Things you must know about this year’s flu

influenzainfluenza .Photo: pixabay.com

Across the country, an influenza outbreak is ongoing, and unlike the past couple of years, influenza A is now the most prevalent strain.

“Now the number of sick people will increase quite sharply, and it will take a few weeks for the flu levels to peak.

That is according to Karoline Bragstad at the Norwegian Institute of Public Health.

The last week of 2018, many went to the doctor with flu symptoms. The proportion of positive virus samples increased from 7 to 10%, and marked the start of this winter’s influenza outbreak.

‘’We expect a peak in the beginning or mid-February, it tends to be around the winter holiday period’’.

Could be flu without high fever

The flu often comes abruptly and usually lasts for seven to ten days. Common symptoms include fever, dry cough, lethargy, headache, and muscle pain.

Do you have to have a fever to have the flu?

No, you don’t really have to. The flu can produce
many different disease profiles. It may happen a few times in adulthood that you get proper flu
and go down for the count. But then there are
all the other times when you are out of sorts, and it can also be the flu.

If you are unsure of what you have got in your
body, there is one sign you can look for that is
quite typical according to Bragstad.

The flu usually starts much faster than the other colds. You get pretty bad, often with fever, muscle pain, and headaches. Sneezing is not so common for the flu.

Hope that fewer elderly people are affected

This year’s most prevalent influenza virus is type A, H1N1, a variant of the virus from the swine flu pandemic in 2009.

Unlike the last two seasons, it is expected that more people will be infected this year.

‘’This influenza affects children most frequently, and this year’s variation may be even more than usual. In addition, many of working age are infected. The last two viruses went beyond to infect the elderly, so we can hope that they will get away a little easier this year.

The cure to recover

Unfortunately, there is currently no quick cure to recover.

‘’The medicine is resting, lots of drinks, antipyretic and painkillers. As a rule, the disease passes by itself’’ said Bragstad.

‘’The most important thing is to take it easy, keep to the bed, and try not to infect others. If you know that you belong to a risk group, you can go to a doctor if you have had a fever for several days.

In order to avoid infecting others, one should, in addition to limiting one’s circle of contacts, cough in the elbow hook and wash one’s hands well and often” said Bragstad.

And if you are afraid of being infected, you should vaccinate.

Record numbers have taken the flu vaccine

According to the latest figures, 494,179 people have already been vaccinated.

It is more than during the entire influenza season last year, but still not as many as the health authorities would want.

The vaccine protects against several different types of influenza viruses.

From year to year, each of the influenza viruses develop new variants that make immunity to the old varieties outdated.

© NRK / #Norway Today