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By inhaling contaminated droplets.
What else can I help you with?
What is one way that cold and viruses spread?
By inhaling contaminated droplets.
Can a virus make you feel bad just like Swine Flu?
Yes, swine flu (H1N1/09) is just one type of virus that gives you influenza, there are many other influenza viruses that would have the same or very similar symptoms.Other viruses that are not flu viruses can make you feel as bad as swine flu, but the way they make you feel bad and the parts of your body that are most affected by each different virus will vary.Some examples of other conditions caused by viruses are:MeaslesMumpsChicken pox"Stomach Flu" ~ Viral GastroenteritisThe "Common Cold" ~ RhinovirusHIV/AIDSBut there are many. See the related question below about how to protect yourself from viruses.
Is the flu a more serous type of a cold?
The symptoms often seem that way, however, they are two different infectious diseases and are caused by different types of viruses.
If you have a normal cold is it more likely for you to get the Swine Flu?
Colds and the new A-H1N1/09 Pandemic Swine Flu are both caused by viruses. But they are two very different viruses, two different infections. One does not cause the other, you would have to be exposed to both. If you were sick with anything at all before being exposed to Novel H1N1, your immune system could be weak from just fighting off the other pathogen and less able to work as effectively on the new one to protect you from being infected by it. In that way, it may be slightly easier for you to catch swine flu after just getting over a cold. But once your body has recovered from the cold, your odds of getting the flu after a cold will go to no higher than under any other circumstances.
How can the flu be cured?
The flu, like a cold, is a virus, and so far, we really don't have a reliable way to treat viruses. That's why the cold, flu, herpes, HIV, etc aren't cured. the body develops its own response as best it can (cold, flu) until we heal, or we keep the virus forever (herpes, HIV).
What are some human diseases that virus causes?
The "common" cold, chicken pox, cold sores, HIV disease/AIDS, cervical cancer (HPV), herpes, Fifth disease, roseola... there are way more than 5 illnesses caused by viruses, and most of them are more common than we know.
What is the fastest way to get a cold or flu in the spring?
Find someone who has a cold and ask them to cough in your face.
How long do viruses last?
Different time frames are found referenced about the length of time viruses can remain viable on surfaces outside a living host, but for most environments it is most often quoted that they can "live" for 24 to 48 hours on nonporous environmental surfaces and less than 12 hours on porous surfaces before becoming inert.---- The UK National Health Service (NHS) says : The flu virus can live on a hard surface for up to 24 hours, and a soft surface for around 20 minutes. See link below in link section.---- Another Answer:Studies have shown that flu viruses and other microbes can "live" on money, both coins and paper money, for much longer under certain conditions. Paper money had viruses viable in one study for over two weeks. See the related question section below for: "Can flu viruses be spread on money?" ---- According to James Steckelberg, M.D., a disease specialist from the Mayo clinic, and other colleagues : The length of time that cold or flu germs can survive outside the body on an environmental surface, such as a doorknob, varies greatly. But the suspected range is from a few seconds to 48 hours - depending on the specific virus and the type of surface. Flu viruses tend to live longer on surfaces than cold viruses do. Also, it's generally believed that cold and flu viruses live longer on nonporous surfaces - such as plastic, metal or wood - than they do on porous surfaces - such as fabrics, skin or paper. Although cold and flu viruses primarily spread from person-to-person contact, you can also become infected from contact with contaminated surfaces. The best way to avoid becoming infected with a cold or flu is to wash your hands frequently with soap and water or with an alcohol-based sanitizer.
Why can antibiotics treat flu-like symptoms caused by bacteria but are ineffective against flu?
Because the way antibiotics treat those symptoms is by killing the bacteria that cause them. If the symptoms are caused by viruses, then antibiotics can't help since they are not made to be able to "kill" viruses, just bacteria. Flu viruses are not really living organisms like bacteria are. So viruses must be inactivated rather than killed. Antibiotics can neither kill nor inactivate viruses. They are created to be used to kill only specific bacteria, they do not kill every kind of bacteria, either. That is why there are so many different kinds of antibiotics. Antibiotics can treat flu-like symptoms caused by some bacteria, because the right antibiotics can kill bacteria. So although flu like symptoms are similar to those of the flu, they are caused by different microbes so are not cured in the same way.
What kind of pathogen causes the flu?
Viruses cause flu. The swine flu virus is the Influenza Type A, Novel H1N1 virus (aka A-H1N1/09 virus). It is a sub-microscopic organism. Human Influenza refers to one of the three major types of flu viruses ( Influenza types A,B, and C) that are endemic to the human population. These are in the taxonomic family orthomyxoviridae.The specific serotype/subtype of influenza virus that caused the 2009 swine flu pandemic is A-H1N1/09. The following very specific virus has been most prevalent and was the one that has been used in the manufacture of the vaccines:A/California/7/2009 (H1N1)-like virusViruses also cause the common cold, viral "stomach flu" gastroenteritis, and the seasonal flu that comes around each year, plus mumps, measles, herpes and many other common infections.Viruses aren't really alive like bacteria and other types of microorganisms, but they act alive since they can reproduce by using genetic material from the cells of the host.A-H1N1/09 is a new mutation of human virus, first seen in 2009, containing genetic material from different viruses combined : three types of pig flu viruses, one avian "bird" flu virus, and one human influenza virus. The novel nature of "evolved" or combined viruses (known as reassortants) make it unlikely an individual will have a natural immunity to it when it first mutates into being.Additional Note:Not all scientists classify a virus as a "microbe". Most of them do for lack of a better way to talk about them instead of "germ" or other less specific nomenclature. Unlike the other organisms called microbes, they are not living organisms. They are specialized groups of "cells" that perform functions working in an organized way, but they latch on to and break into a living host's cells and use the life, energy, and nutrients from the host in an almost parasitic way. The genetic material that they have stored inside themselves combines with that of the host's cells to cause the host cells to stop reproducing more cells like itself for the host. Instead the virus instructs them to start making duplicate viruses like the one that invaded the host instead.See the related questions below for more information about what caused the 2009 swine flu pandemic and what are the different types of microbes.
What is the difference between flu and phlegm?
Phlegm is mucous. It is generally referred to as "phlegm" and sometimes as "sputum" when referring to mucous found in the throat or expelled from the lungs/bronchial passages by way of a cough.
Why do you get a new flu shot every year?
Viruses mutate very quickly. As they move through a population, passing from individual to individual, they change to bypass the immune system defenses and environmental conditions and sometimes they just make random changes from imperfect replications. Many viruses will be almost completely genetically different from their parent or grandparent viruses.The flu shot we get each year has been developed to contain the three types of currently active flu viruses determined by epidemiologists to be most likely spreading in the next flu season. These are rarely the same viruses year to year because the prior year's viruses have almost always mutated to new forms before they circle around again the following year.When you get a flu shot, your body reacts and produces antibodies in the blood that fight off those particular flu viruses for life (in some circumstances, but in others the immunity does lessen over time). The problem is that each flu season brings a slightly (or greatly) changed flu virus that the last year's antibodies are usually not very effective in fighting.More:The flu vaccine is made based on what scientists think will be the next year's most active flu viruses. If they waited until the first flu cases, there would not be time to produce all the vaccine needed for millions of people. They study what viruses are circulating in other parts of the world to determine scientifically which are the most likely ones to hit during our next flu season. They make a pretty good forecast analysis.This is also the reason that there is no cure for the common cold: there are 300-some different types of common cold viruses, and each of those can make slight changes (mutations) that make them unable to be recognized as the same by your immune system. Once you have had one of those, you may not ever catch that exact same cold virus again, but the changes and mutations occur often and quickly in the cold viruses, so it is close to impossible for your body to make new antibodies to defend itself against the newest versions or for your previously made antibodies to be close enough to work on the mutated viruses.
