About Swine Flu - Influenza A (H1N1)


Source: CDC Influenza Laboratory-Newly identified H1N1 influenza virus.

How Influenza (flu) is spread among us

The flu, we have all heard of it and we have all had it at some point and we all hated it equally. The flu sucks, it makes you nauseous and runny and achy and miserable. The flu has been around since the beginning of time some say but over the years it has changed. New and different strains of the flu are popping up all over the world all of the time and some of them are meaner and scarier than ever before.

The flu is a virus not a bacteria and to understand how the flu spread and grows you need to understand what it does once it is in a body. The flu is a little body of RNA that is protected by a coat of protein. What it does is weasel its way into other healthy cells in order to use that cells reproductive abilities. Without a host cell a virus cannot reproduce at all, it would simply die.

Once the flu has gotten into your body and taken over some of your healthy cells it can go to town and make more virus cells which then take over more healthy cells and around and around it goes until you are very ill indeed.

Now that you know how the flu reproduces you need to know how you get it in the first place. The flu can be gotten in any number of ways but is most commonly inhaled. If you are anywhere near someone who has it and they cough or sneeze you could be in big trouble flu-wise. Just breathing near a sick person can get you the flu but sneezes and coughs are powerful things that can send the flu virus shooting out at unbelievable speeds to unbelievable distances.

Once you breathe in the flu virus it will attach itself inside of you. This could be in your nose or your throat or your lungs and from there it will reproduce as much as it can before your body finally fends it off.

Coughs and sneezes are not the only way to get the flu though, you can also get it from touching things that those infected with the flu have touched. Telephones and doorknobs are great places for the flu to hang out waiting for some innocent like you to come along and pick it up. This is why it is so important for you to keep your hands clean at all times in order to keep the flu virus out of you.

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