Influenza
By Reed Martin
Symptoms
Pain in muscles, cough, chills, dehydration, fatigue, fever, loss of appetite, body ache, sweating, congestion, sneezing, runny nose, headache, chest discomfort, nausea, shortness of breath, sore throat, swollen lymph nodes
Prevention
Get a flu vaccine, avoid contact with the ill, wash your hands, cover nose while sneezing, clean infected surfaces, and take antiviral drugs if your doctor prescribes them.
Causes
Travels through air droplets when someone with the infection coughs, sneezes, or talk. Can inhale them or pick the germs up from an object (phone or keyboard).
Above is a photomicrograph of Influenza
Treatment
Peramivir, Zanamivir, Oseltamivir, Ibuprofen, Acetaminophen, Guaifenesin, Dextromethorphan. These lessen pain, and stop the virus from spreading.
How it replicates
Usually the virus targets the upper respiratory tract and has many was to invade a host. Cap snatching- the virus enters the host through an endosome and enters the nucleus, but the virus RNA is negative and then transported into positive by polymerase proteins and exported out of the nucleus.
Response
The active immunity reacts quickly by recognizing the virus to control the viruses replication. Toll-like receptors in endosomes bind to a single stranded RNA which are important triggers to the effects of influenza. If you have had influenza before the body has already made antibodies to fight the particular type of virus either preventing infection or lessining the result.