Flu in Kids-Symptoms, Remedies, And Cure

When the airway tract of a person's throat and nose has an acute infection, which can even spread into his or her lungs, the condition is called influenza or flu. If an adult suffers from flu, it may usually lead to an acute respiratory illness. However, flu can attack people belonging to different age groups. In fact, kids are often at a high risk of being attacked by flu. Plus, its complications can even spread its infection to other people. When there is a marked increase in the reported flu cases, which is known as flu season, the cases spread quite widely. It usually happens in early winter and late fall. However, having said so, cases of flu can be observed all through a year.

Causes of flu in kids

There are three different kinds of influenza viruses. Influenza may be caused due to any of them. Typically, the annual flu epidemics are caused by the first two types (A & B). Meanwhile, type C triggers sporadic illness. On the other hand, Type A is categorized into various subtypes on the basis of the virus' chemical structure.

Symptoms of flu in kids

Ideally, symptoms can be observed after 2 to 4 days of getting exposed to the virus and is known to develop pretty fast.

In case of classic symptoms of the disease, kids may experience high-grade fever, the malaise that is just feeling sick, dry cough, sore throat, headaches, muscle aches and chills. Such symptoms are usually experienced for a period of 3 to 4 days. Yet, exhaustion and cough may even persist for a week to a fortnight even after the fever has ebbed. Close contacts or family members may also suffer from a similar illness.

A young child may experience a flu-like illness. There could be other infections in the respiratory tract like pneumonia, bronchitis, and croup. Conditions such as diarrhea, vomiting and abdominal pain are often observed in kids. Usually, vomiting trends are more prominent as compared to diarrhea. There are incidences of high fever and patients may even exhibit traits of irritability. Flu remains undetected sometimes in infants as there are no specific symptoms and signs. Ideally, the signs may even indicate an infection from bacteria. Cases of influenza are less common in infants who are below six months old. However, signs include poor circulation, poor feeding, and lethargy. Kids can suffer from various complications related to flu such as sinus infections, ear infections, and pneumonia. Flu may even worsen chronic health conditions like diabetes, heart failure, and asthma.

Vaccine for flu

Flu or influenza vaccines are either in form of injections or nasal sprays that constitute of attenuated live flu viruses or even killed viruses or components that are not able to reproduce. These vaccinations, when given to people, trigger an immune response, which will be adequately powerful to safeguard that person to get infected with the flu disease. The way a vaccine is ideally administered can determine its design. A nasal spray typically constitutes the live and attenuated vaccine while an intramuscular injection or shot consists of the killed virus. It is impossible for people to get influenza from an injected vaccine as there is no live virus in this.

If you suspect that your child could be suffering from the flu or influenza, it is better to consult a good physician as quickly as possible.

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