Influenza Facts

Influenza (flu) is a serious disease attacks the nose, throat and lungs and also can lead to pneumonia.

The influenza vaccine contains a weakened influenza viruses that are no longer able to multiply or cause infection. In some particular individuals influenza vaccine can cause an immune response in the form of sub-febrile fever, muscle aches and headaches in 6-12 hours after vaccination and lasts for 24 hours to 48 hours.

The type of influenza virus constantly changes from year to year, so that the type of vaccine needs to be replaced each year to against the new types of virus. Besides the effect of influenza vaccine immunity lasts only for one year so that individuals need to be vaccinated again each year.

Influenza - Flu

Influenza or Flu is an infection caused by viruses, influenza can cause symptoms that are very heavy and serious, especially in patients already in weakened condition, advanced age or who have chronic diseases.

Influenza virus consist of three types : type A, B, and C. Type A viruses is often extremely common and usually cause a serious epidemic. Type B can also cause epidemics, but usually milder. Whereas type C influenza virus does not cause extensive epidemics. Lay people often mistakenly think cold illness (cough and cold) as regular flu, when in fact the symptom of both diseases are quite different. Influenza Facts

Acute and Chronic Bronchitis

Bronchitis is a respiratory infection that causes inflammation of the airways to the lungs, especially the bronchi. There are two forms of bronchitis are acute bronchitis and chronic bronchitis.

Acute bronchitis is signed by symptoms of cough attack suddenly and lasts shorter. In this type, inflammation or the bronchial inflammation is usually caused by viral or bacterial infection and exacerbated by exposure to irritants like cigarette smoke, air pollution, chemical, dust etc.

Chronic bronchitis is be marked by recurrent for a long time (3 months of the year for 2 consecutive years). In chronic bronchitis, bronchial inflammation persist for several time and create obstruction to the normal airflow in the Respiratory Tract, symptom usually increases due to smoking and aggravated by an infection or first exposure of irritants.

Bronchitis is often arise along with emphysema (damage to the alveoli). The cause of bronchitis generally, it covers smoking and air pollution, which constantly irritate the airways resulting in inflammation and the excessive of mucus (sputum) production in airway.

These condition resulted in a narrowing to the respiratory tract, therefore it becomes increasingly susceptible infection, more frequent relapses and more severe damage. Complications of bronchitis, emphysema, recurrent respiratory infections and hemoptysis (coughing of blood).

Dry Cough and Cough With Sputum

Coughing is a natural process and protective reflex in healthy individuals, which is important to keep the throat and respiratory tract clean. But excessive coughing may indicate a disorder or disease that requires medical treatment. Cough can be dry (without sputum) or productive (with sputum).

Dry cough or non - productive does not produce an increase in sputum production and often the symptom is itchy throat sputum, cough of this type can cause hoarseness or disappear. Dry cough is caused by very small particles of food or irritant smoke, cigarette smoke (both active or passive smokers). Change of air temperature and perhaps as a body’s response to dry air or other type of air pollution.

Dry cough may occur as a result of virus infection that has just occurred, the flu or cold, dry cough that is why it is sometimes thought as a cough after virus infection. Dry cough can be a sign of other diseases such as asthma, gastroesophageal reflux disease or congestive heart failure, but dry cough can be triggered by certain medications (ACE inhibitors, beta diseases, aspirin).

Meanwhile, Productive Cough or Cough with sputum can be marked by a characteristics noisy sound in the chest or chest tightness accompanied by spending sputum. Productive cough may be symptoms that persist after the symptom of sore throat, nasal congestion or sinus congestion.

Naturally cough can be acute or chronic, acute cough usually occurs suddenly and no more 2-3 weeks and is often caused by colds, flu or virus infection, while chronic cough up to more than 2-3 weeks.

Asthma in Children

Asthma is a chronic respiratory disorder and is not contagious, which often occurs in children, the definition of as inflammation in a chronic respiration tract of the lungs cause the walls of bronchioles overreact to various types of stimuli such as dust, stress and excessive of emotion.

Inflammation result resistance in a air flow in the respiratory tract is reversible, by manifestation respiratory symptoms come and go. This situations can occur both in children and adult, although children have more often severe.

In young children, it occurs commonly in boys. However, this trend changed after puberty, which more young girl who suffer asthma, the factors that cause asthma hereditary, infections, allergies, environmental, socio-economic and psychosocial.