Influenza outbreaks occur each winter at an annual cost of $12 billion to $71 billion in the United States alone, reports Harvard Medical School professor Dr. Raphael Dolin in “Harrison’s Principles of Internal Medicine.” An...
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention remind Americans that "flu is a serious contagious disease." More than 36,000 people in the U.S. die each year from the flu and an additional 2000,000 are hospitalized, according to the CDC. The...
Once the flu vaccine has been manufactured, it is sent to health facilities approved for administering the vaccine. Each facility then stores the vaccine until it is time for administration. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)...
According to the CDC, 5 to 20 percent of the United States population get the flu every year. In addition, more than 200,000 people are hospitalized, and around 36,000 people die every year due to flu-related complications. Besides getting a flu...
The seasonal flu is a virus that causes symptoms such as a fever, cough, sore throat, runny nose, muscle aches and general fatigue in infected individuals. In healthy people, the flu is often just a moderate inconvenience that restricts a person...
The enters for Disease Control breaks influenza strains into three categories: A, B and C. Within each of these, there may be variations and subtypes of flu that can mutate and infect people. The classifications separate the flu strains according...
Various strains of influenza have played havoc on human health several times throughout history. One of the most recent entrants into the history of this disease is the H1N1 virus, otherwise known as the swine flu. This virus is a type of...
The flu, or influenza, can have devastating effects on children. Most of the deaths attributed to the H1N1 virus were in children and in adults with chronic health problems. According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), around 20,000...
Influenza is an infection of the nose, throat and lungs caused by multiple viruses, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Swine flu, or H1N1, is a novel flu virus that began spreading worldwide in 2009. As with the...
The flu is a viral infection, not bacterial. It can be passed to others by coughing, sneezing, shaking hands or touching germs on a phone or door knob. Healthy adults are contagious for about 5 days after flu symptoms develop. Recognize the...
For many, the flu season simply means some sniffles, a few days of missed work and general inconvenience. But for the elderly, young and immune compromised, flu season can be very dangerous. Each season five to 20 percent of the population suffers...
Influenza type B is one of three types of flu virus, the other two being type A and type C. Of the three, types A and B cause seasonal flu and can lead to epidemics. Between November and April, the time period known as flu season, is when most flu...
As the weather begins to change, one word begins to weigh on many people's minds: flu. You begin to see signs for clinics everywhere: drug stores, grocery stores, health clinics. According to the CDC, those who are at greatest risk for developing...
The swine flu was initially named because some of its genes were found similar to a virus that strikes pigs in North America. Yet this flu virus also included genes from swine in Europe and Asia as well as human and bird flu genes, making it...
Avian influenza, a severe and often fatal disease which is carried by wild birds and passed to domesticated birds and humans, is a source of constant concern and vigilance to health practitioners all over the world. Authorities worry primarily...
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), seasonal influenza sidelines millions of Americans each year. In some cases, it produces more serious sickness: approximately 200,000 hospitalizations and 36,000 deaths are linked...
The flu is a respiratory viral infection that produces symptoms such as fever, coughing, congestion, aching, chills and fatigue. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the flu affects five to 20 percent of the U.S....
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, respiratory influenza viruses are highly contagious due to the ease with which they are transmitted from one person to another, often before the infected person develops symptoms....
There are three basic types of the influenza virus: A, B and C, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Influenza A and B are the most common strains that afflict the estimated five million to 20 million Americans...
The National Institutes of Health states that each year, 5 percent to 20 percent of Americans become ill with influenza (flu). Heavy flu activity can occur as early as October and typically peaks around February.
Influenza is a contagious disease of the respiratory system caused by certain viruses. Often called the flu, influenza is a potentially dangerous disease that, according to the CDC, is responsible for anywhere from 3,000 to 49,000 deaths each...
The flu is a contagious respiratory disease caused by infection with an influenza virus. Each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the flu affects 5 to 20 percent of Americans. Some people, such as the elderly,...
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in 2008, seasonal flu results in more than 200,000 hospitalizations and 36,000 deaths each year. Getting a yearly seasonal flu vaccine, the CDC says, is the first and most important...
According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the flu is caused by the influenza virus and can cause illness and possibly death. The CDC estimates that over 200,000 people are hospitalized as a result of complications from the flu. Priority...
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), approximately 36,000 people die each year from flu-related diseases. The figure is based on an average of influenza deaths reported in the 1990s, which ranged between 17,000 and...
Individually treating the flu is a moderate task; however, preventing an outbreak of pandemic flu is a much larger task. A disease or illness becomes a pandemic when it spreads at an accelerated rate, limiting the ability of medical professionals...
Bird flu, also known as avian flu or avian influenza, is an infection by viruses normally residing in healthy, wild birds. Avian influenza, however, can cause serious illness and death in domesticated birds such as chickens, turkeys and ducks,...
Avian influenza is a severe influenza typically caused by H5N1 subtype of the influenza A virus. According to Flu.gov, over 400 cases were reported globally as of the end of 2009, with about 60 percent mortality. There have been no reported cases...
Several different yet closely related viruses cause influenza, or the flu. Three influenza virus groups---types A, B and C---belong to the Orthomyxoviridae family of viruses, which includes a variety of viruses that infect birds and mammals....
