flu questions: maybe some of the medical people here can help me

[MindPilot]

I'm curious about how so much is known about flu outbreaks and what flu actually is other than a collection of symptoms? I know it's a virus, but how do they track it down?

First, how do the health officials even know? I mean who goes to a doctor for the flu? It's not like they can do anything for you that some tylenol and robotusin can't. "Flu" is that catch-all name they give your symptoms when they can't figure out what's really wrong; does the flu show up in a blood test or anything?

I have the same question about outbreaks of food poisoning. How, of all the dozens of different things one might eat in a day, how do they figure out the e-coli was on the lettuce?

[FedUpWithIt All]

1. Throat swabs and cultures can be definitive with some strains of the flu.

People do use the term to describe a variety of general maladies. But a true flu is a virus. Human strains are constantly evolving...ie. the variable seasonal flu strains. Each time a person catches a flu, the potential for a change in the virus occurs. By the time a new flu season comes around the previous years virus is barely recognizable.

Many different animals also have specific strains of the virus. Some of them are contractible by other species. Typically this happens when two species are similar.

Let's say a pig is infected with a swine strain and then rolls in some droppings from a bird with an avian strain. The two viruses can "merge". Suppose a human with a little bug then cleans out that pig's cage. Again, potential for new flu.

Does this answer some questions?

[MindPilot]

2. Yes, thank you. n/t

[sam sarrha]

3. with this stuff getting medical aid could be life or death.. the deaths in Mexico could just be

people with TB.. its endemic in the "Have Not" Population there.. and they probably not allowed in a hospital anyway.. "NO PEASANTS ALLOWED" When the "Have It Alls" enjoy a standard of living second only to FRANCE.!! largely due to exporting their poverty to the United States and having them send money home.. it is a state sponsored project.. they advertise and assist getting here a Mexican friend told me in El Passo. minimum wage in Mexico is about $4.50 a day.. and not counting bribes to get the work.

[madrchsod]

6. i`m thinking the same thing

tb is a problem in southern california among the "illegal" population. the medical community are concerned the carriers will not seek treatment thus making an outbreak very serous.

[sam sarrha]

9. it's because the most popular ca ugh medicine in mexico has the antibiotic used against TB in it, th...

TB bug gets immune to it .. no gov control in mexico over anything making some psychopath money

[madrchsod]

4. all hog confinements/pig farms have signs

"entry forbidden" and those who may enter must cover their shoes. hogs and fowls should never be raised close to each other.

[sam sarrha]

5. DNA tests could even tell if this was related to the human/Bird flu virus released down the drain in

austria recently from a research facility.

[Avalux]

7. Sometimes it takes awhile to sort it all out.

People WILL go to the doctor for the flu if their symptoms are bad enough. We have now cycled out of human flu season, so the number of people presenting with "flu-like" symptoms in a short period of time in Mexico caused immediate alarm.

It's like detective work - evidence and information is collected and distributed; leads are followed. They diagnose this swine flu with a respiratory swab and/or blood that can be cultured in the lab. So - some of the over 1000 reported cases in Mexico may not actually be swine flu. Officials are in the middle of testing. The cases in California and Texas have all been confirmed by the lab - same strain as that in Mexico.

Right now, people with flu-like symptoms who have traveled to/from Mexico and live in CA or TX will be tested, they'll give a list of people they've been in contact with who also be tested. All of them may be quarantined if possible until the results are known. The family in Texas is currently under quarantine.

And it goes from there.

FYI...

Influenza A is a virus that infects humans, birds, pigs, horses and dogs. The virus usually stays within its own species but every now and then, the virus can jump species, especially when people are in close contact with live animals and their excrement. In this case, the pig version of Influenza A has infected people. Still unknown is how it made the jump and why it and appears to be easily transmitted from person to person. Its makeup has components of human and avian Influenza A - so it's unique, we've never seen a virus like this one before.

[azul]

8. Influenza virus is quite an amazing critter.

Virus and bacteria can be identified from body fluids by antigen tests and DNA or RNA probes.

The influenza virus has 8 pieces of double stranded DNA that are packaged up with viral proteins. When cells are infected with more than 1 strain of the virus, the pieces are mixed and matched to produce different, if not new, strains.

The influenza virus also has a broad range (birds and mammals) of host and reservoir species, unlike many viruses that are species specific, such as smallpox or polio.

And the I. virus waits out human generations for infection by recombining to get the same, more toxic combinations presenting to new generations that have not seen it yet and have lost the immune protection of the last or previous generations.

The nasty forms cause severe damage to the bronchioles and lungs from inflammation and coughing. Death was more from secondary bacterial infections and pneumonia that just the viral infection in previous pandemics. We have antibiotics now that should help prevent these deaths, if they can be afforded, and if they can preserve some effectiveness from their misuse by agriculture and poor medical practices.

[Hanse]

10. Hope this helps.

"I'm curious about how so much is known about flu outbreaks and what flu actually is other than a collection of symptoms? I know it's a virus, but how do they track it down?"

Yes, the "flu" is short for influenza virus. Typically a doctor will diagnose the flu based on symptoms rather than analyzing for the virus itself. That's on a patient by patient basis. Epidemiologists know quite a bit about flu outbreaks, and they look for the virus itself. There are variants of the flu virus and there are viruses that aren't technically influenza but cause flu like symptoms.

"First, how do the health officials even know? I mean who goes to a doctor for the flu?"

Many people go to the doctor for the flu. It makes people very, very ill. A lot of people mistake the cold for the flu. And since the flu can lead to bacterial pneumonia, it's not unusual for doctors to prescribe antibiotics as a prophylactic. Not to mention prescription strength expectorants, anti-pyretics, and and cough suppressants. 60 million Americans get the flu every year and some 36,000 die from it. So yeah, it's a major health care issue that's heavily studied.

"does the flu show up in a blood test or anything?"

If somebody wants to check out what the patient actually has, sure. They'd take a blood, saliva, or maybe sputum sample, extract the viruses, and analyze for type, sure. In the case of bacteria in food poisonings, they'd just grow a culture.