Influenza, the flu, is a common viral infection which spreads very easily. Many people use the term “the flu” to describe anything from a stomach bug to a bout of food poisoning, but these are not the flu. Influenza is a respiratory illness caused by a virus.
Click the sections below to expand and learn more about how to prevent and treat the flu.
There are several types of influenza viruses, and just like we have seen with COVID-19, they can change and mutate over time. If you catch the flu one year, you can catch it again the next year – because it may be a different virus that is circulating, or the virus has changed enough that your body doesn’t recognize it and your antibodies don’t work against this new or mutated version.
There are three types of influenza viruses that affect humans:
Influenza A types, such as H1N1, are named by their proteins, hemagglutinin (“H”) and neuraminidase (“N”). There are 16 H proteins and 11 N proteins in all. The virus name depends on which hemagglutinin and neuraminidase are present in the virus. You can have any combination, such as H6N2 or H15N9.
Seasonal influenza, caused by both type A and B, is the most commonly known flu type. The severity of illness and the number of deaths caused by the flu varies quite a bit from year to year, depending on how strong the virus is. For example, an estimated 34,200 people in the U.S. died during the 2018/19 flu season, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The year before, there were 61,000 flu-related deaths. A combination of factors lead to the number of deaths, including how well the virus is transmitted, how many people are vaccinated, and how effective the vaccine is for that year’s main flu strain.
A bout with influenza can make you feel really sick – fatigued and sore. For most people, you should begin to recover after a week or two, although it could take several weeks before you are back to feeling like yourself again. However, the flu can cause severe complications and even death for some people. Complications can range from secondary bacterial infections (infections that occur as a result of the flu) to dehydration, to sepsis, which can be fatal.
If you think you have the flu, you should check with your doctor or nurse practitioner to see if you should be treated with antiviral medications. This should be done as soon as possible. To be effective, the drug you are prescribed must be taken within 48 hours after the symptoms begin.
If you are not at high risk of developing complications or you are outside the window for an antiviral medication, your doctor or nurse practitioner may tell you to manage your flu symptoms at home but to go to the emergency room if you seem to get worse or develop new symptoms.
At-home care for flu symptoms means:
Any kind of infection, including the flu, can cause sepsis, the body’s life-threatening response to infection. Like strokes or heart attacks, sepsis is a medical emergency that requires rapid diagnosis and treatment. If left untreated, sepsis can progress to severe sepsis and septic shock. Survivors may be left with life-changing effects, such as amputations or organ damage. Sepsis also kills. More than 350,000 adults in the U.S. die from sepsis every year. That’s one person every 90 seconds.
For this reason, it’s essential to watch for the most common sepsis signs. The memory aid Sepsis: It’s About TIME™ helps:
Anyone who has the flu and develops the following signs should seek medical help as soon as possible, regardless of age or usual state of health:
Most importantly, get your annual flu vaccination. Getting a vaccination is your best protection. Vaccines help reduce your risk of catching the virus – up to 60% some years. If you can’t get the vaccine for health reasons, encourage your family members, friends, and coworkers to be vaccinated. If they reduce their risk of getting the flu, your risk of catching it becomes lower.
Viruses want to stay alive. To do this, they adapt to their surroundings, sometimes finding ways to avoid the vaccines we develop. This happens with both the flu and COVID-19 viruses. Every year, a new influenza vaccine is developed based on information about the new influenza strain circling the globe. Scientists study which flu strains affect people and base each year’s vaccine on these strains.
People who are vaccinated but still contract the flu usually have fewer or less severe symptoms than those who are unvaccinated. They also have a lower risk of developing complications, like sepsis. According to the CDC, vaccinated adults have a significantly lower risk of being admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU), spend fewer days in the hospital if they do become too ill to stay at home, and have a lower risk of death.
Although it’s not possible to guarantee 100% protection, influenza can often be prevented with a few simple precautions:
Influenza and COVID-19 are two separate viruses, but they both affect the respiratory system. It is easy to confuse the two because their initial symptoms are similar:
Children with the flu may have diarrhea, but both children and adults can get it with COVID-19. One symptom that only occurs with COVID-19 is the loss of taste and/or smell.
Testing is necessary because early treatment of both viruses can lessen the symptoms’ severity. Without testing, it’s not possible to know which virus you have.
Experts encourage people to get their seasonal flu vaccine to avoid a so-called “twindemic.” They are concerned that influenza cases and COVID-19 cases can peak at the same time during the traditional flu season. This is a particular worry for people who are at higher risk of catching either virus, such as the elderly and very young children, as well as people who have chronic illnesses or who are immunocompromised. However, it is also a concern for people who are healthy and have no medical problems.
The fears are two-fold. If you get the flu, your immunity drops as your body fights the infection. This makes you more vulnerable to catching COVID-19. It’s also possible to have both viruses at the same time. People who contract the viruses together are at higher risk of getting sicker.
Visit the CDC website for the most up-to-date COVID-19 vaccination schedule, which may vary depending on your age or personal risk. The CDC also recommends that everyone 6 months and older receive their flu vaccine by the end of October or as soon as possible every year.
Funding for this campaign was provided by an unrestricted educational grant from CSL Seqirus.
On January 20th of 2020 our 5-year-old son Lochlin passed away from flu – sepsis. (Sepsis and Influenza) Saturday he was tired with a low grade fever and some minor body aches. By Sunday he was feeling much better and was up playing with his brothers, until Sunday night he took a turn for the worst. We took him to an urgent care where he was diagnosed with influenza type A and mild dehydration. Monday afternoon January 20th, 2020 he passed away from flu – sepsis. Since then it has become our mission to spread the love Lochlin had for ... Read Full Story
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On Oct 13th 2019, my 13 year old son, Josh became very ill; only complaining of a sore throat and fever the day prior. Josh went unresponsive in our home, an ambulance came and took him to the closest hospital where the doctor immediately intubated him and sent him on a helicopter to Riley Hospital for Children. The outlook seemed to be grim. Josh’s diagnoses was influenza b, necrotizing staph pneumonia, viral myocarditis, and septic shock. (Sepsis and Influenza, Sepsis and Pneumonia, Sepsis and Viral Infections, Sepsis and Septic Shock) Our boy wasn’t expected to live. The night he arrived ... Read Full Story
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Hello, I am a 43 year old woman, born in Mexico, but live in Panama. Six years ago, I had flu-like symptoms. I went to the doctor and was sent to the emergency room, only to be discharged six hours later. I went home, and my husband, who arrived a few hours later, saw me unconscious in bed. He took me back to the hospital where I was taken directly to the ICU, put on a respirator, and put into an induced coma. I had developed severe pneumonia, and my organs started to fail. (Sepsis and Pneumonia) I was on ... Read Full Story
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On the 1st of March, 2019, I was at work and became aware of a tickle in my throat, and thought that I was starting to come down with a cold. As the days went on, my cold got worse. Fever and flu-like symptoms started, and I made the massive error in thinking that if I rested in bed, I would give myself time to get rid of it naturally. Unfortunately, I had contracted a mutated version of the swine flu, but I wasn’t aware of this at the time. (Sepsis and Influenza) My condition worsened and the cough turned ... Read Full Story
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My daughter Betty Wattenbarger died from flu complicated by sepsis and pneumonia. (Sepsis and Influenza, Sepsis and Pneumonia) She was 7. We were at a pediatric urgent care the day before her death and the APN on staff diagnosed her with flu and said her lungs were clear. The next morning she died. She was bleeding internally from sepsis and pneumonia. The nurse missed her having nearly 1/3 of a cup of fluid in her left lung. The nurse did not do a PCT test l, X-ray or any other diagnostic. We know now after her death that she was ... Read Full Story
Submit Your StoryView More StoriesInfluenza, the flu, is a common, very infectious viral infection. Over the years, many people have used the term “the flu” to describe anything from a stomach bug to a bout of food poisoning, but influenza is a respiratory illness and doesn’t have anything to do with the gastrointestinal system – the system that runs from your mouth to your rectum.
