To relieve symptoms, your doctor may recommend rest and drink plenty of fluids (at least eight glasses per day). When fever and body aches, you can take nonprescription pain relievers. If zanamivir (Relenza) or oseltamivir (Tamiflu) are taken within 48 hours of the onset of symptoms, may accelerate recovery in about a day.

Since the flu is a viral infection, antibiotics are ineffective. Children suspected of having flu and high fever should never take aspirin to treat fever. This can cause the disease called Reye syndrome. Instead, you should use acetaminophen (Tylenol).

When To Call a Professional

If you have a chronic disease and sudden onset of symptoms of the flu, you should call your doctor because you might be very beneficial to your health begin taking antiviral medications within 48 hours. You should also tell your doctor if you develop flu-like symptoms along with chest pain, ear pain, shortness of breath, fever does not go away or coughing up blood or thick mucus and smelly.

Forecast

Although most people recover from influenza, some develop complications, including fatal conditions such as pneumonia. About 20,000 Americans die each year from complications of influenza and thousands more need to be hospitalized before recovering.

* Vaccination is recommended for all people get vaccinated each year, including school children who want to reduce the risk of getting flu or pass it on to others. Vaccination is recommended in particular:
- all children and adolescents between 6 months and 18 years of age, especially those with long-term therapy with aspirin and therefore could be at risk of developing Reye syndrome after infection with the flu
- all people over age 50 – pregnant or who will be pregnant during flu season
- adults and children who have chronic pulmonary (including asthma), heart (except hypertension), kidney, liver, blood or metabolic disorders (including diabetes mellitus)
- adults and children with suppressed immune systems (due to immunosuppressive medications or human immunodeficiency virus)
- adults and children with any condition (eg, cognitive dysfunction, spinal cord injuries, seizure disorders or other neuromuscular disorders) that can compromise lung function or the handling of respiratory secretions or that can increase the risk of these aspiring secretions
- persons residing in nursing homes and other care for the chronically ill
- health or personal
- adults and children in direct contact with children under 5 years (especially children younger than 6 months) and adults over 50 years, and
- adults or children or direct contact with people with medical conditions that put these healthy people at high risk for serious complications from the flu

The classic influenza vaccine is 70 to 90% effective in helping healthy people younger than 65 years to prevent disease or reduce its severity. For maximum effectiveness, doctors recommend vaccination in October or November because it is the start of flu season.

* Healthy people between 2 and 49 have no alternative to the flu shot. FluMist is an intranasal vaccine administered by nasal spray and that seems to offer similar protection to that of the vaccine. Contains a virus instead of virus off dead than in the vaccine, but not FluMist more effective than traditional flu vaccine. Since FluMist is so new, people at high risk of flu (persons aged 49 years and those with chronic health conditions) should receive the influenza vaccine.
* Good hygiene: the virus usually is transmitted through the air by coughing, also spread by direct contagion, by shaking hands or kissing someone else. Therefore, good hygiene, like covering their mouths with their hands sneezing and frequent hand washing can help avoid getting or transmitting it to others.
* Antiviral drugs: zanamivir (Relenza) and oseltamivir (Tamiflu) can reduce the chances of getting influenza by 70 to 90% if these are taken before an outbreak. Zanamivir is a spray that is inhaled through the mouth. The other drugs are compressed.

The older drugs used to help prevent influenza, amantadine and rimantadine have lost their effectiveness. However, zanamivir and oseltamivir are active against most strains of influenza A and B.

Zanamivir is inhaled from a nebulizer. It is approved for prevention in people 5 years and older and for treatment in people 7 years and older. Side effects may include nausea and vomiting, and wheezing, especially in people with asthma or chronic lung disease.

Oseltamivir is available in tablets. It is approved for the prevention and treatment in patients over one year. Side effects may include nausea and vomiting.

Your doctor will assess your symptoms to determine if the flu or a cold. If you sneeze or have nasal congestion, you might have a cold. It is very likely that the flu causes fever, cough, chills and muscle aches, and is a seasonal virus but colds. Influenza tends to occur in the winter months, whereas colds occur throughout the year.

Most often, doctors assume that the diagnosis is influenza if you have symptoms during the winter. If your symptoms or medical test results suggest another condition rather than a flu, your doctor may order blood tests and a sample of mucus from your nose and throat to send these samples to the lab and make special examinations influenza. Your doctor may order a chest x-ray if you suspect the virus caused a lung infection (pneumonia) or may lead to secondary bacterial infection.

Duration

Symptoms of the flu can last only 24 hours a week or more. A typical case of flu lasts four to five days and always have symptoms, you can spread the infection to others.

* chills
* Moderate to high fever (101 to 103 degrees Fahrenheit) (38.3 to 39.5 degrees Celsius).
* Sore throat
* Runny nose
* Muscle aches * Headaches
* fatigue
* cough
* diarrhea
* dizziness

It can also cause dangerous complications. One of the most feared complications, the “superinfection” bacteria occurs when the flu virus attacks the lungs and weakens its defenses, it makes the bacteria that live in the nose and throat are directed to the lungs and cause bacterial pneumonia. People over 50 years and those with certain chronic diseases or suppressed immune systems are especially vulnerable to complications.

If compared with other viruses, influenza virus can attack a large number of people in a relatively short time. Each year about 25 million people seek medical attention for symptoms of influenza during the influenza season. In the United States, the Asian flu between 1957 and 1958 caused 70,000 deaths and influenza in Hong Kong between 1968 and 1969 killed 34,000 people. During the worst influenza pandemic in history, Spanish, died between 20 to 40 million people worldwide in less than a year.

The most common types of influenza virus are A and B. Influenza A is usually responsible for epidemics during the year. Most people get several colds throughout their lives. As with other types of infections such as mumps, contagious disease once protects the individual against a second infection because the body’s immune system “remembers” the recurring virus (returning), he attacks immediately and rapidly eliminated. In the case of influenza, the virus usually had a mutation (change) from the first infection and that change is enough to fool the immune system. So instead of attacking the virus quickly as you would with a previously detected virus and the immune system responds slowly. By the time the immune system responds at its peak, millions of body cells and were infected with the virus.

Food to eat to combat bird No. 1) Ginger
Stomach pain? Nausea? Diarrhea? Ginger is a home remedy often used to relieve these symptoms. Some studies suggest that ginger may help fight against inflammation. Try adding freshly grated ginger powder or other food or drink soda ginger (such as Canada Dry, adding to your glass a few pieces of ginger if you want to enhance the taste of ginger) .

Food to eat to combat bird No. 2) Hot tea
Green tea and black tea ofrrent antioxidants that help fight against diseases. And breathe the vapor of tea can help relieve congestion. Add one teaspoon of honey and a little lemon juice to relieve sore throat. If the caffeine in tea bothers you, choose the versions of decaffeinated tea or herbal tea.

Food to eat to combat avian No. 3) Banana
Sliced, crushed or whole banana treats stomach gently. The banana is the food that will solve your problems if you have symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, diarrhea. Bananas with rice, applesauce and toast foods are recommended by doctors to recover from a stomach flu (the another name for gastroenteritis or gastroenteritis) and to be ready for new foods solid.

Spain’s ambassador in Mexico, Carmelo Angulo, has delivered Saturday to the Mexican Foreign Minister Patricia Espinosa, the first shipment of medical supplies to combat influenza, which has infected at least 427 people.

Espinosa has said the final destination of the cargo are marginal areas of the State of Mexico, which surrounds the capital.

This first shipment, as explained Angulo, includes 63,000 protective masks, 6,000 glasses and 100 packages of self-care for the Red Cross (valve masks, surgical masks, gloves, garbage bags, disposable overalls and chemical goggles).

The shipment is valued at 100,000 euros and is part of the aid package valued at one million euros that the president of the Spanish Government, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, has pledged to deliver to Mexico.

Moreover, Spain has activated the agreement it has with the Pan American Health Organization that involves travel to Mexico to finance the international experts who help in the diagnosis and containment of the disease, valued at 80,000 euros.

Angulo also wanted to dramatize the situation in the American country, saying: “Spain is totally contrary to suspend flights to and from Mexico.” He has also praised the steps taken by the Mexican authorities.

Despite this, Angulo has explained that the present number of Spanish tourists in Mexico, which for weeks to reach 4,000, was reduced in the next few days to a few hundred.