Treating flu with antibiotics: What you need to know

7. Prevention of flu

Influenza virus has the ability to spread directly from one person to another, so each person needs to be proactive in preventing this flu:
Wash hands often with soap and water Regularly clean surfaces or objects that can cause flu. infected with the flu Build a nutritious balanced diet, eat on time Exercise daily, wash your hands before and after eating as well as every time you come home from outside, clean hands is one of the measures. important way to prevent influenza. Seasonal flu is prevented by getting the flu vaccine. >>> Basics of flu and seasonal flu vaccines

8. Get vaccinated against seasonal flu

An annual flu shot is a safe, effective way to prevent the flu. As recommended by the CDC - Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the following people should get the seasonal flu vaccine every year:
Children 6 months of age and older Women who are pregnant People people over 65 years old People with chronic diseases: chronic pneumonia, asthma, cardiovascular disease, kidney failure, diabetes, weakened immune system due to disease treatment or HIV/AIDS. Vinmec International General Hospital currently provides flu vaccination services with vaccines including:
Vacxigrip 0.25ml flu vaccine of Sanofi company - France, produced in France. Vacxigrip 0.5ml vaccine company Sanofi - France, produced in France. Influvac flu vaccine 0.5ml of Abbott company, manufactured in the Netherlands. >>> Who should not get the flu vaccine?

9. Getting the flu while pregnant

Pregnant women have a weaker immune system than the average person, so they are very susceptible to viruses, especially colds. During and after the flu period, pregnant women should monitor the fetal development by antenatal check-ups and ultrasounds every 2 weeks for the first 2 months and continue to have regular antenatal check-ups thereafter. Perform all necessary tests as ordered by your doctor.
>>>> How does the flu affect pregnant women and their unborn babies?

10. Distinguishing flu and common cold

A cold is a group of symptoms caused by many different viruses, the most common of which are strains of Rhinovirus. With the common cold, it mainly affects the nose, throat (pharyngitis), and sinuses (sinusitis). The symptoms of a cold usually appear gradually, the body is tired for about 3-4 days and resolves on its own within 7 to 10 days.
Influenza is an acute respiratory infection caused by influenza virus. Usually caused by two strains of influenza virus A and B. Influenza usually spreads quickly, because an infected person breathes in air containing the flu virus. There are many strains of influenza virus that can cause mild illness, or into a pandemic, some highly virulent strains cause many life-threatening complications.
>>> 10 signs that distinguish the flu from a cold

11. Take care of your health when you have the flu

There is no specific treatment for the common cold. In order to get better quickly, the patient should apply the following measures:
Apply isolation measures to prevent infecting others, limit the spread of the virus. When leaving the room, when leaving the room, it is necessary to wear a mask; Combination of antipyretics, cough suppressants (if any) and/or antibiotics under the guidance of medical staff; Clean eyes, nose and throat daily with 0.9% physiological saline solution; Give the patient soft, liquid, easy-to-digest foods such as porridge, flour, milk and drink a lot of water, especially fruit juice with lots of vitamin C; >>> Take care of your health when you have a cold

12. Influenza classification, how many influenza viruses are there?

There are 3 strains of influenza virus, designated A, B, and C. In which, influenza A and B are common in humans and are the main cause of disease in practice.
Influenza A has the ability to cause disease in humans and some other animals such as birds, pigs, horses... Influenza A virus is one of the two agents that cause seasonal flu every year and is the cause of many pandemics big in the world. Influenza B causes a milder illness and only affects humans. Influenza B virus is also the cause of seasonal flu and tends to circulate with influenza A in annual outbreaks. Influenza C causes mild illness and only causes sporadic disease in humans, not causing epidemics. >>> Different types of flu: Influenza A, B, C and others
To register for examination and treatment at Vinmec International General Hospital, you can contact Vinmec Health System nationwide. , or book an appointment online HERE
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Influenza basics and seasonal flu vaccines Different types of flu: Influenza A, B, C and others Best time to flu shot before the season How many flu viruses are there? Role of vaccination against disease Vacxgrip flu vaccination schedule for children under 36 months of age