Influenza is a respiratory infectious disease with strong infectivity and fast transmission speed. The most remarkable epidemiological characteristics of influenza are: sudden outbreak, rapid spread, wide spread, and certain seasonality (the epidemics in northern China generally occur in winter, while in southern China they mostly occur in summer and winter).
The seasonal change is a frequent period of influenza in the world. Generally speaking, there are three kinds of influenza atmosphere, ordinary influenza, avian influenza and swine influenza. It is particularly important for us to seek treatment correctly.
1. Why do people get infected?
Avian influenza: so far, avian influenza virus can only be transmitted to people through birds, not from people.
Swine flu: the virus is very active. It can be transmitted from people to pigs, from pigs to people, and from people to people. Human to human transmission is mainly mediated by coughing and sneezing of infected persons.
Common influenza: interpersonal transmission, air droplet transmission, influenza patients and latent infections are the main sources of infection. It is infectious 1-7 days after onset, and the first 2-3 days are the most infectious.
2. Who is susceptible to infection?
Avian influenza: among the detected infection cases, children under the age of 13 account for a high proportion and are seriously ill. They belong to the susceptible population.
Swine flu: mostly in the young and middle-aged. According to the death cases of swine flu that have been found, the vast majority of patients are between 20 and 45 years old, belonging to the young and middle-aged.
Ordinary influenza: four categories of people are most likely to be infected: the elderly, people with chronic diseases such as liver, kidney and heart, medical staff who often contact influenza, and children.
3. What are the different symptoms?
Avian influenza: the main symptoms after infection are high fever, cough, runny nose, myalgia, etc. most of them are accompanied by severe pneumonia. In severe cases, death is caused by heart, kidney and other organ failure.
Swine flu: the most obvious symptom of human infection with swine flu is "the initial symptoms similar to ordinary flu, but the body temperature suddenly exceeds 39 ℃, the feeling of muscle soreness increases significantly, accompanied by dizziness, headache, diarrhea, vomiting and other symptoms or some of them.
Common influenza: acute symptoms of poisoning such as chills, high fever, headache, dizziness, general pain and fatigue. May be accompanied by sore throat, runny nose, tears, cough and other respiratory symptoms. A few cases have anorexia, accompanied by gastrointestinal symptoms such as abdominal pain, abdominal distension, vomiting and diarrhea. The clinical symptoms of infantile influenza are often atypical.
4. What is the mortality rate?
Avian influenza: the mortality rate of human suffering from avian influenza is as high as 60%. Swine flu: the death rate of swine flu is 6.77%, which is higher than that of general influenza. There are two main reasons for its high death rate: first, the virus is fierce; Second, people did not pay attention to the new disease at first. They thought it was the common cold. Many people took some medicine casually and missed the best treatment period of 72 hours at the beginning of the disease.
Common influenza: it can be fatal, but the mortality rate is low, less than 1%.
5. What are the prevention and control measures?
Avian influenza: vaccines are available. China is the second country after the United States to have the preparation technology and production capacity of human avian influenza vaccine. Prevention is roughly the same as swine flu. We should also pay attention not to contact raw birds such as chickens and ducks, and eat eggs and chicken well cooked.
Swine flu: existing swine flu vaccines are ineffective for humans. Do a good job in prevention, wash hands more, wear masks, stay less in public places, ventilate indoors, avoid contact with influenza patients, contact animals as little as possible, especially pigs, and eat pork with sufficient heating.
Ordinary influenza: it can be vaccinated against influenza. The vaccination time is mostly from October to mid November every year, once a year. Prevention is the same as other influenza, but there is no need to deliberately avoid contact with chickens, ducks, pigs, etc.
General preventive methods
As influenza is a viral infectious disease, there is no specific treatment, so preventive measures are very important. The experts put forward the following suggestions to the public:
● maintain good personal and environmental hygiene, wash hands frequently, use soap or hand sanitizer and wash hands with running water, and do not wipe your hands with dirty towels. Wash hands immediately after touching respiratory secretions (e.g. after sneezing).
● cover your mouth and nose with a handkerchief or paper towel when sneezing or coughing to avoid droplets polluting others; Influenza patients wear masks at home or out to avoid infecting others.
● eat a balanced diet, exercise properly and have enough rest to avoid excessive fatigue.
● open windows for ventilation several times a day (avoid ventilation in winter) to keep the indoor air fresh; In the high incidence period of influenza, try not to go to crowded places with dirty air; When you have to go, you'd better wear a mask.
Expert opinion