Influenza
By: Cate Cushing
Symptoms
Symptoms of the Flu include fevers, chills, muscle aches, coughing, congestion, runny nose, headaches, and fatigue.
Chest discomfort, head congestion, nausea, shortness of breath, sore throat, swollen lymph nodes, loss of appetite, sweating, dehydration, and body aches are also common symptoms of the flu.
What causes the Flu?
Of the three types of flu, type A, type B, and type C. A virus causes the virus, but the type of influenza depends on if it will be a, b, or c. When you come in contact with an infected person, through a sneeze, cough, or contact, you might contract that form of the Flu. The different types of Flu depend on small differences that occur each year, but it is why the vaccine doesn't always work.
What Immune Cells Respond to the Flu?
The influenza induces chemokine and cytocine which attract immune cells to the infection. Immune cells include macrophages, neutrophils, and T cells.
How does the Flu Replicate Itself? (Lytic Cycle)
The Flu is usually in the Lytic cycle. So when, the Flu infects someone, it attaches to a host, it injects its DNA. When the DNA circularizes, new viral DNA and proteins are synthesized and assembled. Then the cell will lyst because it is full of the replicating virus.
Flu Treatment and What it Does
There are flue vaccines to prevent the flu, but those vaccines are for the Flu that common in the previous year, so you would be immune to one version of the Flu, but since it is constantly changing you would still be liable to get the Flu.
There is no real cure to the Flu, but there are medicines like TamiFlu that would lighten the symptoms that were being expressed.