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  • Avian and swine flu symptoms, treatment, prevention

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    Bird flu is a viral infection, very highly contagious, which can affect all kinds of birds.

    Influenza is a virus, a strange creature, stuck between the worlds of the living and nonliving. He floats in the air in microdrops, settles on clothes, computers or skin, but becomes truly alive, only by infecting another living form. Invasion is necessary for its survival. Unlike bacteria, which are complex, self-reproducing organisms, the virus is not self-sufficient. He exists to multiply, and can do this, only by cunning or force infiltrating into another organism.

    It is with this elusive creature, evolved hundreds of millions of years, that we are fighting as the source of avian flu. Almost every day in the news in newspapers and on television, new information about the disease appears, and people are more and more worried about the ease with which it spreads. We are already accustomed to the idea that every winter a certain number of elderly people die from the flu, but the infection that we have encountered in Southeast Asia is completely inconsistent with this pattern, as it kills a healthy adult in a few days. What makes this virus so lethal, and is our body able to organize against him at least some kind of protection?

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    The main feature of the influenza virus is related to the fact that it is carried through the air. Once in the cells lining the lungs, throat and nose from inside, it creates a lot of tiny particles( virions) that fly off at high speed in the mucus, if you sneeze, or droplets of moisture, if you cough or speak. In one experiment it was possible to show that the particles of the virus can move in a subway car at a speed of 128 km per hour. This is the power of ordinary sneezing. That's why the habit of closing the nose and mouth when sneezing is not just a requirement of etiquette: it does not allow pathogens of disease, spreading at high speed, to infect people around.

    The influenza virus can also be found on the skin. It is easy to get an infection if you shake hands with the carrier of the virus, and then rub your eyes, nose, or mouth with your hand. On the surface of toys, door handles, computer keyboards - any solid surface - virions can live up to 48 hours. They will kill the disinfectant solution. Even ordinary washing with soap and water will most likely destroy most of the particles. They are destroyed by sunlight and dry air. If the virus is caught on raw meat, it will die from heat treatment when cooking.

    From the most common strains of influenza, many people are protected by natural immunity. However, patients with impaired immune system and respiratory diseases, such as asthma, are more vulnerable. Influenza leads to an exacerbation of diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. After the illness, there may be complications in the form of respiratory diseases, for example, bronchitis, as well as secondary infections such as otitis, which is especially common in children. One of the main causes of death from influenza is pneumonia. It occurs when bacteria causing inflammation enter the lungs, for example, Staphylococcus aureus, and this becomes possible if the influenza virus damages the tiny hairs( cilium), which normally protects the lungs from dust, dirt and bacteria. To treat pneumonia or other secondary bacterial infections, antibiotics are prescribed, but they do not help against the flu itself, which is carried by the virus.

    In most countries in the northern hemisphere, the seasonal flu outbreak lasts six to eight weeks per year and occurs every winter, often in January. According to the UK Department of Health, one in five people turn to their doctor. If within a week 200 new patients apply for every 100 000 population, the flu is said to have reached the epidemic threshold.

    Nevertheless, there is always a possibility of a new strain, against which people were not protected. The problem of bird flu is related to the fact that if it spreads among people, it will be a particularly powerful strain, against which there are neither ready-made vaccines nor natural immunity.

    Etiology. Influenza type A has 2 antigens - hemagglutinin( H) and neuraminidase( N).There are 15 subtypes of hemagglutinin and 9 subtypes of neuraminidase. The bird flu virus has H5N1 antigens, is characterized by rapid variability, which increases its virulence and promotes the employment of a new ecological niche - a person. Stable in the external environment. So, in the bird's litter is saved several months. At a temperature of -70 ° C it persists for several months. Bends in infected meat at high temperatures. The recombination of avian and human influenza viruses is not ruled out.

    Epidemiology. Migratory waterfowl are the natural hosts of the influenza virus, carry it in the intestines and release into the environment with saliva, respiratory and fecal material. Among poultry, chickens and turkeys are most susceptible. Infection of pigs is possible. The usual path of spread is fecal-oral, but contact, air-drop is possible. The transmission of the virus from person to person is not currently described.

    In 2005-2006.outbreaks of avian influenza in countries of Asia, Europe, in some territories of Russia.

    Pathogenesis. The entrance gates are the mucosa of the upper respiratory tract, possibly the intestine. Serious inflammation develops at the site of introduction. In the subsequent, viremia is formed with dissemination of the virus and lung damage, endothelium of the vessels. The rapidly growing toxemia with gross metabolic, vascular disorders leads to DVS-syndrome, infectious-toxic shock, edema of the brain and lungs.

    Pathomorphology. Changes are found in both the upper and lower parts of the respiratory tract. Most often the bird flu virus causes necrosis in the nasal cavity, trachea, bronchi and bronchioles.

    Clinic. The incubation period of avian influenza ranges from 1 to 7 days. The clinical course of avian influenza is very similar to the hypertoxic form of influenza.

    Diagnosis of avian influenza is carried out taking into account the following criteria:

    So far, it is very difficult for a person to get infected from a bird. Meanwhile, most of the patients were in extremely close contact with ducks or chickens. If the virus were transmitted easily, hundreds of thousands of people would already be infected, as millions of ducks, chickens and wild birds carry the infection in Southeast Asia.

    An avian flu virus can live in the litter, saliva and nasal secretions of a bird. Wild birds - vectors of the virus( mostly waterfowl, flying between rivers and lakes) can get sick without manifesting any symptoms. Meanwhile, the droppings left on places of their rest can infect other birds.

    Of particular concern is the fact that one of the strains of avian influenza, the so-called H5N1, can become pathogenic( causing disease) for humans and lead to a new pandemic. Until 1997, scientists believed that avian influenza can not be transmitted directly to humans, but it is now clear that they were wrong.

    Shortly thereafter, an even bigger breakthrough was made. It so happened that the sick ferret sneezed right into the face of the researcher - and two days later a man also got flu. Thus, the possibility of transmitting the virus from animals to humans was confirmed. As research has shown, the flu can be transmitted between very different species. Two years later, Wilson Smith found out that the influenza virus can be cultivated in chick embryos. This discovery paved the way for the development of vaccines.

    Of particular concern is the likelihood of a mutation of avian influenza H5N1, which is why it can easily be transmitted from person to person. This has not happened yet, and it is impossible to predict when it will happen. Nevertheless, experts are very afraid that someday such a mutation will arise. John Oxford, a professor of virology at the Queen Mary's School of Medicine and Dentistry at the University of London, explained one possible scenario: "If a child brings an infected chicken from the market and this chicken is killed in the backyard of the house, it is likely that someonefrom the family will get infected from this bird. If this person is also the carrier of any common common flu virus, then H5N1 can mix its genes with this common form, and we will get a completely new strain against which there is no immunity. Distributing among people, it can evolve, acquiring new characteristics. For example, a new strain may become somewhat less lethal, since it is important for a virus that its human carriers do not die too quickly, but be able to pass it on to others. But it will still be a very powerful strain, from which we do not have protection. "

    Humanity has never encountered H5N1 before, and it is impossible to predict the degree of its lethality, although our vulnerability in this sense can be quite high, since we do not have the strain of natural immunity to it. The fact that it can be transmitted between different kinds of animals, including tigers, peacocks, cats, swine and several species of birds, means that transferring it from bird to person can become quite real.

    A mutation of the H5N1 subtype completely into a humanized form will occur with a high probability and cause a pandemic simply because the reservoir of the disease is large - now too many wild and domestic birds carry a virus. The inhaled bird flu virus is very ill. If the patient enters the hospital, he is prescribed medicines there and connected to the system of artificial ventilation, but still the sick often die.-

    The effect of infection on the human body can be catastrophic. Dr. Dominique Dwyer, virologist and member of the Australian National Committee for the Planning of Preventive Measures against Pandemics, says: "The virus enters the lungs. The body reacts to it with a very strong immune response. In the fight against infection, the lungs are filled with a liquid saturated with proteins and cells. As a result, they overflow, and the person can not breathe. The patient dies of respiratory failure because he can not get enough oxygen, which means an end. "

    In some countries cases are known where the disease is not limited to the defeat of only the respiratory system.

    In February 2004, a four-year-old boy and his nine-year-old sister died of cerebral encephalitis in Vietnam. According to information provided by doctors from the city of Ho Chi Minh and published in the New England Journal of Medicine, during the pathoanatomical research in these children found the H5N1 virus in the cerebrospinal fluid, blood, throat and intestines. Both children ended up in a hospital with severe diarrhea, but soon their condition worsened, convulsions started, which passed to a coma with the subsequent death.

    According to Dr. James Campbell, an influenza expert and assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, influenza is sometimes accompanied by encephalitis."Unusually, these cases of encephalitis have been observed without respiratory symptoms," he wrote in the New England Journal of Medicine."If the infection of avian flu is manifested in this way, we should treat it differently than simply as a respiratory disease."

    If bird flu, mutated, spreads between people, it is likely to become a pandemic. The latter can be defined as an epidemic that has swept more than one continent. The pandemic is much more aggressive than usual influenza, with it sick from 20 to 30% of the population, up to 50% of children, sometimes there is a relatively high mortality. For example, described in Chapter 2 pandemic flu "Spaniard" killed in 1918, 2.5% of all cases. Other pandemics are not so dangerous, for example, in the outbreak of 1957, 0.37% of all infected people died.

    Influenza pandemics are not always primarily affected by older people - sometimes young people are at greater risk. Today, the task of scientists is to learn about H5N1 as much as possible and as soon as possible to detect any of its mutations, which will give the virus the opportunity to spread among people. At least then the doctors will know what they're fighting with.

    A new influenza A( HIN1) virus of porcine origin emerged among the Mexican population in the spring of 2009 and was spread by travelers around the world, leading to the first influenza pandemic in 1968.

    Strains associated with outbreaks of the so-called "swine flu", were detected among the influenza viruses of serotype C and serotype A subtypes( A / HIN1, A / H1N2, A / H3N1, A / H3N2 ( Finnish influenza) and A / H2N3).These strains are known collectively as the "swine flu virus".

    Swine influenza is common among domestic pigs in the US, Mexico, Canada, South America, Europe, Kenya, mainland China, Taiwan, Japan and other Asian countries. In this case, the virus can circulate in the environment of people, birds and other species;this process is accompanied by its mutations.

    The virus is transmitted both through direct contact with infected organisms and by airborne droplets.

    The gateway to the virus is the epithelium of the respiratory tract. The characteristic features of pathogenesis include pronounced intoxication, which develops as a result of massive cell death due to virus invasion. As a result of intoxication, vascular damage occurs, their tone decreases, fragility increases, and the probability of bleeding increases. The virus has neurotropism, which leads to a characteristic neurological symptom for influenza.

    An important role in pathogenesis is played by lung and bronchial damage due to the increased expression of a number of inflammatory mediators( TLR-3, y-IFN, TNFa, etc.), which causes multiple damage to the alveoli, necrosis and hemorrhages. The high virulence and pathogenicity of this strain of virus can be due to the ability of the non-structural protein NS1( inherent in this virus) to inhibit the production of Type I interferons by infected cells. Defective for this gene viruses are significantly less pathogenic.

    The incubation period is approximately 2-3 days, but can reach seven days. The severity of the disease: from mild to severe, often of medium severity.

    Clinically, influenza caused by a pandemic strain of the virus is characterized by fever( 62% of patients), perspiration in the oropharynx( 30%), dry cough( 16%), cough with sputum( 8%), headache( 14%), nasal congestion anddifficulty in nasal breathing( 10%), myalgia( 14%), joint pain( 8%), nausea( 3%), vomiting( 29%), diarrhea( 3%), dyspnea( 3%), wheezing1%), conjunctivitis( 2%), nasal bleeding( 1%).There may be signs and symptoms that indicate the development and growth of respiratory or cardiopulmonary insufficiency: dyspnea( under load or in a calm state), shortness of breath, cyanosis, sputum or stained sputum, chest pain and low blood pressure, hypoxia byreadings of the pulse oximeter. An important role in the pathogenesis of the defeat of the respiratory organs is the strengthening of the expression of a number of inflammatory mediator factors, which leads to multiple damage to the alveoli, necrosis and the development of hemorrhagic syndrome. Individual patients can observe symptoms and signs that indicate a CNS lesion: a changed mental state, loss of consciousness, drowsiness or difficulty with awakening, and recurrent or persistent convulsions, confusion, marked weakness or paralysis.

    In the vast majority of patients, the symptoms of the disease caused by the influenza A( H1N1) virus California /04/ 2009, do not have any significant clinical differences from those in seasonal influenza. In some patients, during the first 2-4 days of the disease, the development of viral pneumonia and respiratory distress syndrome, accompanied, as we know, by acute respiratory failure was noted.

    Infants and young children often have less common symptoms of influenza compared to older children: low body temperature, rapid breathing, cyanosis, excessive drowsiness, inhibition, lack of appetite and dehydration. Such symptoms are nonspecific. The diagnosis can not be made, based only on these symptoms. During the circulation of the pandemic A( H1N1) virus, clinicians should be vigilant and aware of the possibility of the appearance of GPI in those who have been in contact with the child in order to facilitate clinical diagnosis and avoid the delay in initiating antiviral treatment in children. Parents should be encouraged to observe signs and report if any of the warning signs appear.

    Signs indicative of progression of the disease:

    Severe forms of infection in 2% of patients, more often in individuals:

    Complicated course:

    Specific prevention of influenza is carried out by inactivated and live vaccines made from virus strains recommended annually by WHO.In Russia, influenza vaccines are produced:

    A number of foreign influenza vaccines for parenteral administration are widely used:

    The introduction of influenza vaccines may occasionally be accompanied by the development of short-term mild reactions in the first 48-72 hours.

    Contraindications for all vaccines - allergy to egg hen proteins, acute infectious and non-infectious diseases, exacerbation of chronic diseases, progressive diseases of the nervous system, systemic connective tissue diseases, autoimmune diseases, blood diseases.

    For non-specific prophylaxis of influenza and acute respiratory viral infections of non-influenza aetiology, the following can be used:

    Specific prophylaxis is performed by administering influenza A( H1N1) vaccines California /04/ 09 officially registered in Russia:

    Vaccination should be given at least 2 weeks before the virus begins to circulate.

    Contingents to be immunized with a pandemic vaccine:

    Nonspecific prevention is carried out in exceptional cases with oseltamivir or zanamivir. The drug should be taken within 2 days of contact with the patient.

    To reduce the likelihood of "catching the virus", you need to understand where in the house and at work it accumulates the most.

    According to the Health Agency, the virus survives from the surface of stainless steel for 24 to 48 hours. You can get it from hard surfaces, such as desks, computer keyboards and telephones, long after the departure of the one who brought it there. On softer surfaces, such as sofas, clothes, newspapers or books, the life expectancy of the virus is close to eight o'clock. The good news is that he lives on the skin for only a few minutes. Regular wet cleaning of premises becomes an invaluable means of self-protection against the virus.

    Viruses are sensitive to heat and humidity. A virus caught on a piece of meat can be destroyed by proper culinary processing. He is less tolerant of dry air than wet air.

    As a rule, the air inside the premises is more damp than outside, so it is so easy to catch flu in winter, because people try to stay in enclosed spaces more.

    Regular cleaning and hygiene are very important in case of a pandemic. You do not need to buy complex, super strong products or special antibacterial cleaning compounds. With any virus contained in the microdroplets, an ordinary disinfectant such as dettotil will cope.

    The following objects should be cleaned especially carefully:

    After cleaning, do not forget to wash your clothes properly. For the destruction of any pathogens, a normal cycle of machine washing is sufficient. During cleaning, you can wear rubber gloves, but they also need to be washed. It may be easier to wash your hands thoroughly with soap and water, but the washing process should last at least 30 seconds. And never touch your face until you have washed your hands.

    Almost all of us were taught to wash hands in childhood, but it's amazing how many people growing up forget to do this or prefer a shortened procedure. It is estimated that up to a fifth of all adults do not wash their hands after the toilet and more than half - after blowing their nose. Be careful, shaking hands with someone, even when there is no epidemic.

    In the case of a pandemic, washing hands becomes mandatory, this is a matter of life and death. It is difficult to overestimate the importance of this carefully conducted procedure. We touch the mouth, nose, eyes and ears - the entry points of the disease - from one to three times every five minutes and, as a rule, do not even realize that we are doing it. More than three quarters of all diseases are spreading through the hands, and in the case of a pandemic, the transmission of the virus from hand to mouth or from hand to mouth is as likely as getting virus particles through the air from a person who coughed nearby.

    Wash your hands every time you cough or blow your nose, even if you use a handkerchief. If someone at home or at work gets sick, this habit will become even more important. If you have children, explain to them how important it is to wash their hands. Tell them that soapy hands should be rubbed for at least 30 seconds, try to make this procedure fun, like a game.

    If there is no soap and water nearby, you can use special, alcohol impregnated wipes to clean your hands. If a pandemic breaks out, such napkins can be worn with you to regularly clean your hands at home and on the street.

    Protection of the younger generation from an influenza pandemic is associated with additional difficulties. Children are very susceptible to influenza, and are also susceptible to such serious complications as pneumonia or dehydration( in the latter case it becomes so bad that they can not drink enough fluids).There is also an increased risk of infectious lung disease.

    Unfortunately, antiviral drugs Tamiflu and Relenza can not be given to children under one year, because it is unknown whether they can damage the developing brain;for the same reason, these drugs are not recommended for breastfeeding mothers. If such a woman becomes ill with pandemic flu, it would be best for her to immediately transfer her child to artificial feeding, then she will be able to take Tamiflu and any other medications prescribed by the doctor. Near the baby, she should wear an anti-influenza mask to prevent transmission of the infection. However, it is likely that it will become so bad that the nursing and caring for the child will have to take over from her partner or relative for the duration of the illness.

    For everyone who has children under the age of one year, the most important task must be strict adherence to hygiene rules. Strictly follow the five rules below.

    If your child has symptoms of illness - fever with a temperature of 37 ° C or higher, respiratory symptoms or if he reacts to what is happening not as usual, immediately consult a doctor or call NHS Direct.

    It would be nice to buy a digital thermometer - it's convenient to use when caring for young children. Make sure that there are enough painkillers in your medicine cabinet( such as kalpol), make the child drink as much liquid as possible.

    Asthma sufferers, regardless of age, have the right to be vaccinated against regular seasonal flu, they are recommended first of all for this vaccination. It is clear that in the case of a pandemic, the parents of asthmatic children will be very worried about their health. I asked for advice from Dr. Peter Openshaw, a consultant in the field of respiratory medicine, who wrote the foreword to this book.

    "Indeed, patients with asthma are more susceptible to viral colds and they may develop an exacerbation," the scientist said.- A standard advice for asthmatics who fell ill with a cold or flu is to double the dose of anti-asthmatic drugs administered through the inhaler for the period of the illness. These funds are completely safe, so that their increased use should not cause harm( especially within one or two weeks). "

    There is a sense in stocking up several inhalers with Ventolin in your medicine cabinet, as it is possible that you will not be able to buy them if pharmacists are too busy fighting the pandemic.

    This is a very difficult question, because children can be extremely contagious and a viral infection will instantly sweep the entire school. Every winter, children's institutions cover epidemics of respiratory diseases or diseases caused by worms. At present, the government has said that local authorities will decide to close schools in case of a pandemic, but this will not help you to assess the situation.

    Many parents will take their children out of school as soon as a pandemic begins. Directors will have to decide whether to leave the school open if students and teachers become sick. For this reason, it makes sense to plan your actions in advance, in the fifth phase of the pandemic, that is, when the disease has spread to several countries.

    What will you do if your child does not go to school for several weeks? Do you share the care of him with your husband? Will your employer allow you to take work at home or take a few compensatory time off? Can you, if necessary, entrust the child with the care of a friend?

    During a pandemic, family members infect each other, so that both parents and children can get sick within a few days. Everyone knows how common this situation is in case of especially severe colds, and pandemic flu will not be an exception. The only means that can reduce the risk of falling into bed all at once, is the most severe hygienic procedures and thorough washing of hands.

    Can you teach children at home if schools are closed? On the Internet, there are many sites offering opportunities for such training, so, in principle, it is really possible to study the school program independently. It is possible that in the event of a mass closure of schools, the government will increase the number of educational programs on television, although this is not planned at the moment.

    I think it is important to understand that if your children get sick, most likely they will only lay together for a week and then completely recover. At this point they can be sent back to school.

    Overexposure, the body of children and adults will carry antibodies in themselves, which will protect against the virus if the second wave of the pandemic begins.

    Have you asked your employer about pandemic action plans? If you work in a large organization listed on the list of the most important services, then you should know that your action plans are already being developed. Someone in the company is responsible for their coordination, so that as soon as WHO declares a real danger, the plan will begin to be implemented.

    Nevertheless, there are a few questions that you can still ask your employers.

    You can not completely shield yourself from social contacts, unless you live on a personal island with your own garden where you grow vegetables and fruits. But you can greatly reduce the frequency of such contacts and, accordingly, the probability of infection. "However, Professor McLean added that she will do this only if the strain of pandemic influenza has serious consequences for children, adding that, as a rule, the flu in children is mild enough.

    This desire to leave populated areas can be experienced by many. Among other things, if the main risk factor is contact with the virus, then, having left for a sparsely populated area, you can reduce the number of contacts and thereby reduce the risk. However, in case of a pandemic, no part of the country will be free from the disease. According to the maps of the spread of the epidemic compiled by the Health Agency, the flu will not bypass any village.

    Think about what will mean leaving the village for the duration of the pandemic. Firstly, it is not known who can be contacted for help. You will be far from large hospitals if any of your family has complications. You will also be very far from sources of food and fuel, if their delivery will be intermittent. And most importantly, the flu will come to your village. So is there any sense in leaving?

    I believe that before the mass exodus in the village people should have learned more about the nature of the disease. After it starts to be easily transmitted between people, doctors will be able to determine how much the disease is dangerous for children. During the 1957 pandemic, for example, children were extremely ill, but very few died - most of the dead were elderly.

    It is possible that people with pandemic flu will be asked to stay at home in order not to spread the infection, and if they refuse, the police will have to enter quarantine. But the authorities will take this step extremely reluctantly. Mandatory quarantine is effective only the first four - six weeks, then the disease will spread so widely that the police can not keep track of so many infected.

    If you are asked to stay at home because you have been infected by a virus from someone, the main problem is how to maintain enough self-control to survive in isolation days, and possibly weeks. It's easy and even pleasant to talk about how you can spend time at home, but it's quite another matter if you have no other choice. We know that quarantine has serious psychological consequences. In March 2003, during the SARS epidemic in Canada, 15,000 people were quarantined. The studies conducted by the University of Toronto 129 of them showed a high degree of psychological discomfort. More than a quarter of these 129 people developed the equivalent of post-traumatic stress, and the longer the quarantine lasted, the worse the consequences were.

    Be prepared for the fact that quarantine is an extremely stressful factor and you will have to internally resist negative effects. Imagine that you have closed for several weeks at home, with or without children. Do you have enough strength to cope with this? Do you have a hobby to occupy yourself at this difficult time? Can you find employment for the rest of the family?

    This information may sound disturbing, but it's not entirely true. Just according to the Canadian experience, quarantine can be a very difficult time, and to sustain it, you may need the support of others.

    When the world learns that a virulent strain of influenza has acquired the ability to be easily transmitted between people, one can expect the general spread of anxious and panic sentiments. Those who fear that they will not be able to get medical care or even food will be covered by an anxiety bordering on hysteria.

    For this reason it is extremely important to remain calm and collected. Remember that the vast majority of infected people will suffer a very severe form of influenza.

    Our mental state is very important, because it affects the level of hormones in the blood and, consequently, the state of health, and in addition, it affects those people who surround us. Panic is as contagious as the flu. If you have children, your peace of mind is important to them: they will see that adults can cope with the problem.

    Excellent ways to relieve stress are yoga and meditation. Or walk, or listen to music. Everyone has their own ways of dealing with the state of anxiety, it is important to find time for them. This can be any constructive action, for example, a new hobby or even some kind of work on the household.

    Strange things happen during the panic. The pulse may become frequent, dryness in the mouth may appear, attacks of aggression may occur, tooth pain and even hallucinations begin. Cope with these symptoms will help physical activity, no matter how worried you are.

    Think about the fact that in wartime people should often feel anxious, get excited or upset. However, the experience of World War II shows the opposite. In fact, the mental health of the nation is improving. It is possible that because of the emergence of a common enemy, people cease to attach so much importance to concerns about themselves and instead concentrate on an immediate threat.

    At the moment, there is no single guidance for health care workers on how to give people the information they need.

    The Department of Health is preparing a staff guide, but now all you can do is refer to government brochures explaining why people are afraid of a pandemic and how to prepare for it. The British Medical Association recommends that doctors remind that while the H5N1 virus exists only in the body of birds and has not fully adapted to humans.

    However, if you suffer from chronic illnesses, such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes or immune system disorders, the more detailed information you need is not yet ready. It is expected that in 2006 the government will conduct a public information campaign, including tips on what to do for such patients. In the meantime, they can be advised to consult a doctor or an organization specifically dealing with individual pathologies, for example, the British Association of Cardiovascular Diseases. They will provide more information on what the chronic patients will need during an influenza pandemic.

    Symptoms of influenza are very diverse, sometimes they resemble a severe cold. The first signs can be fever, cough, sore throat, neck and muscles, headaches, runny nose or a feeling of fatigue in the eyes. It is possible that when the flu strain is fully adapted to a person, scientists will find specific symptoms that characterize it, such as a severe cough or high fever.

    If you feel bad, it is very important to recognize the symptoms at an early stage, but do not exaggerate them.

    Advised to do the following:

    Recommendations:

    If your friend or family member falls ill, you can do very little for him. If you already had the flu yourself, everything will be much easier, since you do not have to worry about the possibility of getting infected. If not, try to limit your contact with it. You have to give him food and drink in bed, but ask the patient to turn away at that moment and not breathe on you. Do not forget, as always, thoroughly wash your hands after contact with it. Viruses can be carried on clothes, so if he touches it, change and wash it.

    Taking care of the sick with the flu, give them as many hot and cold drinks as possible, offer painkillers and make sure that their condition does not deteriorate. First of all, one should be afraid of difficulties with breathing. It's not just a cough - breathing becomes so difficult that the patient sometimes feels that he just can not breathe air into the lungs. Sometimes a blue coating appears on the lips. If this happens, ask your doctor or medical support for help.

    If a sick person has heart problems, watch for the appearance of pain in his chest, hands or feet, this may indicate the approach of an attack. It is very bad if the patient begins to cough up blood or expectorate large amounts of yellow or green reflux. In both cases, call a doctor immediately.

    The following is a list of the main recommendations that should be adhered to with the flu:

    You can return to work only when you feel good. Keep in mind that within two weeks after that you can get very tired, but it happens after normal flu. Eat healthy food, try not to overexert yourself and not be nervous, sleep as much as possible.