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Factsheet on influenza
Influenza is caused by a virus that attacks mainly the upper respiratory tract the nose, throat and bronchi and rarely also the lungs. The infection usually lasts for about a week. It is characterised by sudden onset of high fever, myalgia, headache and severe malaise, nonproductive cough, sore throat, and rhinitis. Most people recover within one to two weeks without requiring any medical treatment. In the very young, the elderly and people suffering from medical conditions such as lung diseases, diabetes, cancer, kidney or heart problems, influenza poses a serious risk. In these people, the infection may lead to severe complications of underlying diseases, pneumonia and death.
Transmission
The virus is easily passed from person to person through the air by droplets and small particles excreted when infected individuals cough or sneeze. The influenza virus enters the body through the nose or throat. It then takes between one and four days for the person to develop
symptoms. Someone suffering from influenza can be infectious from the day before they develop symptoms until seven days afterwards.
Disease spreads very quickly among the population especially in crowded circumstances. Cold and dry weather enables the virus to survive longer outside the body than in other conditions and as a consequence, seasonal epidemics in temperate areas appear in winter.
Diagnosis
Respiratory illness caused by influenza is difficult to distinguish from illness caused by other respiratory pathogens on the basis of symptoms alone. However, during laboratory-confirmed influenza outbreaks, the majority of persons seeking medical advice for upper respiratory tract infections are likely to be infected by influenza.
Treatmentand prophylaxis:Antiviral agents
For most people influenza is an upper respiratory tract infection that lasts several days and
requires symptomatic treatment only. Within days, the person's body will eliminate the virus. Antibiotics, such as penicillin, which are designed to kill bacteria, cannot attack the virus. Therefore antibiotics have no role in treating influenza in otherwise healthy people although they are used to treat complications.
Antiviral drugs for influenza are an important adjunct to influenza vaccine for the treatment and prevention of influenza. However, they are not a substitute for vaccination. For several years, four antiviral drugs that act by preventing influenza virus replication have been available. They differ in terms of their
pharmacokinetics, side effects, routes of administration, target age groups, dosages, and costs.
When taken before infection or during early stage of the disease (within two days of illness onset), antivirals may help prevent infection, and if infection has already taken hold, their early administration may reduce the duration of symp-
toms by one to two days.
For several years, amantadine and rimantadine were the only antiviral drugs. However, whilst relatively inexpensive, these drugs are effective only against type A influenza, and may be associated with severe adverse effects (including delirium and seizures that occur mostly in elderly persons on higher doses).
A new class of antivirals, the neuraminidase inhibitors, has been developed. Such drugs, zanamivir and oseltamivir, have fewer adverse side effects (although zanamivir may exacerbate asthma or other chronic lung diseases) and the virus less often develops resistance . However, these drugs are expensive and currently not available for use in many countries.
In severe influenza, admission to hospital, intensive care, antibiotic therapy to prevent secondary infection and breathing support may be required.
Source: http://www.who.int