How do you get flu?

Answer 1

Influenza is usually passed by airborne particles. For example sneezing, or coughing.

Influenza can live on objects such as a phone, pen/pencil, mouse/keyboard doorknob or a Drinking Glass for a short time.

People are usually contagious within the first 24 hours before they start showing symptoms.

Answer 2

Most commonly, the virus travels through the air in liquid droplets from coughs and sneezes . Viruses prefer the wintry conditions of cold air with low humidity. In humid air, the droplets grow heavy with water and fall to the ground-or to other surfaces.

Answer 2: Flu is caused by a virus, which is a microscopic agent that infiltrates living cells and commandeers their machinery to reproduce more viruses. The flu virus, which attacks the respiratory system, is passed from one person to another primarily in droplets of body fluids expelled when the infected person sneezes, coughs, or even talks. A pandemic occurs when an outbreak affects many people over a wide area. Six ways to protect yourself: cover that cough, wash hand, ventilate your home, keep it clean, if sick, try to stay home and avoid personal contact.

Answer also:Today we know that influenza is caused by a virus and that it can be spread from person to person in respiratory secretions expelled by coughing, sneezing, and talking.* It is present worldwide even in the Tropics, where it can strike year-round. In the Northern Hemisphere, flu season runs from November to March; and in the Southern Hemisphere, from April to September.

Influenza type A, the most dangerous type of flu virus, is small in size compared with many viruses. It is usually spherical, with projections from its surface. When this virus infects a human cell, it reproduces so rapidly that often within about ten hours, a swarm of between 100,000 and a million new influenza virus "copies" explode from the cell.

The scary characteristic of this simple organism is its ability to change quickly. Because the virus reproduces so rapidly (far faster than the HIV virus), its many "copies" are not exact. Some are different enough to escape the immune system. That is why we face different flu viruses every year, which present a new set of antigens-substances that test our immunity. If the antigen changes sufficiently, our immune system has little defense against it and there is risk of a pandemic

Answer 3

Often, people get the flu just from not washing their hands and taking care of themselves. There are definitely flu seasons, when the virus is more active than in the other seasons. You need to be more careful if you are in a school or university type setting where you are interacting with scores of people every day. The bigger the crowds, the bigger the outbreak of flu.

If you shake hands with someone who already has the flu, IMMEDIATELY go and WASH your hands thoroughly. If you don't, and you happen to rub your eye because it's itching, or if you rub your nose before washing your hands after coming in contact with an infected person, then you will likely get it too! Stay away from people who have colds or flu if possible. A cough or sneeze in your area within a six foot diameter will likely spread the virus. And wash your hands several times a day!

Answer 4

Human Parainfluenza virus (hPIV) is passed from person to person through direct contact with the infected person or their respiratory droplets on surfaces from coughs or sneezes, just like any cold or flu virus. It is a much smaller virion (virus particle) than most influenza viruses, measuring 150 - 200 nanometers in size compared to around 300 nanometers for some of the other common influenza viruses, and, therefore, is able to stay airborne for up to an hour if in the air on respiratory droplets from coughs or sneezes.

There is no vaccine to prevent it, but breast fed infants receive the important antibodies from their mothers in the breast milk, increasing the importance of breast feeding newborns when at all possible, even if for only short periods and in small amounts. The hPIV can cause serious complications, such as croup, bronchiolitis, secondary bacterial infections and pneumonia, and airway obstructions in infants. Avoiding day care when possible can also help by delaying the exposure for infants until they are older and able to fight the infection better.

The number of cases is unknown, since often the symptoms mimic a common cold with runny nose and cough and therefore the virus is not reported or identified by medical professionals. 75 - 100% of children 5 and older have antibodies from exposure to this very common virus infection in infants and young children.

It is easily prevented with normal flu prevention habits, such as avoiding crowds, staying a safe distance from others during the peak season for most of the serotypes of hPIV, in the fall (approximately 6 foot distance), avoid touching your nose, mouth or eyes before washing hands. Parents and others should wash their hands before handling neonates. It is easily inactivated by soap and water, so frequent and proper hand washing is very important (see related questions below). The virus can stay active on surfaces for a few hours.

The incubation period from exposure to symptoms ranges from 2 to 7 days.

Adults can have repeated infections throughout life with symptoms of an upper respiratory illness or infection (pneumonia, bronchitis, etc.) especially in the elderly or immunocompromised.

The hPIV is in the influenza virus group paramyxoviridae and is an RNA virus.

Answer 5

You could get the flu from not washing your hands, being around people with upper respiratory infections, and touching your face. You also should get a flu shot to not get the flu.