Influenza Virus

Influenza virus

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Influenza virus

Influenza virus is responsible bacteria for the season flu epidemics every year. The virus causes influenza which is a contiguous respiratory illness and a very critical global public health problem (Eisfeld, Neumann & Kawaoka, 2015). What more, the flu caused by influenza virus has killed more than 50 million people in the united states alone. The virus belongs to the family Orthomyxoviridae. In addition, there are three types of influenza virus; that is, A, B and C. According to Cobey & Hensley, (2017) most influenza outbreaks are associated with the influenza virus type A or B. Moreover, infections, with type influenza are typically milder than those with type. On the other hand, influenza C is popular but hardly causes diseases.

The influenza virion is spherical in shape. The outer layer of the virus is a lipid membrane making it an enveloped virus. The proteins Spikes are inserted into the lipid layers since they have the protein liked sugar HA (hemagglutinin) and NA (neuraminidase). In addition, M2 Protein is embedded on the lipid membrane making it the rated of the antiviral adamantanes (Eisfeld, et al., 2015). Underneath the lipid membrane are viral protein called matrix protein which gives stringed to the lipid covering layer. The RNA is located in interior of the virion and they are genetic material of the virus. Every RNA segment comprises of RNA combined with numerous proteins, These RNA segments make the of influenza virus (Cobey & Hensley, 2017). Moreover, influenza virus is single stranded and has negative gram reaction.

Hemagglutinin (HA) is a virulence factor of influenza virus. Typically, virulence factors are molecules produced by bacteria or protozoa in order to increase their effectiveness. One of the virulence factors of influenza virus is the Hemagglutinin (HA). The virulence factor is initially produced by host cells in its precursor form that known as HA0 (Cobey & Hensley, 2017) What’s more, the conversion of HA0 to HA depends on the pathogenicity of the influenza viruses.

Influenza inhibits the immunes system though the cheating approach. The Host organisms have established advanced antiviral responses to defeat developing influenza viruses. Also, the influenza virus has developed immune evasion technique. What’s more, the immune system of mammals offers several lines of defense to counteract the invasion of pathogens or regulate their replication. However, the virus have a protein which masks the virus entering the cell making the it to spread easily before the immune system can recognize that it is a virus and attempts to fight it (Cobey & Hensley, 2017). Furthermore, inhibition come as a result of binding of influenza viral proteins to various components of the innate immune system leads to their inhibition. A combination of immune pressure in the human population and the high mutation rate of the influenza virus lead to the generation of new virus strains.

Influenza virus causes flu or influenza. Influenza is a highly contagious a respiratory illness caused by influenza virus and it is typically spread through a coughs and sneezes of an infected person. The viruses are principally spread from person to person through droplets delivered when one coughs or sneezes (Krammer, & Palese,2015). Droplets of a sick person are impelled by coughing, sneezing or talking and get deposited on the body openings of the nearby people. What’s more, the viruses can be transmitted through indirect contact. For instance, touching a polluted object or surface and consequently touching of body openings before hand washing. According to Eisfeld, Neumann & Kawaoka (2015),many Viruses can survive on hard surfaces than on porous surfaces. Besides, the viruses can be infectious for up eight hours making it easy for people to contact it.

Affected patient can present the contacted virus in various ways. Patients can take 1 to 4 days to experience symptoms of influenza virus exposure. The most common ways in which patients can present the symptoms of influenza may include fever (about 39°C or more), coughing, and pain in the muscle (Krammer, & Palese,2015). Moreover, other patients may register common symptoms such as sore throat, running nose, headaches, bod chills loss of appetite as well as general body weakness. In addition, various adults may experience diarrhea vomiting and stomach ache: however, these symptoms are more common among children. What more, children tend to register higher temperatures as compared to adults. The temperature may range from 103°F to 105°F (Krammer, & Palese,2015).. The virus in kindergarten children or infants can be extremely hard to pinpoint because the symptoms are very comparable to infections caused by other viruses.

Influenza can be prevented through vaccination and it can also be treated. One of the ways in which the influenza virus can be prevented in through annual vaccination. The vaccination is highly recommended for adult with hear related diseases, people how reside near healthcare centers, the aged, children between 6 months and 5 year, indigenous, pregnant women and people with health condition like cancer and diabetes(Poon et al., 2016)

Also, one may prevent the virus by washing hands after contact with respiratory droplets or contaminated objects. One may also cover his/her mouth when coughing or sneezing. Use tissue to contain respiratory droplets. Furthermore, the influenza vinous can be treated using antivirals. Professional health care specialist may prescribe antivirals such as the oseltamivir and zanamivir for patient who has the virus (Poon et al., 2016)

Nursing need to have a keen interest on influenza virus because the symptom is similar to those of other virus. It is not easy to ascertain if a patient has influenza virus or not. Therefore, nurses should take critical note on the patient to ensure they do not mistake the viruses from other viruses in order to avoid medical negligence.

References

Cobey, S., & Hensley, S. E. (2017). Immune history and influenza virus susceptibility. Current opinion in virology, 22, 105-111.

Eisfeld, A. J., Neumann, G., & Kawaoka, Y. (2015). At the centre: influenza A virus ribonucleoproteins. Nature Reviews Microbiology, 13(1), 28.

Krammer, F., & Palese, P. (2015). Advances in the development of influenza virus vaccines. Nature reviews Drug discovery, 14(3), 167.

Poon, L. L., Song, T., Rosenfeld, R., Lin, X., Rogers, M. B., Zhou, B., … & DePasse, J. V. (2016). Quantifying influenza virus diversity and transmission in humans. Nature genetics, 48(2), 195.