If flu treatment is started during the incubation period, it will be more effective and faster.
The latent period ends when the number of pathogenic microorganisms increases so much that the immune system is no longer able to fight them unnoticed. As a result, the immune response and various protective reactions are triggered - the body temperature rises, the production of sputum is stimulated in respiratory tract and so on.
Influenza stages
To understand how long the incubation period of influenza and the disease in general can last, consider the stages of development of respiratory viral infections:
- A few days after the abatement of the acute period, the patient continues to be bothered by a cough, and a sore throat may be observed. There is a high risk of complications in the post-acute period. To prevent this, drink a lot of water, avoid hypothermia, continue to do medical procedures until the symptoms of the disease completely disappear.
- After recovery, many people develop so-called post-viral asthenia. This is a state of weakness, loss of strength, apathy after suffering infectious disease... Asthenia is caused by the toxic effect of viruses on the nervous system, as well as exhaustion and hypovitaminosis. You need to rest a lot, walk in the fresh air, take vitamins to nullify the manifestations of asthenic syndrome.
Thus, the incubation period of influenza lasts up to 4 days, and the disease itself usually lasts up to 10 days. In this case, a couple of weeks after recovery, a person may suffer from mild malaise and asthenia.
Duration
The incubation period for acute respiratory viral infections, including influenza, varies in duration in different people. How long is the average incubation period for influenza? An extensive American study in 2009 estimated that PIs for influenza types A, B and C range from a few hours to 4 days. The following factors influence the duration of the latent stage of the disease: 
- the number of viruses caught on the mucous membrane;
- general resistance of the body (for example, with hypothermia, resistance to infections decreases);
- state of antiviral immunity;
- the person's age (the incubation period is usually shorter than that of adults).
Why know the duration of the IP?
Treatment initiated during PI appears to be most effective. It is known that many antiviral drugs are ineffective in the acute period of the disease, but can significantly alleviate the course of the disease if you start taking them before the first symptoms appear. These drugs are called "emergency prevention" drugs.
How to understand that an infection has occurred? Unfortunately, it is impossible to determine this by external symptoms - it is not for nothing that this stage of the disease is called latent. However, if you have been in contact with people with colds during the epidemic season, the likelihood that you have become infected is very high. Hypothermia contributes to infection. So, if you suspect you have the flu, don't wait for symptoms to start - start taking antiviral medications right away. If within 4 days your health has not been disturbed, you can rest assured that the flu has bypassed you.
Anyone can get the flu sooner or later. In most cases, the flu just knocks us out of our usual rhythm for a week or two, but sometimes the disease develops into a global epidemic, with the risk of serious consequences. The Spanish epidemic of 1918, for example, killed between 20 and 40 million people worldwide. That is why it is important, as well as to know the complications that can occur with the flu, such as pneumonia and brain diseases, to know how long the flu lasts, and how to treat the flu.
Flu symptoms
Influenza is a viral infection that primarily affects respiratory system... The common cold is usually a less serious condition and usually lasts no more than a few days. An infection that lasts more than four to five days can be the flu or a bacterial infection such as bronchitis, which, unlike the common cold and flu, can be treated with antibiotics.
There are many different strains of influenza. The virus is constantly mutating, so it appears every year.
Usually, the flu is transmitted from person to person, and its first symptoms appear on the second or fourth day. This may include fever, chills, muscle pain, nasal congestion, runny nose, dizziness, headache, dry cough, or sore throat. Often with the flu, a person experiences severe fatigue, a feeling of overwork, less often nausea or an upset stomach. Serious complications, including bacterial infections, can develop into pneumonia (pneumonia).
How long does the flu last?
On average, the flu lasts about a week, but symptoms can last up to two weeks. The initial and most severe symptoms usually go away after three or four days, but some of them, such as headaches, general pain, severe fatigue, can last for several more days.
This is what a typical flu case looks like
The first day: the first symptoms of influenza appear, in most people they appear in a high temperature. This is usually followed by chills, headache, muscle pain, nausea, and sometimes dizziness and weakness.
Second-third days: the fever subsides, but other symptoms persist. The sick person feels very tired, he may experience nausea.
From the third to the fifth day: Nasal congestion and runny nose appear. With the flu, nasal discharge is thick and yellowish. The headache may suddenly get worse.
Fifth - fourteenth days: symptoms improve, but you may still experience pain, severe fatigue, and lack of energy for a while.
Complications of the flu
You must apply for medical help at the first symptoms of the flu, if you have serious health problems, chronic illnessif you are recovering from surgery or injury. It is also necessary to see a doctor if symptoms worsen or persist for more than a week. Some people, including pregnant women, children under the age of one, the elderly (especially those over eighty), should also see a doctor immediately if they have flu.
Some treatments for the flu involve antiviral drugs, but this therapy is only prescribed by a doctor. Your doctor may also prescribe a course of antibiotics if you have a bacterial infection.
How to treat flu
In most cases, the flu is treated without going to a specialist, only bed rest and the consumption of large quantities of fluids are needed. More severe cases involve taking such as Tamiflu and Relenza, which are available in pharmacies. Several home remedies can also help you survive the flu.
For flu, you need to drink plenty of fluids, including water, fruit juices, hot tea, soups, and broths. Fluids replenish the loss of water in the body during illness, relieve sore throat.
Bed rest and sleep must be observed with the flu. Try to avoid work, active events, read or watch TV while lying in bed.
Do not smoke and avoid secondhand smoke for the flu. Try not to light a fireplace or wood stove, if you have one in your home.
Medication can relieve some of the flu symptoms. Read the instructions for the medicines carefully and follow the directions in them.
Seek medical attention if flu symptoms persist after a week or if they get worse over time.
See your doctor if you develop other symptoms, such as ear pain, which could be signs of a bacterial infection.
Call the emergency number or call an ambulance if someone with the flu loses consciousness.
Denial of responsibility: The information provided in this article is about how long does the flu last is intended only for the information of the reader. It cannot be a substitute for the advice of a healthcare professional.
Flu is an infection that, unfortunately, often lays down children to bed. Infection with influenza occurs not only through contact with an obvious patient, the almost healthy are especially dangerous, those who usually continue to work and visit public places.
As soon as the virus enters the cells of the respiratory tract, the body begins to fight it. This fight is very difficult. The outcome of the struggle depends on the body's ability to resist infection. If the body's defenses are sufficient, the infection is defeated, if the body is weak, a disease occurs. Influenza is a dangerous complication, so it is important for parents to know how many days can a child's flu last and what are the signs to recognize the disease.
From the moment of infection until the first symptoms of the disease appear, it usually takes 1-3 days. This is the so called incubation period , during which the infection develops in the body, but there are no signs of the disease yet. After the incubation period, the first signs of the disease appear. The disease can start in different ways. More often noted:
- High temperature rise up to 39-40 °. However, in some children, especially infants, the flu may begin with a slight rise in temperature - up to 37.2-37.5 °.
- The child becomes irritable, capricious, restless.
- Sleep is disturbed - it becomes superficial, restless. Children often flinch in their sleep, scream, and often wake up.
- Many children are alarmed by their uncharacteristic lethargy, drowsiness, and general malaise.
- Older children often have chills, delirium, and may have hallucinations.
- Usually children complain about headache, sore throat, eyes, legs.
- Often there are abdominal pains. Sometimes they are so strong that appendicitis is suspected.
- Due to the increased fragility of blood vessels with influenza, hemorrhages occur in the skin, mucous membranes, nosebleeds are observed.
- Young children often have dyspeptic symptoms with the flu - regurgitation, vomiting, loose stools. Children often lose weight.
- Quite often, especially in young children, flu may develop symptoms suggestive of a lesion in the larynx (laryngitis). In these cases, there is a rough cough, as they say "barking", hoarse voice, shortness of breath. Often there may be attacks of suffocation - the phenomenon of "false croup". During this attack, the child turns blue, worries, sweats, “suffocates”. When these seizures appear, the child should be hospitalized, since in some cases during the seizure it is necessary to resort to surgical intervention.
Important! A child who is sick with the flu must first be put to bed. Before the doctor comes to the child complete peace should be created, not disturbed, loud conversations should be avoided. There is no need to stuff drugs and treat with "home" methods: this can change the picture of the disease, and it will be difficult for the doctor to diagnose. To relieve a child's condition a little at a high temperature, place a towel moistened with cold water... Doctors, as a rule, recommend knocking down a high temperature, so it is advisable to take a children's antipyretic agent based on paracetamol or ibuprofen. Ventilate the room well so that the air is cool and fresh. Let's drink more often.
How many days do children have the flu?
Caring care, food will do their job, and the child will recover: from the 3-4th day of illness, the temperature begins to decrease, the general condition of the child gradually improves, signs of damage to the nervous system disappear. But do not rush to consider him healthy and take off who yours close attention: full recovery comes much later .
For a few more days baby remains pale, gets tired quickly, is capricious, does not eat well. For a long time they can last at flu in children catarrhal phenomena - cough, runny nose.
In some children, after suffering the flu, for a long time for 2-2.5 weeks, the temperature in the evenings is up to 37.1-37.3 °. The reason for this temperature can vary. Such rises in temperature are due to an uncompleted inflammatory process in the upper respiratory tract or may be associated with complications ( inflammatory process in the lungs, damage to the ear, sinuses, changes in the urinary tract, etc.). Therefore, such children should be under medical supervision.
Flu quarantine lasts 7 days, the healing process lasts up to 2 weeks, and the symptoms of the disease disappear in 3-5 days. So how long does a person end up with the flu?
The average duration of illness is up to 10 days and depends on the severity of the flu. With a mild form, the temperature does not rise above 38 ° C, intoxication is poorly expressed and the patient's condition returns to normal after 2-3 days. With flu of moderate severity, the temperature reaches 39 ° C, the intoxication is pronounced, the fever lasts up to 5 days. This form of flu is most common. Influenza in severe form begins acutely, it is characterized by a temperature of 39-40 ° C, severe intoxication, convulsions, delirium. You should not check the duration of a severe form of the disease - you need to call a doctor right away.
The recovery period of the body after the flu lasts 1-2 weeks. At this time, it can still be celebrated subfebrile temperaturebut other symptoms diminish. Intoxication disappears, appetite appears. Headaches and muscle pains go away. The cough becomes softer, although it persists for up to 4 days. If the cough lasts longer and purulent sputum appears, this is already a sign of complication. It is important that complications can appear at any stage of the disease: both in the acute and during the rehabilitation period, therefore it is recommended to avoid serious stress, even if it seems to you that everything is over.
For a long time - from several days to 3 weeks, fatigue, irritability, and sleep disturbances may persist. Pregnant women are at risk during influenza epidemics, especially in the II and III trimesters: they may develop complications 9-14 days after the illness, which will lead to miscarriages or stillbirth. Influenza in the first half of pregnancy is also dangerous - the risk of developing abnormalities of the fetus increases. If a child is sick with the flu, the duration of the illness is on average the same 7-10 days. Recovery also takes 1-2 weeks. At this time, doctors advise to walk a lot, breathe fresh air, but avoid busy places and generally limit communication. The body is still weakened and instead of strengthening it, you can pick up something else. 
The duration of the flu illness is increased if complications are added. Influenza complicated by pneumonia is difficult to treat, hospitalization of the patient is often required. The fact is that here it is required to treat not only pneumonia, but also the flu: the influenza virus in a complicated form remains in the body for another 2-3 weeks from the onset of the disease. This means that both antibiotics and antiviral drugs are needed at the same time. The patient is discharged from the hospital only after all the tests are in order, and the normal temperature will remain for at least 3 days. During the recovery period, a course of vitamin therapy, taking metabolic drugs is recommended. Hypothermia should also be avoided in the first two months after recovery. - How to detect a virus?
- The duration of the flu
- Treatment with folk remedies
- Prevention of influenza
It never hurts to know how many days you have had the flu, during what period the disease is especially contagious and after how many days it is not dangerous for your loved ones at all. How to determine that the disease is already in your body, and how it can be treated with folk remedies? All this information will help you not to infect family and friends and go on sick leave in time without earning a couple of serious complications.
In addition, if you are aware of what factors affect the duration of the disease, you can do your best to avoid them. This will help you get back on your feet quickly and prevent mild flu from spilling over into severe flu.
How to detect a virus?
Doctors classify influenza as acute viral infections... Many of its symptoms are very similar to those of a cold, which is why very often people find coping with the flu just as easy. Because of these fundamentally wrong judgments, some do not go to the doctor, thereby signing their own verdict. Unlike many similar infections and viruses, influenza can mutate into different strains and cause complications, and even death if delayed.
Most often, this virus comes in outbreaks. Therefore, if any of the above symptoms are present in your body during the peak of diseases in your city, you should not postpone a visit to the doctor or call him at home even for a couple of hours. The disease differs from ARVI in its sharpness and speed. Simply put: an hour ago you worked or cooked dinner for the whole family, and now you can hardly get out of bed and the thermometer shows a high temperature.
The symptoms of influenza vary depending on the type and form, but there are several common points:
- Heat. With a mild form of influenza, it stops at around 38 degrees, the average brings 39 and a half, and a heavy one can "please" and 40. At the same time, the temperature does not have any intermediate stages and rises instantly, keeps at its mark and does not get lost. May have a fever.
- Pain all over the body. Usually it is impossible to determine its source, just every muscle or joint seems to be completely covered with aches, sometimes an unpleasant aching feeling can appear, as after an intense workout.
- Weakness. Elementary actions seem to be something impossible, and even a simple lifting of a mug of tea can be compared with the cobblestone of Sisyphus, and getting out of bed is an impossible heroism.
- Redness of the skin and eyes. Very often, with the flu, the face and eyes become very red in people. Therefore, sometimes the signs of the disease are mistaken for a common allergy.
- Headache. Again, it is non-local, and it is not possible to determine the source, or it often jumps from place to place. There may also be a hum in the head.
- Dry cough. Often not accompanied by a sore throat.
- Runny nose. Usually very strong. Even the sprays and drops found in the first aid kit do not help from it. Breathing is almost completely blocked.
- Intoxication. Vomiting, severe or mild nosebleeds, hallucinations, seizures throughout the body. All this is present in a mild form of flu, while the full "bouquet" is revealed in a severe form of the disease.
If you find these symptoms in yourself, it is better to immediately take some kind of anti-inflammatory drug and consult a doctor. It is worth remembering: the most effective treatment carried out within 48 hours from the onset of the disease.
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The duration of the flu
It is almost impossible to name the absolutely exact number of days during which the disease lasts, or at least its active phase. This number depends on many factors: on the type of disease and virus, on its complexity, and even on your immunity and the presence of any chronic diseases in the body.
With complications, the duration of the disease increases. However, it can be assumed how long the flu will last without complications in an adult.
Most often, the disease takes from your daily life from 5 to 10 days. In this case, from 2 to 4 days you will suffer high temperature and general malaise, after this, if, of course, the treatment was received on time, the symptoms gradually weaken, or even disappear altogether.
If, after the temperature dropped to a normal level, the symptoms returned again, be aware that another infection or a common cold, invited by a weakened immune system, is taking place in your body.
But after this period, you are unlikely to feel good. After recovery, post-infectious asthenia may well occur. It usually manifests itself in rapid fatigability, irritability, headaches. This period can last about 2 weeks. Therefore, it is worth checking out and going to work only when you feel like a completely healthy and energetic person.
The disease is greatly influenced by the observance of all the doctor's recommendations. This includes complete bed rest, taking all prescribed pills, especially the anti-inflammatory pills such as paracetamol, for example.
In no case should you carry the disease on your feet and overload your body. If you exercise, forget about exercising until you are fully recovered.
In terms of infectivity, the flu is very insidious. You can infect others even before the first signs of illness appear.
The virus sitting in your body is dangerous for your loved ones in the active phase of the disease during the first 5-7 days. But with severe or childhood form, the duration can be significantly increased.