NAME : SITI SURYATUN NIKMAH

CLASS : PARKIT

NIM : AOA0160817

THE TASK OF IMPROVING ENGLISH

INFLUENZA

Influenza, usually referred to as the Flu, Influenza is a highly infectious respiratory

disease. The disease is caused by certain strains of the Influenza Virus. When the virus is
inhaled, it attacks cells in the upper respiratory tract, causing typical flu symptoms such as
fatigue, fever and chills, a hacking Cough, and body aches. Influenza victims are also
susceptible to potentially life-threatening secondary infections. Although the stomach or
intestinal ”flu” is commonly blamed for stomach upsets and Diarrhea, the influenza virus
rarely causes Gastrointestinal Symptoms. Such symptoms are most likely due to other
organisms such as Rotavirus, Salmonella, Shigella,or Escherichia Coli.

The Flu is considerably more debilitating than the common cold. Influenza outbreaks
occur suddenly, and infection spreads rapidly. In the 1918-19 spanish flu pandemic, the death
toll reached a staggering 20 to 40 million worldwide. Approximately 500,000 of these
fatalities occurred in the united states.

Influenza outbreaks occur on a regular basis. The most serious outbreaks are
pandemics,which affect milions of people worldwide and last for several months. The 1918-
19 influenza outbreak serves as the primary example of an influenza pandemic. pandemics
also occured in 1957 and 1968 with the Asian flu and Hong Kong flu, respectively. The
Asian flu was responsible for 70,000 deaths in the United States, while the Hong Kong flu
killed 34,000.

Epidemics are widespread regional outbreaks that occur every two to theree years and affect
5-10 percent of the papulation. The Russian flu in the winter of 1977 is an example of an
epidemic. A regional epidemic is shorter lived than a pandemic, lasting only several weeks.
finally, there are smaller outbreaks each winter that are confined to specific locales

The earliest existing descriptions of infuenza were written nearly 2,500 years ago by the
ancient Greek Physician Hippocrates. Historically, influenza was ascribed to a number of
different agents, including ”Bad Air “ and several different bacteria. In fact, its name comes
from the Italian wort for “Influence” because people in eighteenth-century Europe thought
that the disease was coused by the influence of bad weather. It was not until 1933 that the
causative agen was identified as a virus.

There are three types of influenza viruses, identified as A,B, and C. Influenza A can infect a
range of animal species, including humans, pigs, horses, and birds, but only humans are
infected by types B and C. Influenza A is responsible for most fiu cases, while infection with
types B and C virus are less common and cause a milder illness.

Influenza virus replicates in the epithelial cells throughout the respiratory tree, with
virus being recoverable from both the upper and lower respiratory tract of people naturally or
experimentally infected . As histologic changes are nonspesific, histologic analysis alone is
insufficient to make a specific diagnosis; diagnosis typically requires supporting diagnostic
tests such as viral isolation, rapid diagnostic tests (including RT-PCR), serologic studies, or a
biopsy or autopsy tissue section confirmed by in hybridization or immunohistochemical
techniques. Non-fatal influenza viral infections predominantly involve the upper respiratory
tract and trachea, but fatal cases of influenza usually show evidence of Pneumonia. This
review concentrates on the pathology of the lower respiratory tract.

Directigen FLU-A, a new enzyme immunoassay membrane test, rapidly detects

influenza A virus antigen in specimens from patients. Nasopharyngeal washes and
pharyngeal gargles were used to determine the effectiveness of the assay as applied to
different types of rountinely collected clinical samples. All specimens had been previously
shown to contain influenza A virus by virus isolation in tissue culture.

Influenza, usually referred to as the flu, influenza is a highly infectious respiratory

disease. The disease is caused by certain strains of the Influenza Virus. There are three types
of influenza viruses, identified as A,B, and C. Influenza A can infect a range of animal
species, including humans, pigs, horses, and birds, but only humans are infected by types B
and C. Influenza A is responsible for most fiu cases, while infection with types B and C virus
are less common and cause a milder illness. When the virus is inhaled, it attacks cells in the
upper respiratory tract, causing typical flu symptoms such as fatigue, fever and chills, a
hacking cough, and body aches. Such symptoms are most likely due to other organisms such
as Rotavirus, Salmonella,Shigella,or Escherichia Coli.. The Flu is considerably more
debilitating than the common cold. Influenza outbreaks occur suddenly, and infection spreads
rapidly. In the 1918-19 spanish flu pandemic, the death toll reached a staggering 20 to 40
million worldwide. Approximately 500,000 of these fatalities occurred in the united states.