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Cold and Flu

Questions and answers about the "Common Cold"; symptoms in the upper respiratory tract like sneezing, scratchy throat, and runny nose, but adults don't typically have fevers. Colds are usually caused by the rhinovirus (up to 40% of colds), or Coronaviruses (about 20%), but there are more than 200 viruses that can cause the common cold. Also questions about the seasonal flu, also called "regular flu", caused mostly by Type A and Type B Influenza viruses. Flu starts with similar symptoms as a cold only it hits faster and harder and usually includes fever in adults. Although the "stomach flu" is a common term, it is not a real diagnosis. The proper medical term for stomach flu is gastroenteritis (an intestinal disease, sometimes viral but also bacterial), it is often mistaken for influenza because the flu can sometimes include vomiting and diarrhea.

4,331 Questions

What is the prodomal stage of flu symptoms?

Typical flu symptoms will be overall body aches, fever, and sometimes vomiting. Usually the person will just feel miserable and want to rest and sleep. The flu can last from 24 hours to several days.

Where is the flu disease more commonly found?

It can still be found in outbreaks across the globe although the pandemic has been declared over. Most recently it was still active in India.

Is there sulfa in a flu vaccine?

There are traces in some types of flu vaccines in the form of sulfonamides, such as neosporin, gentamicin, and polymixin. If you are allergic to these, you should not take the vaccines that contain these ingredients.

Two of the vaccines are available without these drugs: Fluzone and Flulaval. Ask your physician if these would be safe for you to use.

The ingredients of each type of flu vaccine currently available in the US for the 2012 - 2013 flu season are:

Flulaval:

Thimerosal, α-tocopheryl hydrogen succinate, polysorbate 80, formaldehyde, sodium deoxycholate, ovalbumin

Fluzone: Standard, High-Dose, & Intradermal:

Formaldehyde, octylphenol ethoxylate (Triton X-100), sodium phosphate, gelatin (standard formulation only), thimerosal (multi-dose vial only) , egg protein

Afluria:

Beta-propiolactone, thimerosol (multi-dose vials only), monobasic sodium phosphate, dibasic sodium phosphate, monobasic potassium phosphate, potassium chloride, calcium chloride, sodium taurodeoxycholate, neomycin sulfate, polymyxin B, egg protein

Fluarix:

Sodium deoxycholate, formaldehyde, octoxynol-10 (Triton X-100), α-tocopheryl hydrogen succinate, polysorbate 80 (Tween 80), hydrocortisone, gentamicin sulfate, ovalbumin

Fluvirin:

Nonylphenol ethoxylate, thimerosal (multidose vial-trace only in prefilled syringe), polymyxin, neomycin, beta-propiolactone, egg protein

FluMist and FluMist Quadrivalent:

Ethylene diamine tetraacetic acid (EDTA), monosodium glutamate, hydrolyzed porcine gelatin, arginine, sucrose, dibasic potassium phosphate, monobasic potassium phosphate, gentamicin sulfate, egg protein

For the 2013-2014 flu season:

In addition to the other ingredients, for the 2013-2014 flu season, the

antigens have been selected by CDC for the US trivalent vaccines for the 2013-2014 flu season, and the vaccine contains the following three viruses:

  • Type A/California/7/2009 (H1N1)pdm09-like virus;
  • Type A(H3N2) virus antigenically like the cell-propagated prototype virus known as A/Victoria/361/2011; and,
  • Type B/Massachusetts/2/2012-like virus.

It has been recommended that the 2013-2014 quadrivalent vaccines (containing two Type A and two Type B influenza viruses) contain the above three viruses and a Type B/Brisbane/60/2008-like virus.

What can you do about watery eyes and running nose and sneezing?

Two Europian medications NAZIVIN and GALAZOLIN could forever dry your nose.

Easy: I make a cup with my hand and inhale running water from the tap, three or four times. This helps cleaning your nose.

Let one minute pass. Try again.

Maybe again.

Take a rest.

Most probable your nose won't annoy you for some minutes.

Try again. In most cases it helps a lot.

Also in any case your nose is stuffed and cannot sleep - do it.

I know some people find this awful. My family abhor it, but my boss recommended it to me many years ago and it has been enormously helpful for me.

Why did the influenza epidemic of 1918 spread across several continents?

Instead of killing mostly infants and elderly, it had little effect on them and killed mostly young adults. A group rarely significantly affected by flu. It also caused significant neurological problems in some survivors, which is also rare for flu.

Is a cold virus an active virus or a hidden virus?

Active. It will go directly to find a host cell and begin the steps of the lytic cycle to cause the host's cell to replicate the virus (see the related questions for more about the lytic cycle). It does not stay "dormant" inside you to manifest symptoms later. An infection will produce symptoms right away if you are infected. Then, once new viruses are made in the host cell, they will burst out and infect more cells and potentially more people.

Are you contagious when you get the flu shot?

No. Live vaccines are produced with careful culturing methods that ensure the virus is no longer able to do much, if any, harm.

In addition, they're given in the arm, which is not where a virus spreads from, and is not the optimal location for the viruses, so your immune system can quickly get it.

What are the symotoms the the H1N1 virus?

Symptoms of H1N1 swine flu are like regular flu symptoms and include fever, cough, sore throat, runny nose, body aches, headache, chills, and fatigue. Many people with swine flu have had diarrhea and vomiting.

What Influenza A subtypes can infect humans?

There have been several over the decades. The first one found was the one that pigs get (hence the name), H1N1, in the1930's. Then when people started being able to catch that one or mutations of that one, there is speculation that there could have been several others in retrospect, including the "Spanish Flu" that started the influenza pandemic in 1918, but there are no longer samples to test that hypothesis. Then there was the 1976 swine flu (see more in related questions), and now most recently, the H1N1/09 swine flu, the one that caused the 2009 pandemic and still circulating and making people ill today.

See the related questions below, about when swine flu started and what caused the 2009 swine flu to develop, for more details.

Which country is worse affected by swine flu?

All countries have been affected by the swine flu infections of their people. "Most" affected would have to be based on a definition of what is considered an affect and how to measure the affect. By percentages, the count of cases and deaths is relatively equal among countries, although perhaps North American countries have had the most affect.

There may be some ongoing cases in limited locations around the world, however, even now. The specifics and counts of cases are no longer being tracked by CDC, WHO, the US states, and most other countries, now that the pandemic has been declared over, preventive vaccines are available, and people are educated on prevention. Influenza cases are monitored, but specific H1N1/09 counts (and the lab tests needed to isolate the specific virus to be able to count them correctly) aren't being done. Influenza cases in general are monitored, but statistics are not being kept for H1N1/09 cases separately from other influenza types for reporting any longer in the post pandemic phase.

Can you try for a baby when Swine Flu is going around?

Yes, and if you are taking oral contraceptives and the doctor gives you an anti-biotic it can kill not only the bug, but the effectiveness of your pill.

Is it safe to run in cold weather when you have a cold or flu?

No. Getting out in the sun may help get rid of a cold, but running or any physical exercise is contraindicated (not good) when you have a cold. Your body needs rest to do the work to get rid of your cold, so you should avoid strenuous exercise like running if you want to get rid of a cold faster.

How long it takes for antibodies to develop after a flu vaccination?

If you are asking about an allergic reaction, they usually occur within minutes of receipt of the injection or within the hour afterward. This is one reason that the newest guidelines say that some people with allergies to the traces of egg in the vaccine can get the vaccination anyway, as long as they are monitored closely afterward. See the related question below for more on that.

If you are asking about a reaction like the local irritation, tenderness, and redness at the site of the injection, those are usually noticed the next day and will go away typically in 3 days or so after. That type of inflammatory reaction is not an allergic response, it is part of the process our bodies use to attack foreign substances that have invaded our bodies.

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.

Can the flu cause nose bleeds?

Yes, it actually does. Ive been anemic for years and always get both nose bleeds and headaches

Where can you get a flu jab?

Usually they have a cost. But sumtimes clinics offer them for free.

Answer:

It depends where you live. Countries with national health care plans provide free vaccinations against a wide range of illnesses including annual and special flu shots.

Does a shot of whiskey help cold symptoms?

If you suffer from sore throats, you may experience anything from a scratchy feeling to intense pain, notes MayoClinic.com. Other symptoms include difficulty swallowing, a hoarse voice, swollen glands and a dry throat. Time and home treatments to ease the pain are usually the best remedies for sore throats caused by something other than bacterial infections. Licorice root is one traditional herbal therapy for sore throats.

If someone is sick with a cold or flu but no fever are they still contagious?

Still Contagious Yes, fever is a sign of being contagious. The medication is most likely an antibiotic and it takes a few days before it actually starts working.

Actually if it is a cold or flu it is viral and antibiotics should NEVER be given for these as they have no effect on viruses, can cause increased antibiotic resistance in bacteria, and are a complete waste of money.

What is the least common way to die?

to be bitten by a chihuahua then be so surprised you fall off a cliff and are caught by a tree when one of the branches hooks your shirt collar and you then plunge into icy water below and when you feel the onset of hypothermia are grabbed by a great white shark and are pulled under water and eaten by the shark. The remains of you that the shark missed when they were dismembered from your body (arms, fingers) are eaten and digested by giant squid, who find your taste slightly repulsing.

What time did the spanish flu epidemic occur?

The Spanish inlfuenza was an especially virulent virus that spread across the world in 1918, killing many millions of people. It was likely carried around the globe by soldiers returning from World War I (1914-1918). Both soldiers and civilians may have been made more susceptible by malnutrition -- there were famines in many of the countries where the war was waged.

As many as 500 million people became infected, and between 50 and 100 million died.

How long before surgery can you get a flu shot?

You should ask the surgeon to answer that question. The answer could depend on your individual circumstances, such as underlying diseases or disorders, stage of recovery, surgical complications, and healing. It might make no difference at all, but your doctor who knows your medical history should give you that advice.

What is the best cure for the common flu?

orange juice,and sunny delight things with vitamin A and C that helps the system clean it out get a lot of rest right after you take it. There is no medichine for flues the vitamin C and A act like the medichine for it. Thank you ! Liz PS I'm hot even though it's cold out. (gigglles) I mean (giggles) sorry my computer wont let me erase.