Influenza Research Paper

941 Words4 Pages
Influenza, also known as the flu, is a common disease among humans. Its symptoms include coughing, a sore throat, sneezing, fever, nausea, fatigue, vomiting, diarrhoea, chills and a runny or stuffy nose. For most adults, symptoms are mostly irritating or painful at worst, however, influenza can kill healthy children, the elderly and pregnant women and therefore it is of concern to humanity. Despite attempts at eliminating influenza, we have not done so as of yet, due to several reasons. The first can be attributed to the type of disease influenza is, the second can be linked to transmission and treatment, then finally, the last reason relates to how the body and pathogen interact. Firstly, it is difficult to completely eradicated influenza…show more content…
Influenza is usually transmitted through the air. As infected individuals sneeze, cough, speak, sing, breathe and do any other activities which cause aerosols to enter the air, others will breathe these infected aerosols, and in turn, may be infected themselves. Another way which influenza is transmitted is through direct contact with infected individuals and infected objects. This poses a problem, as infected objects include doorknobs, latches, seatbelts and other communal objects. In addition, being in a confined space with an infected person is very high risk, as ANSYS’ new computer airplane flight cabin simulation revealed. A sneeze can let out 20,000 droplets of infected aerosol, making it easy for the infection to spread. Influenza may also infect animals such as guinea pigs, ferrets, whales, ducks and many other animals, which makes it hard to eliminate. Influenza spreads too quickly and has wide reaching impact; therefore it would be hard to eradicate it altogether. The way the flu is treated also poses problems- influenza cannot be cured, but it can be prevented and medication can be taken to relieve symptoms. Usually, there are vaccines for influenza, but there is a minority who refuse to be vaccinated and refuse to get their families vaccinated too. Vaccines only prevent, but do not treat. When the body is infected, one can take antivirals to halt the replication of the virus and help the body fight influenza, however, it is recommended that the body is left to fight the virus on its own with rest, good nutrition and water. However, due to misinformation, negligence and irresponsibility in the general public, people will often use antibiotics as a quick fix to all illnesses, which is not the case. Antibiotics are meant to kill bacterial infections, not viral infections. In reality, these two are very different, and the use of antibiotics

More about Influenza Research Paper

Open Document