How dangerous is the flu. Heavy and deadly

The pattern of outbreaks and foci of these diseases varies from year to year. How will the flu behave in 2019? The prognosis is normal. Among doctors, it boils down to a well-known saying - "Hope for the best, prepare for the worst."

As a rule, doctors react to outbreaks of colds after the fact, especially the emergence of new strains. The flu is constantly mutating and it is very difficult to fight it.

New flu strains in 2019

The most dangerous strains are still the A(H1N1) strain and the A(H3N2) strain.

I would like to talk about the A(H1N1) strain separately. Why did we pay attention to him?

Important! The strain (H1N1) is currently the most common subtype of the A virus. It has an incredible ability to mutate and is extremely aggressive.

Suffice it to recall the Spanish flu pandemic (among the people of Spain) in 1918, which claimed, according to average estimates, from 50 to 100 million people in 18 months.

In 2009, the A(H1N1/09) strain, a mutation of the A(H1N1) known to us, caused a pandemic, dubbed the "swine flu epidemic" by the media.

Symptoms of the A (H1N1 / 09) virus, when they appear, the patient must immediately be taken to the nearest medical facility:

Rapid, labored breathing;

Pre-fainting state or vice versa, extreme excitement;

The patient is disoriented, there is confusion;

dizziness, nausea;

Refusal to take liquids;

Pain in the chest and abdomen.

The new flu, identified in 2009, is dangerous because if it affects the body, without a proper medical response, the disease can develop into a progressive viral pneumonia that is not sensitive to antibiotics. In this case, the person dies within 24 hours after the onset of the development of the complication.

Fact! Currently, there are no medicines that can effectively deal with progressive viral pneumonia.

Is A(H1N1) mutating into new flu strains in 2019? The virus is being studied, its behavior is monitored by thousands of laboratories around the world. However, epidemiologists cannot yet give an exact answer to this question.

Influenza in Russia 2019 latest news

The number of Russian regions where the incidence of influenza and SARS is exceeded increased from 13 to 23, while the weekly epidemiological thresholds were exceeded from 60% to more than 100%, Anna Popova, head of Rospotrebnadzor, told RIA Novosti, RIA Novosti writes.

“In the fourth week of 2019, in the Russian Federation, there is an increase in the geographical spread of the incidence of SARS and influenza and an increase in the activity of the circulation of influenza viruses,” Popova said.

“In terms of the total population, exceeding the weekly epidemic thresholds was registered in 23 subjects of the Russian Federation, let me remind you that last week it was 13 subjects,” she said.

The interlocutor of the agency noted that the highest incidence rates are in the Republic of Gorny Altai, the Sverdlovsk Region, the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), the Jewish Autonomous Region, the Republic of Buryatia, in the Altai Territory - there the thresholds are exceeded from 60% to more than 100%.

Also, according to Popova, children from schools and kindergartens are most actively involved in the epidemic process: the age groups of 3-6 years and 7-14 years.

“Among children under the age of 2 years, the excess is recorded in 7 constituent entities of the Russian Federation, from 3 to 6 years old - in 17, and from 7 to 14, that is, among schoolchildren, in 21 constituent entities of the Russian Federation. Among adults - in 17 subjects of the Russian Federation. This speaks of an epidemic rise that has come to our country,” Popova said.

According to her, to date, influenza viruses AH1N1 of the pandemic variant of 2009 are predominantly detected - this is 35% in the structure of positive findings, also influenza viruses AH3N2 - 27%, the proportion of influenza B viruses is small (less than 1%).

According to Popova, over the past week, almost 80,000 studies have been conducted in cases of severe illness with signs of SARS.

“And the total share of all influenza viruses in the overall landscape of circulating viruses today is 68.9% of the number of positive findings, and this just indicates the continued increase in the share of influenza,” Popova emphasized.

Popova said that over the past week, an increase in the incidence of influenza and SARS in the countries of the northern hemisphere continued to be recorded, and now there is a growing activity of influenza viruses.

What virus is walking now: flu strains 2019

Flu symptoms 2019

According to bacteriologists, this season people will suffer from a new type of flu, which will also include strains of previously known viruses: Brisbane, Michigan and Hong Kong. Scientists predict a real epidemic. It will be difficult not to get infected with this virus, as the bacteria have mutated and the virus has turned into a dangerous and unpredictable strain. At this time, while there are such common strains of influenza disease:

Influenza A is a dangerous bacterium. It is transmitted from a sick organism to a healthy one. Even your house friend - a cat, a dog and others can get sick. This type of flu has been successfully mutating for many years and becoming resistant to medications.
H1N1 (swine flu)- 9 years ago, this virus caused a whole epidemic. Complications appear in almost every case, and the lungs and bronchi are affected.
H5N1 (avian flu)- this virus is dangerous in that mortality occurs in 70% of cases. The virus continues to mutate, so it becomes more and more resistant to drugs.
Influenza B- This viral bacterium is not as dangerous as bird or swine strains. It is almost not subject to mutation, is easily tolerated and treatable.
Influenza C- only a few are infected with such a virus, so the risk of developing an epidemic is minimal. It proceeds without symptoms and in a mild form.

Now, in autumn, there is no influenza epidemic yet, but there are isolated cases of the disease. If the disease progresses, then without complications and acute symptoms. With the onset of cold weather, the picture will change. Therefore, you need to know about the symptoms of the virus, how to deal with it and whether prevention exists. Read about it below.

Flu 2019 symptoms in adults and children today

Severe runny nose with flu 2019

The manifestation of the virus this year will directly depend on which strain will progress more. Each type of flu has an incubation period when the disease is just beginning to manifest itself. At this stage, it is important to start treatment and then complications and unpleasant consequences can be avoided. The incubation period usually lasts from 2 to 4 days.

Almost always, the symptoms of infection with the influenza virus in adults and children are similar:

Children's body more difficult to tolerate the disease due to the still not fully developed immunity.
The body of an elderly person due to age, it is already weakened and it is more difficult for him to fight bacteria.
If a middle-aged adult can endure the flu "on his feet", then a child or an old man will lie in bed, not getting up due to lack of strength to deal with severe bacterial intoxication.

When the flu bacterium is ingested by a person, the symptoms will be::

High body temperature, fever.
Painful sensations in the muscles, aching in the joints.
Weakness, chills.
Dizziness, headaches, increased blood pressure.
Nausea, vomiting, lack of appetite.

You should know: If these symptoms do not go away within a week, then a bacterial infection is suspected. Pneumonia, tonsillitis and complex concomitant diseases can develop, which are much more difficult to treat than the virus itself.

REMEMBER: When the first symptoms appear, immediately consult a doctor to prevent the development of exacerbations!

Flu forms in 2019 and their symptoms

High fever is the main symptom of the flu of various forms.

There are 4 forms of influenza, which differ in clinic:

Light- body temperature does not rise above 38 degrees, there is a decrease in appetite and slightly noticeable headaches.
Medium- body temperature is stable for 3 days, but does not exceed 39 degrees. The development of a virus of this form is accompanied by swelling of the nasal mucosa, sore throat and dry cough.
heavy- body temperature up to 40 degrees, fever, nausea, headaches.
Hypertoxic- the danger of this form of influenza lies in the fact that the disease develops very quickly with the appearance of a severe runny nose, headaches, cough. There may even be bleeding from the nose, vomiting, or just a nauseating state, flushing of the face.

You should know: With some types of flu, even a gastrointestinal upset, such as prolonged diarrhea, may appear.

It is necessary to immediately call a doctor at home or an ambulance if the following symptoms are present:

New flu - with fever, no fever, intestinal, bird, swine, Hong Kong flu: treatment, latest news

Feeling unwell with flu 2019

Influenza, like many other viruses, is transmitted by airborne droplets. According to bacteriologists, in 2018 and early 2019, a large number of people will be affected in a short period of time.

A person will feel all the symptoms of a flu-like disease, except for one of the most important - an increase in temperature.
A new virus is a bacterial infection of the body that will proceed without fever.
Although the children's body and the body of older people can react precisely with an increase in temperature.

The flu is a special infection. This is a deadly disease. The seasonal influenza epidemic is a very serious problem, because the virus is spread by airborne droplets.

According to the statistics of the World Health Organization, about 3 billion people get the flu every year, and about 3 million of them die. Even in prosperous countries, about 1% of patients with influenza die. Therefore, at the first manifestations of symptoms, consult a doctor, if you are delayed with going to the hospital, you can apply for sick leave retroactively.

Influenza is dangerous because this virus can mutate, i.e. change its structure, adapting both to drugs and to our immunity.
Signs of the disease:

1. fever (high temperature)

2. moderate catarrhal phenomena or their absence (there may not be cough or runny nose right away, or they will appear later)

3. severe intoxication (weakness, lack of appetite, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea)

4. in severe cases, inflammation of the lungs with impaired capillaries (viral pneumonia with pulmonary edema) is the so-called hypertoxic form.

Knowing the symptoms, you will be able to recognize the flu and start treatment on the first day. Relenza and Tamiflu have proven their success, these are antiviral drugs.

The influenza virus has the ability to spread at lightning speed and infect the lungs, it attacks the epithelial cells of our respiratory tract. The lung tissue begins to decompose. Instant hemorrhage may occur.

When the cells of the lung lining are affected, they become vulnerable to bacteria. Therefore, as everyone knows, the flu is dangerous complications. Antibiotics are often needed after the flu.

Complications are more likely to occur if a person has had the flu on their feet. Influenza can cause the development of such serious diseases as pleurisy (inflammation of the pleura), pneumonia (inflammation of the lungs), otitis media (inflammation of the middle ear), sinusitis (inflammation of the sinuses), myocarditis (inflammation of the heart muscle), glomerulonephritis (inflammation of the kidneys). The flu can also lead to male infertility.

In rare cases, damage to the central nervous system occurs, as a complication after the flu. Such a person becomes disabled.
The flu is especially dangerous for children and pregnant women - they can die in three days. When there was an epidemic of swine flu, a large percentage of deaths was just among pregnant women. The second risk group is babies. The third group - the elderly - over 65 years of age, as well as with diseases such as diabetes, kidney disease and broncho-pulmonary system.

It is always best to prevent the onset of illness by getting a flu shot. If you are attentive to your health, recognize the disease and begin treatment, you can bypass all sorts of severe complications of the flu.

Remember, illiteracy in matters of medicine can have a very terrible price - this is a human life!

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Influenza is an acute viral disease that can affect both the upper and lower respiratory tract.

As a rule, the disease proceeds with severe intoxication of the body and for people with a weakened immune system is a serious danger, even death. The main feature of the flu is that, unlike other diseases of viral origin, it is much more severe.

flu danger

The main danger of this viral disease is not even that the flu, as a rule, is severe and causes severe intoxication, but that this disease can cause serious complications for individual organs and systems. Most often, after the flu, pathologies of the heart, kidneys, joints, lungs, etc. are detected.

Complications after the flu on the heart

Doctors note that most of all complications after getting the flu occur in the heart, as a result of which there are serious changes in its functioning. The fact is that the influenza virus is distinguished by the peculiarity of penetrating into the heart muscle - the myocardium and causing its inflammation, that is, myocarditis. Almost 15% of all complications after influenza occur in the heart muscle.

It should be noted that myocarditis, with timely diagnosis and proper treatment, is quite calm and in most cases the patient recovers. But if the disease is not detected and proceeds without proper treatment, it can lead to heart failure. It should be remembered that every tenth patient with myocarditis, without the necessary treatment, dies.

How to identify heart complications after the flu

To understand that the influenza virus has given complications to the heart muscle, you need to pay attention to the following symptoms, if found, you should immediately consult a doctor. Symptoms of myocarditis:

From time to time there is a failure of the heart rhythm, and it has nothing to do with physical activity.

Even with a slight physical exertion, for example, when walking, shortness of breath occurs.

Pain in the chest.

Increased body temperature after the flu.

Swelling of the legs.

Fatigue, sweating, tiredness after the influenza virus.

If a person who got the flu already had certain heart problems, after the illness, they can worsen. Therefore, even if there are no obvious symptoms of exacerbation, you should consult with your doctor.

Vaccination is the most effective way to fight the flu.

The introduction of the vaccine into the body does not cause disease, but by producing protective antibodies it stimulates the immune system to fight infection. Vaccination reduces the incidence of influenza by an average of 2 times; in those vaccinated in case of their illness, it proceeds more easily and does not lead to the development of complications.

Get vaccinated against influenza in advance in order to prevent a severe course of the disease and the development of complications !!!

Government of the Samara Region

Text: Tatyana Maratova

Agree, it would be nice if there was such a road sign: Beware of the flu! Indeed, of all SARS, influenza is the most dangerous virus that threatens with the most unpredictable consequences. And if we could always manage to bypass it, it would be a great success.

Why is the flu dangerous? First of all - the hardest complications. If you do not treat your health carefully and carefully in winter, the flu can bring a lot of trouble. Sneezing, coughing, with a high temperature, we still go to work, hoping to bring down the temperature in the evening and recover "from the common cold" the next day. Meanwhile, from some of the complications that the flu leaves us, you can die within a few days.

Why is the flu dangerous?

Immediately after infection, the flu greatly weakens the immune system, helping to further spread the viral infection. Of the complications of influenza, in addition to very dangerous pneumonia, the most common are pleurisy, otitis media and bronchitis.

Pleurisy. This is the name of the inflammation of the pleura - the membrane that covers the lungs. In addition to the troubles usually associated with a cold - fever, chills and weakness - a pronounced symptom of pleurisy is pain in the side, which increases with a deep breath or cough. For the treatment of pleurisy, it is strongly recommended to go to the hospital, because this disease is dangerous and insidious. You can continue to be treated at home only at the recovery stage.

Otitis. Or purulent inflammation of the middle ear. A cold of the ear (otitis media) is recognized by constant, throbbing pain in the ear. Pain echoes to the head, neck and teeth. With such inflammation, the patient hears extraneous noises in the ear, he has a sharp decrease in hearing. You can relieve the pain by warming the ear in which the pain is felt. It is also recommended to make compresses, for example, with camphor alcohol, diluted in half with water. If otitis media is left untreated, or treated too late, it can develop into a chronic ailment with constant or intermittent suppuration from the ear.

Bronchitis. This is a dangerous inflammatory process in the airways through which air enters the lungs. The influenza virus damages the epithelial cells of the bronchial mucosa, causing them to gradually collapse. This means that in the place of destruction, comfortable conditions are created for the penetration and reproduction in the tissues of the bacterial flora. If the flu is cured and the inflammation is gone, the damaged mucosa can recover within a few weeks. But in some cases, changes in the structure of tissues cover all layers of the bronchial wall and the pathology becomes dangerously chronic.

So that health problems do not stretch for a long period, you need to say to yourself in time, “Beware of the flu!” and choose treatments accordingly.

Influenza (French grippe, German grippe) is an acute infectious disease of the respiratory tract caused by the influenza virus. Included in the group of acute respiratory viral infections (ARVI). Periodically spreads in the form of epidemics and pandemics.

The flu in 2019 is an epidemic of new strains of the virus that have already mutated from years past. Because of this mutation, bacteria appear that infect the human body in a short time, with severe complications and a long recovery period.

The incidence of influenza and SARS in St. Petersburg is growing, and an epidemic may begin, the official publication of the city government Spbdnevnik.ru reports, citing Irina Chkhingeria, head of the epidemiological surveillance department of the local Rospotrebnadzor.

According to Chkhingeria, now in the city there are from 1.5 to 2.5 thousand cases of acute respiratory viral infections per week. There is a gradual dynamic increase in the epidemic threshold, and within a week it may be exceeded.

The chief doctor of the Botkin hospital, Alexei Yakovlev, noted that from the third week of January, the H1N1 flu was replaced by the “epidemic” H3N2. According to his forecast, this trend will continue next week. Hospitals are deploying additional beds for flu patients, including children.

According to official data, 50.8 percent of the population in St. Petersburg has been vaccinated against the flu. The structure of the flu is consistent with the strains included in this year's vaccine.

Earlier on Monday, January 28, in the city of Tikhvin, Leningrad Region, a school for a thousand people was urgently closed due to the flu. In other parts of the region, separate classes and groups in children's educational institutions are closed.

Rospotrebnadzor data on the influenza epidemic for 2019

Among sick children, 27% are children aged 0 to 2 years, 17.5% are children whose age ranges from 3 to 6 years and 7.5% of all infected are children aged 7 to 14 years. Cases of infection have been confirmed in the laboratory. In the statistics published on the Ropotrebnadzor website, over the past week, 12.6% of cases of influenza were recorded, 87.4% of cases of other respiratory diseases, including: parainfluenza - 13.7%; adenoviruses - 7.9%; RS viruses - 4.1% and others - 61.7%.

According to experts, an increase in the incidence of influenza and SARS in St. Petersburg is expected in February. It is noted that today the number of Petersburgers who have been vaccinated against influenza is 2.7 million people. The northern capital is in the top 10 regions with the highest coverage of flu shots.

What is the epidemic threshold

Epidemic threshold - a special mark after which an epidemic is introduced. Each disease has its own epidemic threshold. When calculating the figures, Rosportrebnadzor uses data for 7 calendar days of each year for 5 years; a separate calculation is made for each week of the year. Epidemic thresholds are the upper limits of indicators of non-epidemic incidence of influenza and SARS. If the rates exceed the disease threshold, the region is quarantined to avoid the spread of the disease, since influenza and most other respiratory diseases are transmitted by droplet air. Calculations on the number of cases of influenza and SARS are made in the spring, when the epidemic is already over. According to the data, every year in St. Petersburg, 10 to 20% of the total population falls ill with influenza or SARS.