Don’t push the flu. Don’t delay these symptoms!

Influenza is called "influenza" in Chinese. Because of the word "cold" in it, many people think that it is a CommonCold, and they take it lightly, but in fact, getting the flu may cause serious consequences and even be life-threatening.

According to WHO estimates, influenza can cause 3 million to 5 million severe cases and 290,000 to 650,000 respiratory disease-related deaths worldwide every year. A global research data estimated the mortality of 33 countries from 1999 to 2015, and estimated the average annual influenza-related mortality as follows:

Clinically, people younger than 5 years old, older than or equal to 65 years old (there are also guidelines to limit them to more than 50 years old), pregnant women, people with chronic basic diseases within 2 weeks after delivery are listed as high-risk groups for complications. The risk of influenza complications in healthy young people is low, but the risk cannot be ignored.

Pneumonia is the most common complication of influenza, and its typical manifestations are cough with dyspnea, rapid breathing (> 24 beats/min), hypoxia and fever (> 3 days). Types of pneumonia include:

Primary influenza virus pneumonia: high fever persists 3 ~ 5 days after the onset of influenza, and there are the above pneumonia manifestations. It is usually very serious, and the progress may be rapid. Without active intervention, it will be life-threatening, especially for people with lung or cardiovascular diseases.

Secondary bacterial pneumonia: After the flu symptoms have improved (including fever), fever and expectoration occur again. It usually occurs a few days after the flu (7 ~ 14 days), and it is the most common, accounting for about 1/3 of severe flu. The secondary staphylococcus aureus pneumonia is often critical.

Bacterial and viral mixed infectious pneumonia: referring to the above two, it can be manifested as gradual aggravation of symptoms, or it can be manifested as aggravation after a short improvement.

In addition to pneumonia, influenza and these complications should also be careful:

Cardiac complications: myocardial ischemia, myocardial infarction and heart failure, accounting for about 12% of adult influenza, but influenza myocarditis and pericarditis are rare.

Complications of central nervous system: Seizures are more common in children and epileptic patients, and influenza-related encephalopathy is more common in children. Influenza causes adult encephalitis, cerebrovascular accident, acute disseminated encephalomyelitis and Guillain-Barre syndrome, which is not common in general.

Musculoskeletal complications: severe myositis and rhabdomyolysis (extreme myalgia, weakness and dark urine color) are more common in children. Although myalgia is a prominent feature of influenza, real myositis is not common.

Toxic shock: During the outbreak of influenza A and B in recent years, toxic shock-like syndrome appeared in previously healthy children and adults, mostly related to secondary infection.

Co-infection: including pneumonia (other viruses, bacteria and fungi), bacteremia, meningitis and aspergillosis. For influenza patients who have a fever for more than 3 ~ 5 days, have a fever again after the fever has gone down, or the symptoms continue to worsen after 3 ~ 5 days, they need to be vigilant.

Common cold symptoms

The typical common cold is usually characterized by runny nose and obvious nasal congestion. Other common symptoms include dry throat, itching or pain, cough and discomfort. Adult colds rarely have fever or low fever. Cough is more common, often appearing after symptoms of nasal congestion and runny nose; Nasal secretions may be thin or purulent (not necessarily bacterial infection).

flu symptoms

The biggest difference between flu and common cold lies in its severity. Different people have different symptoms after being infected with the flu. Mild symptoms are similar to colds, and severe ones will have the complications mentioned above.

Taking the flu lightly may lead high-risk groups to ignore vaccination or timely use of antiviral drugs, which may lead to serious and irreversible consequences. For example, due to neglect of vaccination, influenza causes serious comprehensive diseases, resulting in the death of children; For the elderly, this problem may be more hidden, but in clinic, we can often see that a seemingly ordinary cold may lead to a sharp decline in the physical condition of the elderly, or even inability to return to the sky.

It is sometimes not very accurate to distinguish flu from cold from symptoms. The quickest and most accurate method is pathogen detection. In clinic, if it is necessary to identify what kind of virus causes a cold, the methods can include virus culture, antigen detection and PCR. However, if there is no way to detect it in time, with the development of the disease, there may still be some differences in symptoms between the two:

Worldwide, influenza causes a large number of hospitalizations and deaths every year, which is a serious public health problem. Even for healthy adults, severe pain may occur after influenza infection, and the resulting temporary labor loss or quality of life decline is even more intense.

A self-judgment

For young people (15-65 years old) who are usually healthy, when they have flu cases in their own communities, schools, offices, etc., and suddenly have symptoms of fever, cough, myalgia or weakness, they can be clinically suspected of flu.

At this time, no flu test is needed to confirm the diagnosis. Home testing of self-purchased antigens is also an option, but due to the influence of sampling technology, the positive accuracy may not reach the expected 50% ~ 70%. When it is necessary to make a definite diagnosis, multiple sampling within 1 ~ 2 days will help to improve the positive accuracy.

With uncomplicated influenza, fever and respiratory symptoms of adults usually last for about 3 days, and then most of them will improve. It may take 10 ~ 14 days to fully recover (the recovery time is longer for the elderly and immunocompromised), and fatigue symptoms of some patients will last for several weeks.

Influenza with complications, or dehydration (thirst, fatigue, low urine yellow), impaired cardiopulmonary function, and mental state change are usually severe and should be hospitalized.

B When the flu is suspected or confirmed, it meets any of the following conditions and needs active antiviral treatment:

High-risk group of complications: antiviral treatment is recommended for influenza in high-risk groups, regardless of the severity of symptoms and whether the course of disease exceeds 2 days.

Contacts of high-risk groups: non-high-risk groups have influenza, but they will come into contact with high-risk groups (such as children and the elderly at home). No matter the severity of symptoms and whether the course of disease exceeds 2 days, antiviral treatment is also recommended.

Persistent or severe influenza: Influenza-like symptoms continue to progress for more than 3 days, or when influenza complications or severe influenza occur. It is recommended to follow the doctor’s advice and choose the corresponding antiviral drugs for timely treatment when the disease is severe or the course of disease exceeds 2 days.

C does not belong to the above three situations. Before taking medicine, weigh the pros and cons: the course of disease is within 48 hours, and you can decide whether to give antiviral treatment according to your own needs in life, work or study, because mild influenza can heal itself, and drugs can shorten the course of disease, but at the same time increase the risk of drug resistance.

If the course of the disease has been more than 48 hours and does not meet the above three requirements, antiviral treatment is not recommended.

Influenza can be very harmful, which can easily lead to serious complications, especially fatal to high-risk groups. Therefore, we must pay attention to influenza vaccination!

September and October are usually good times to get the flu vaccine every year, but even if you don’t get the vaccine before the end of October, you can get it throughout the flu season. Moreover, because the influenza virus is prone to mutation, the influenza epidemic strain may change every year, so the influenza vaccine should be vaccinated every year!