Influenza Vaccine

 07 Februari 2019   

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Influenza, the most common infectious diseases, highly contagious airborne disease that occurs in seasonal epidemics, manifests as an acute febrile illness with variable degrees of systemic symptoms, from mild fatigue to respiratory failure and death. Influenza causes significant loss of workdays, human suffering, and mortality.

Transmission of influenza from poultry or pigs to humans predominantly as a result of direct contact with infected animals. The risk high during preparation for consumption; eating properly cooked meat poses no risk. Avian influenza can also be spread through exposure to water and surfaces contaminated by bird droppings

Influenza viruses spread from human to human via aerosols created when an infected individual coughs or sneezes.

Signs and symptoms :

• Fever
• Sore throat
• Myalgias
• Frontal or retro-orbital headache
• Nasal discharge
• Weakness and severe fatigue
• Cough and other respiratory symptoms
• Tachycardia
• Red, watery eyes

The incubation period of influenza is 2 days long on average

Influenza diagnosed on the basis of clinical criteria, further laboratorium tests is viral culture of nasopharyngeal samples or throat samplesP

Prevention

Prevention of influenza is the most effective management strategy. Influenza vaccine is administered each year before flu season. The CDC analyzes the vaccine subtypes each year and makes any necessary changes on the basis of worldwide trends.

The vaccine is trivalent (ie, designed to provide protection against 3 viral subtypes, generally an A-H1, an A-H3, and a B). The first quadrivalent vaccines, which also provide coverage against a second influenza B subtype, were approved in 2012 and were made available for the 2013-2014 flu season.