Influenza is an aggressive viral infection that spreads very quickly to internal organs. In a healthy man yesterday, suddenly feeling worse, there is a sore throat and runny nose. The head hurts, there is a fever and a sweating, an ache in muscles and bones, delicacy. The patient has watery eyes, he often does not tolerate bright light, develops severe intoxication - a characteristic difference between the flu and the common cold. With severe influenza, the temperature rises to 40-40.5 ° C, convulsions, hallucinations, and vomiting may occur.
The lower the immunity of a person, the more active the virus. Most are at risk of catching the flu and getting imminent complications, weakened and elderly people, small children. The influenza can affect vegetative and central nervous systems, bronchi, lungs, adnexal sinuses, eustachian tubes (tubes leading from the nasal cavity to the middle ear), cardiovascular system. Often the flu is complicated by bronchitis, pneumonia, tracheitis, sinusitis, otitis, meningitis. There are circulatory disorders, nervous disorders. The most life-threatening complication of influenza is the spread of infection to the lungs of the alveoli. Flu epidemics occur every year in the cold season, usually up to 15% of the world's population. In Ukraine, from 7.3 to 21.2 million cases of influenza and other acute respiratory viral infections are registered annually.
It would seem that the flu is invincible!
Weak people, children and the elderly are recommended to use a live attenuated vaccine. A week before vaccination, you need to prepare your body: to take immunomodulators (for example, preparations of echinacea). Vaccination should be carried out at least 2-3 weeks before the usual timing of an epidemic outbreak of influenza, in November and early December. In addition to vaccination, help prevent flu and other preventive measures. Elderly people are recommended phyto- and homeopathic remedies. Protective masks can be bought in any pharmacy and it is better to change them often. During the flu epidemic, it is advisable to wear a mask in transport or an institution, especially in a polyclinic.
What to do if the flu still caught you?
To avoid complications, if you suspect a flu, it is important to call a doctor at home and limit your contacts to your home. If possible, the patient should be allocated a separate room, where you should regularly hold a wet cleaning and constantly air it. The effect is brought about by treating the room with bactericidal lamps or aromatic essential oils. The patient should drink a lot and drink often. As a rule, patients have a poor appetite, so feed them better little by little, fractional - 6-7 times a day. It should be easily digestible and protein-rich dishes. After each meal, the mouth should be rinsed with a solution of soda (a quarter of 1 teaspoon per glass of water). As for medicines, they should be taken only as prescribed by the doctor, especially antibiotics.
Complex should be the treatment of influenza, antiviral drugs must be applied necessarily. Various specific antiviral drugs "Remantadin" (suppresses the reproduction of viruses of influenza A), "Arbidol" (active against influenza A and B viruses, has an immunomodulating effect), Tamiflu (acts on influenza A and B viruses) and leaf extract sea-buckthorn krushevidnoy "Giporamin" (also suppresses viruses of influenza A and B). For the prevention and treatment of influenza, interferon preparations are important, providing antiviral and immunomodulating effects. The assortment of drugs from influenza is so wide today that the right choice of them requires obligatory advice from a doctor. Moreover, a person may not even have the flu, but a very similar virus infection, against which there is enough ordinary home treatment - inhalations with essential oils, gargling with infusion of herbs, rinsing the nose with salt water.