What initially causes the flu?

Answer 1

Influenza is caused by a virus infecting the body. The family of RNA viruses that causes influenza in humans is named Orthomyxoviridae.

Flu most often spreads when someone with the flu touches items or people with their unwashed hands. It also is frequently spread through uncovered coughs or sneezes. This allows the respiratory droplets that are projected from the cough/sneeze to contaminate people, things, or surfaces in an approximate area of a 6 foot diameter surrounding the infected person. Always covering your coughs and sneezes helps to contain the spread of the droplets and disease.

Because people with the flu are contagious a day or two before even symptoms appear, they may not be aware of the infection while spreading it. Most healthy adults can fight off influenza in three to seven days, during which time they are capable of transmitting the virus to others. Children can be contagious for up to 10 days or even more. The rule of thumb from the CDC is that you are considered contagious until you go a full 24 hours without a fever (when not taking fever reducing medicines).

You can get the flu particles on your hands and introduced into your body when you touch an item or surface like a telephone, pen or pencil, keyboard, desktop, table or doorknob that has been contaminated. If you then touch your own face, nose, eyes, or mouth, or those of another person, you can move the virus to mucous tissue where it can enter the body to cause infection.

Breathing the air near a person sneezing or coughing may also transmit the virus to you in respiratory droplets you breathe in. The heavier than air droplets usually fall to the ground or surfaces within a six foot diameter, so maintaining that distance from anyone with known influenza or those whose health status you do not know is one way to help avoid catching the virus or their other "germs". Avoid direct physical contact with them like hugging and kissing as well and don't share drinking or eating utensils. See also the related questions below for more information.

Answer 2

The symptoms of the flu are caused by the body's reaction to the presence of the influenza virus. The immune system of the body will identify the presence and send antibodies to try to neutralize the virus.

Answer 3

It is caused by a virus that originated in pigs (swine) but has changed itself to be infective to humans.

Eating cooked pork products is perfectly safe. As always, use safe handling techniques with all raw meats.

Swine Flu is a virus that originally infected only pigs and they spread it from one infected hog to other hogs. Because pigs are physiologically very similar to humans, when they have been living closely with humans, some microbes that can infect them are able to be changed or mutated into strains that people can catch. These types of diseases that we can get from animals are called zoonotic diseases.

Pigs contract swine flu from other infected swine, particularly in pigpens and herding areas. Flu viruses from birds and people may also infect pigs. Swine influenza passes quickly among pigs, and can cause major losses for pig farmers because of the rate of illness. It is now also possible for infected people to pass swine flu back to other pigs.

Usually viruses that infect one species do not often infect others. However, if the species are kept very closely together, it is more likely that mutations can occur that allow new strains to develop with the ability to cross from one type of animal to another. Viruses can mutate very rapidly. Since they are non-living microscopic organisms (microbes) and not actually living animal or plant organisms (like bacteria and fungi), they can combine with the cells of host animals and change the genetic material in those host cells to reproduce themselves. Sometimes that assimilation can also change the makeup to a new strain of microbe which is then replicated by the damaged cells as well.

This cross-species type of mutation of viruses has happened in the past when pigs and ducks or other birds were kept very closely together. That is how the Avian (bird) flu became a problem for people. First bird flu was mutated to a strain that could be caught by the pigs they were closely around. Once infecting the pigs, other mutations occurred that allowed their bird flu-swine viruses to mutate to viruses that people who were in close contact with pigs could catch. The cross-contaminations, through mutations of the viruses infecting the physiologically similar pigs, allow new strains to develop to which people have no immunity passed down from generation to generation.

The 2009 Swine Flu is doubly difficult for us to create vaccines which would help to teach our immune systems how to fight the virus. This is because the new strain of virus mutated within the pigs where it could merge genetic materials of the bird viruses and swine viruses that the pigs had been exposed to. The 2009 Swine Flu virus contains material that is from the bird flu as well as from the swine flu viruses. We would have an easier time developing our vaccine for this flu virus if it had been formed from one or the other and not both animal viruses. As it is, we must start more "from scratch".

The whole process of inter-species infections can also work back the other way. So now we can get swine flu from each other, from infected pigs, and we can give it to pigs who can infect each other. Because aspects of human viral strains are incorporated into the animal viral strains using the pig as a "middle man", newer viruses are developed that are able to cross the species boundaries.

Crowding of people with each other and with pigs and pigs with each other and with other animals is one of the major reasons these inter-species viruses can occur.

Farmers who work with swine must use very clean techniques to avoid catching and transmitting the swine flu. The CDC has guidelines for people who work in this field or spend time around hogs. See the links below. As with any virus very good hygiene including thorough hand washing is critical after contact or close proximity.

See the related question for steps to take to avoid contracting this virus.
HI EM ITS ME NS HOW ARE YOU RIGHT NOW IM AM TOTALLY GREAT THIS SWINE FLU STUFF IS SCARING ME!

i don't know but you might not want to get it cuz it has

already killed a lot of people but they are startin to say

it is caused by pigs and then spreaded by humans

the other name of swine flu is the pig flu because it comes from a pig. it was found in Mexico and that's why they are telling people not to go to Mexico. when ever we get the flu out body fights it off but we cant get our animals sick cause they have different antibodies.but when a animal get the flu they don't have vaccinations so when they go to the bathroom their poop decomposes in the ground and their "flu" gets in the air and passes on. that's why it's airborne.
Swine flu is spread throughout pigs the same way the human flu virus is spread. Human's can, however, retrieve swine flu by coming in physical contact with live pigs who suffer from swine flu. Eating cooked pig products is perfectly safe.
eating a pig that has a diesease

Answer 4

A new virus that you have not been in contact with before enters your body and attaches to cells in your body to infect you. It then puts genetic material inside the cells that makes those cells its "slaves" and they begin to do the work for the virus instead of for your body. They change to be a virus-making factory and spend all their time making duplicates of the original virus. Many viruses, including the influenza viruses, eventually kill the cell when it is split open to release the reproduced new virus particles.

Answer 5

Influenza is transmitted between humans through exposure to the virus containing respiratory secretions of large droplets produced during coughing and sneezing. Also, close contact with the influenza patient and contact with contaminated surfaces remains the other potential sources of disease acquisition. Central BioHub's is an online biospecimen marketplace. It offers high-quality, well-defined influenza disease biospecimens collected from patients suffering from influenza infections. To check more visit: Central BioHub.de

Answer 6

The flu is a virus that you can catch by contaminated food, water, or contact with people/animals who have the flu.

Answer 7

The flu is caused by the influenza virus.

Answer 8

influenza is coused by varuse