Influenza

Whenever I tell someone I have the Flu, I am often confused at the responses I get. Most people don't seem to think it is very serious and soon I realised it is because they think I have the Common Cold! Now this needles to say annoys me simply because I would like my illness recognised for what it is, less I be called someone who exagerates symptoms or conditions.

Many years ago I told a boss I could not come to work because I had the flu. Her very cool and aloof response was, "So?" - Imagine that! I was very irritated. Clearly she needs to educate herself on what having the Flu means - along with alot of Malaysians who think like her.

Now the Flu starts out with a nasty sorethroat, causing many sleepless nights as you wake up feeling like your throat is so dry you could have been in the desert for 30 days and dying for a glass of water. As you stumble out of bed, reaching for that anticipated sip, you stumble on your cat (or dog) knock the glass down and end up waking up your very much annoyed parents. You feel like your head is going to split open as you mumble and fumble down the staircase and into the kitchen to pour yourself another glasss only to discover your idiot brother came home drunk and finished all the drinking water stored up in the water jug! Feeling even more ill and almost to the point of dispare, you ask yourself if you should risk tap water, then quickly push the thought aside as you consider the possiblity that Indah Water may not be so Indah afterall. So your last hope, would be to mix Ice water with Hot water to achieve Room Temperature Drinking Water! What a genius you can't help but compliment yourself, only to fall back into being annoyed by the fact that what could have taken 15 seconds and have you back in bed, is now taking close to 15 minutes. As you fume and storm back upstairs, clearly in a state of irritation, you wonder how long it will now take you to fall back to sleep again. The following day the sorethroat continues, with bouts of nausea and fever. The next day sees you sniffling and rubbing your itchy nose which is dripping like a leaky tap. Embarassed, you dare not venture pass your front gate. You grumble at your unlucky state and tell yourself indoors isn't so bad. The weather is horrid. Cold one minute, hot the next. Your skin is damp with sweat, while you try and adjust yourself to the very inconsistent feeling of one-minute-hot-one-minute-ok type of feeling. The following day you wake up and lo and behold a nasty chesty cough has befallen you. You croak and choke and wonder if better days are ahead. The feeling continues. If lucky, it won't last all of five days. If not, it could be weeks! Eeeeek!

This lovely experience we abbreviate and call THE FLU is actually formally known as INFLUENZA. Wow! Sounds so much more dreadful doesn't it. Maybe next time we should call the boss and say, "Boss ah, Influenza la. Very horrible. MC 3 days" and maybe he might have a bit more compassion, OR take 3 days to look up Influenza.

Wikipedia gives us a good definition. (You may copy and print this out and pin it on your offfice bulletin board for those who need to know):-

Influenza, commonly known as ("the") flu, is an infectious disease of birds and mammals caused by RNA viruses of the family Orthomyxoviridae (the influenza viruses). The name influenza comes from the Italian: influenza, meaning "influence", (Latin: influentia). In humans, common symptoms of the disease are chills and fever, sore throat, muscle pains, severe headache, coughing, weakness and general discomfort.[1] In more serious cases, influenza causes pneumonia, which can be fatal, particularly in young children and the elderly. Although it is sometimes confused with the common cold, influenza is a much more severe disease and is caused by a different type of virus.[2] Influenza can produce nausea and vomiting, especially in children,[1] but these symptoms are more characteristic of the unrelated gastroenteritis, which is sometimes called "stomach flu" or "24-hour flu".[3]
Typically, influenza is transmitted from infected mammals through the air by coughs or sneezes, creating aerosols containing the virus, and from infected birds through their droppings. Influenza can also be transmitted by saliva, nasal secretions, feces and blood. Infections also occur through contact with these body fluids or with contaminated surfaces. Flu viruses can remain infectious for about one week at human body temperature, over 30 days at 0 °C (32 °F), and for much longer periods at very low temperatures.[4][5] Most influenza strains can be inactivated easily by disinfectants and detergents.[6][7][8]
Flu spreads around the world in seasonal epidemics, resulting in the deaths of hundreds of thousands annually — millions in pandemic years . Three influenza pandemics occurred in the 20th century and killed tens of millions of people, with each of these pandemics being caused by the appearance of a new strain of the virus in humans. Often, these new strains result from the spread of an existing flu virus to humans from other animal species. A deadly avian strain named H5N1 has posed the greatest risk for a new influenza pandemic since it first killed humans in Asia in the 1990s. Fortunately, this virus has not mutated to a form that spreads easily between people.[9]
Vaccinations against influenza are usually given to people in developed countries with a high risk of contracting the disease[10] and to farmed poultry.[11] The most common human vaccine is the trivalent influenza vaccine that contains purified and inactivated material from three viral strains. Typically, this vaccine includes material from two influenza A virus subtypes and one influenza B virus strain.[12] A vaccine formulated for one year may be ineffective in the following year, since the influenza virus changes rapidly over time, and different strains become dominant. Antiviral drugs can be used to treat influenza, with neuraminidase inhibitors being particularly effective.

So the next time you choose to overight the Flu and think it is the Common Cold think again. For those of you who have been having a Cold and calling it the Flu, can you please call it what it really is, less you spoil the pool of compassion for the rest of us who actually have the Flu. Otherwise, we might have to print the above out and paste it on your head!