Cold and Flu

Not really in any big way. Being out in cold weather does not cause the common cold. While a noticeable increase in the numbers of common colds and the flu season happen during the winter, it is the microorganisms that cause the common cold and flu and not the temperature. However, cold weather could make certain symptoms worse. For instance, a runny nose can be worse when out in the cold even if you don't have a common cold viral infection. Being out when you have a cold adds to the constant blowing and wiping of your nose. That can cause the skin to become raw and dry which allows the cold temperature to accentuate the soreness.

The viral genome typically enters a cell during infection, which contains the genetic material needed for viral replication. The protein coat of the virus, known as the capsid, helps deliver the genetic material into the host cell.

A while ago. It just recently started being given out to patients.

P.S - I would recommend this shot. I felt a little light headed the next day but I won't get the flu so it's all worth it !

Yes, it likely would if they were in the active stages of the viral infection when you hug them. Any close contact directly with another person can pass the flu virus to you which is why you are advised to stay a minimum of 6 feet away from anyone with the flu and they are advised to cover coughs and sneezes which, along with touching contaminated surfaces, is the most common way the flu viruses are transmitted from person to person.

Anybody can potentially die from any flu, swine or otherwise. Those without a spleen are at a higher risk of developing chest infections (like pneunomia), but the spleen does not have anything to do with fighting any type of flu or whether you will die from it.

Influenza is typically treated with antiviral medications such as oseltamivir (Tamiflu) or zanamivir (Relenza). These medications can help reduce the severity and duration of symptoms if taken within 48 hours of symptom onset. Rest, hydration, and over-the-counter medications to relieve symptoms like fever and cough are also recommended.

The different types of influenza have different reservoirs. To talk only of the types that humans get, the largest reservoir for human influenza Type A viruses (those that we see most often in seasonal flu and that cause pandemics of the flu) is the human being.

In the bird flu that humans can get (Type A Avian Influenza H5N1 and H7N9), the biggest reservoir is wild aquatic fowl such as shorebirds, ducks and geese, but also commercial chicken farmers see it in their fowl, but less frequently.

Influenza A viruses are also frequently isolated in pigs and horses. It is believed that the animal reservoirs are where most new human subtypes of influenza develop. This is true of the H1N1/09 pandemic swine flu which started in pigs and birds before mutating to be able to infect humans.

Swine have been demonstrated to have receptors for both human and bird flu viruses, and as such are considered a potential mixing vessel for human, swine and avian viruses.

(For more about that reassortant process that occurred with the H1N1/09 Swine Flu, see the related question about what caused the swine flu.)

Because the rhinovirus (which is one virus that causes the common cold) mutates and changes its structure extremely frequently as do the other viruses that cause the common cold, such as Coronaviruses, and any of the others of hundreds of viruses that cause colds. While influenza strains also mutate, it is not as quickly as cold viruses that almost constantly are mutating, resulting in several dozen active viruses in any one locality.

In addition, influenza has proven reasonably easy to grow in labs for study and for vaccine production, while cultivating rhinoviruses has proven very difficult.

Haemophilus influenza is a small, pleomorphic, gram-negative coccobacillus, meaning it can appear as both cocci (spherical) or bacilli (rod-shaped) under the microscope. Its shape can vary from very short rods to more elongated forms.

ABC.

A is the worst, causes pandemics and epidemics

B causes epidemics

C is minimally problematic

If you're talking about strains, you have 9 types of Hemagglutinin and 16 types of Neuraminidase. So H5N1 (swine flue from a couple years ago) has Hemagluttinin number 5 and Neuraminidase number 1

Yes, H5N1 is an influenza virus, which means it has a protein coat called a capsid surrounding its genetic material. The capsid helps protect the virus and enables it to infect host cells.

Viruses do not cause decay because they are not capable of carrying out metabolic activities on their own. Decay is typically caused by bacteria and fungi that can break down organic matter. Viruses rely on infecting host cells to replicate and do not have the ability to break down complex organic material.

No. Viruses are not living things, so they do not have an immune system. In a way, however, they can protect themselves from us by mutating their own form so that our immune system can not recognize them any more. Until our bodies learn again that they are a foreign invader in our cells and then create new cells that can destroy the new mutation of the virus, it does have a chance to safely be in our bodies. While in our cells, a virus makes our cells do its main function (which is replication of itself). The mutation that it does by changing the make up of the proteins on its capsid (outer shell) allows it to bypass our immune systems temporarily.

The whole purpose of a virus is to replicate itself, it has no other function. To replicate, it must be able to invade and enter, or attach itself to a host cell from a living organism, like a plant, animal or human. Once attached, it can insert the DNA or RNA that it carries to bind with the cell's DNA and instruct the cell to stop what it normally does and begin to reproduce the virus instead.

The protein coat on the capsid ("shell") of the virus holds the specific proteins that the virus uses to be able to bind with or attach to the host's cell. For example with the A-H1N1/09 Pandemic Swine Flu, the proteins are the Hemagglutinin type (H) and Neuraminidase type (N). The Hemagglutinin aids in the attachment to the host cell for the invasion, the Neuraminidase works to open the host cell to release the newly created virus particles once they are developed. There are about 14 H types and 9 N types, and an influenza strain can have any combination of those. However most human flu strains are in the H 1, 2, or 3 types and N 1, and 2. Other animals have viruses that use more of the protein types such as avian (bird) flu, which is H5N1.

Our immune systems create antibodies that search for foreign invaders and they can use these proteins to identify the virus as foreign. The immune system will then create cells able to destroy the virus. These surface proteins are also mutated by some viruses to make them unidentifiable by the antibodies, and that is what can create a new strain of influenza.

Vaccines need to exactly match the virus to be able to cause our bodies to become immune to that particular strain. So if the virus mutates to have a different structure of surface proteins, the epidemiologists and virologists work with the vaccine producers to create a new vaccine to match the new version of the virus. Each year, these groups study what forms of viruses are circulating world wide and determine what strains need to be included in the vaccine for that year to protect against what is spreading. The Northern Hemisphere uses information from what is being collected during the flu season in the Southern Hemisphere to predict what will move to the Northern Hemisphere in the following flu season up there.

The statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that those most likely to catch the A-H1N1/09 Pandemic Influenza are young and healthy. The most cases were among those aged from infants to age 24.

Those who had complications requiring hospitalization were comprised more of those age 0 to 4 by twice as many hospitalizations as those age 5 to 24. That group of ages 5 to 24 was just under twice as likely to be hospitalized as the next group of age 50 to 64.

Of those hospitalized, a majority had underlying medical conditions or were pregnant women which made them more vulnerable. For example, 8% of Americans have asthma, but 32% of patients hospitalized with A-H1N1/09 were asthmatics. (See the related question below for a list of the high risk groups)

The group with the most deaths was the group of people age 25 to 49 with 41% of the deaths, next was the group of 50 to 64 year olds who comprised 25% of those who died. Although they are among the most common to contract the disease, only 16% of the cases aged 5 to 24 were among those who died. With the seasonal flu, those who are most vulnerable to die are people 65 and older who typically represent 90% of the total seasonal flu deaths. With the A-H1N1/09 Pandemic flu, the people age 65 and older are much less likely to contract the disease and only around 9% die. Age group 0-4 comprise only 2% of the deaths.

In many cases, a doctor shouldn't give you medication for a viral disease because the medications are not effective in treating viral diseases. Giving out antibiotics or other medications that are not effective against the disease you have contributes to antibiotic resistence and failure of treatment.

It uses the energy of a host cell, in a sort of parasitic way.

A virus is non-living, although it is a well structured organism able to reproduce and cause things to happen. To do these things, it does not generate or use its own power or energy. Instead, it invades a living host (a plant, animal or human) and attaches a virus particle into a cell and makes that living cell of the host to which it has attached change its operations from working for the host to working for the virus.

The cell begins to create duplicates of the virus particles. It does this because once the virus has attached itself, it adds part of its own DNA or RNA instructions into the cell which turns the cell into a virus-making factory. The cell's original DNA is no longer giving the instructions to the cell and so it is no longer doing what it is supposed to for the host and eventually dies when it bursts open to release the virus "babies".

This is what makes us get sick if enough of our cells are pulled off their usual jobs by the virus and made to do other things and then die. All the energy that is needed to reproduce the virus is supplied by the host cell, and as it produces new virus particles those "offspring" attach to more cells and the process repeats cell by cell particle by particle as it moves through our bodies and attaches to more cells. Eventually (hopefully) our body's immune system learns the key to turning the virus off (or "killing" it). If too many of our cells are diverted before the immune system figures out how to attack the virus to stop it, then we can have organ and system failures and that is how we get very ill or even die.

I'm unable to display diagrams as I can only provide text-based responses. However, you can easily find detailed diagrams of the H1N1 virus structure by searching online or in scientific research articles for visual representations.

An N95 or similar mask will filter viruses (H1N1 included) But its not the micron filtration size that needs to be focused on, its the proper fit of the mask. Leaks from improper fit and deep breaths will severely limit the effectiveness of simple filter masks. The other consideration is behavior while masked. Wiping the eyes, picking your teeth under the mask, etc.

The A and B in influenza are simply different types of influenza.

* Type A: seasonal epidemics. This sub-type is based on changes in surface antigens hemagglutinin and neuraminidase. In humans subtypes H1-H3 and N1-N2 have circulated since 1918 pandemic (due to H1N1). In the last 3 decades the circulating types have been H3N2 and H1N1.

* Type B: sporadic outbreaks (long term care facilities)

Heat can kill flu or cold bacteria. However, the heat has to be high enough. Different viruses and bacteria have different heat tolerances. Some can survive temperatures of over 250 degrees Fahrenheit.

The virus has DNA as its genetic material. More interesting, the DNA is single-stranded.

"Parvo" is short for "parvovirus" and usually "canine parvovirus type 2."

The common cold is caused by a viral infection, particularly by the rhinovirus and coronavirus. These viruses do not have a specific chemical formula, as they are composed of genetic material wrapped in a protein coat.