Cold Vs Flu Season Essay

Before we know it the flu season will be here. Which mean a lot of runny noses and severe coughs, germs spreading from person to person. To help keep the spread of the flu down we need to practice:

Over 3 million US cases have occurred per year. The flu is a viral infection that can be deadly if not treated. The flu is extremely contagious, it can spread about six feet away from another person. It may be spread by coughing or sneezing, skin-to-skin contact, saliva, or touching a contaminated surface. Children, elderly people, pregnant women, and people who have chronic disease are at higher risk of becoming ill with this virus. The areas mainly affected are lungs, nose, and chest. Symptoms include fever, chills, sore throat, muscle fatigue, cough, runny nose, and headaches. Some symptoms may appear abruptly. A recommended treatment may primarily deal with the patient getting some rest. Other treatment includes drinking plenty of water; throat Lozenge would be advised for throat pain, decongestant such as Pseudoephedrine for stuffy nose, Dextromethorphan for cough, anti-inflammatory drugs like Ibuprofen for mild pain, and antiviral drug like Zanamivir to help treat type B influenza. The best way to be protected is vaccination. The vaccine is offered from September to mid-November. Getting vaccinated before the flu season helps the body develops a strong immunity from the virus. It is safe for a Pregnant woman to receive vaccination. Annual vaccination is recommended. Do not get

“Now is the time for everyone to get their flu shot while it is early in the season,” said Zachary Thompson, DCHHS director. “Protect yourself and your family by being vaccinated against the virus before flu season spikes.”

According to Papatya Tankut—RPh Vice President of Pharmacy Affairs at CVS health—“Getting a flu shot is the most effective way to protect yourself and your family from getting the flu” (A). Most people underestimate the importance of the flu shot even though it is the best thing someone can do to stay healthy. It allows for people's body to identify influenza so it knows how to fight back incase it has to face the flu. With this, it is also never too late for someone to receive the flu vaccine. The CCD recommends to receive the influenza vaccine as soon as it is released for flu season; however, it is still beneficial to get the vaccine as long as the disease is circulating (C). Throughout the flu season, there are many opportunities to receive the flu and become sick. Even getting the influenza vaccine during the second half of flu season helps protect your body from that point until flu season ends. By families receiving the flu shot at the beginning of the season or towards the middle or end, the influenza vaccine helps people become more immune to the

As we head into the fall, that also means that we're headed for cold and flu season. Being sick is terrible and disruptive to both your personal and work life and catching an illness could mean it ransacking your entire family.

One of the more beautiful things about nature is that it is constantly changing and hold so many mysteries that we don’t understand. Each day brings new beauties and scenes that weren’t there yesterday. Having grown up on the east coast might have caused me to have a greater appreciation for all of the seasons, but one of my favorite things about season is being able to witness the changing over form one to the next. How each plant knows that the change is coming and they all magically start to prepare themselves for the new setting they’re going to create. The romantics capture the mysteries of nature in some of the most beautiful poetry. They delve deep into the possible meanings of what nature could be attempting to tell us or simple what they find beautiful about what they see in nature. One piece that stuck with me this quarter was The Snow Storm by Ralph Waldo Emerson. Winter has always been one of my favorite season since I was a little girl and have always anxiously awaited that first snow fall, dreaming of a white Christmas that year. Ralph Waldo Emerson’s The Snow Storm brought back nostalgic memories of snow filled days in my childhood and made me appreciate having actually experienced snow in real life and the beauty

The first, foremost, and easiest way to start prevention is, having the flu shot be mandatory for everyone. Flu shots are given out at health departments, local pharmacies, and many other local places. This makes it easily accessible for the community. The places are also open different hours to help accommodate as well. A lot of workplaces offer to pay for their employees to get their shot as well. They want their employees to be healthy and do not want them to miss work. Another most important way to prevent the spread of germs is through proper hand hygiene and stopping the spread of germs. It is important to wash your hands frequently and keep your hands away from your face. Health care workers live by rules and regulations on proper standard precautions. Standard precautions are the basic level of infection control that is used as a preventative way to help control the risk of bloodborne and other pathogens being transmitted to other people. Every standard precaution is applied to every patient. Health care workers can see anyone from a something as small as a cut or to as major as motor vehicle accident. Each time they see a new patient, they wash their hands and change gloves. Everything needed to protect themselves from germs, pathogens and anything harmful is at their

Each new strain of the virus must be identified and that is usually done around February for the appropriate development and dispersal of a new vaccine for later that year. They do this by collecting strains of the flu virus from about 100 centers worldwide and then they analyze them in a laboratory. They take this information and use it to decide on the arrangement of the vaccines that are being offered for the following flu season. Also, there are two types of vaccines one that is injected and another that is a nasal-spray vaccine both that are made with live, attenuated virus. Flu vaccines specifically are recommended each year as this article mentions simply because “New flu vaccines are released every year to keep up with rapidly adapting flu viruses” (Mayo). This makes since because flu viruses change so quickly therefore last year's vaccine may not protect someone from the viruses of the upcoming years. Also after vaccination, one’s immune system does produce antibodies that will protect them from the vaccine viruses. Overall the fact that antibody levels start to decrease over time that makes it another reason to get a flu shot every

Influenza (the flu) "is a contagious respiratory illness caused by influenza viruses" (Seasonal flu basics, 2011, CDC). For some individuals, the symptoms of influenza are no worse than the common cold. However, for other individuals, particularly the elderly, the very young, and persons with compromised immune systems, influenza can be deadly. Flu prevention is best achieved through seasonal vaccination. Because the flu strain can change seasonally, or even within a season due to antigenic drift, yearly vaccination is essential for as many people as possible within a given population who can tolerate the vaccine (Seasonal flu basics, 2011, CDC)..

Damascus, Maryland usually gets 2 days of snow if not less per year. Which is why it’s essential for every kid living in Montgomery County to make the best of their snow day when it actually comes. Snow days are very enjoyable for every kid, but it is sometimes difficult to find what you’re going to do.

Among the easiest ways to protect yourself from influenza every year is to get a flu vaccine regularly. So many programs exist to make it convenient and inexpensive, and more come out every year, and the consequences can be life-threatening.

A normal day can turn into a day filled with icy cold snow and warm hot chocolate just by one call. One call that gives everyone around the school district a sigh of relief that they can curl up back in their comfy beds and sleep for an extra two or more hours. Some may wonder how one call makes everyone’s day so much better: it is because it is a call from the school saying there is no school today due to icy conditions. Upon hearing this one can be sure that their phone will be buzzing with ones friends asking what they are doing today, or maybe one snoozes through all the texts and continues to curl up in one’s warm blankets, with dogs heating ones feet. No matter what one chooses to do there always seems to be a trend as one gets older. This trend is that in the grades kindergarten through fifth grade, children love snow days to stay outside and play; then in grades sixth through ninth, children love snow days to stay inside and watch movies; finally children tenth through twelfth grade, children love snow days to again go outside and play.

People who wait to get the shot have a higher risk of catching the disease because your body is exposes. Another misconception people have is they think you only need to get vaccinated once or once a year. This is wrong because a shot of flu vaccine can give your body immunity for many months, and even as long as a year, but it is not a forever cure. Reason why the flu is spread more during colder weather is because people tend to stay more indoors where they interact with others in a close environment. The time you take to get vaccinated makes your body to be at higher risk of catching the

Influenza, normally called “the flu”, the influenza virus causes an infection in the respiration tract. Even though the influenza virus can sometimes be compared with the common cold. It also can cause a more severe illness or death. During this past century, pandemics took place in 1918, 1957, and 1968, in all of these cases there where unfortunately many deaths. The “Spanish flu” in 1918, killed approximately half a million people in the United States alone. It killed around 20 million worldwide. The “Asian flu” in 1957, in the United States their 70,000 people died. In 1968 the “Hong-Kong flu” There where 34,000 deaths in the United

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