How The Flu Is Spread
Author: Christopher Thomas

The flu. We've all heard of it, and we've all had it at some
point, and we all equally hated it. Having the flu stinks -- it
makes you nauseated and runny-nosed and achy and miserable. The
flu has been around since the beginning of time, but over the
years it has changed. New and different strains of the flu are
popping up all over the world, and some of them are meaner and
scarier than ever before.

The flu is a virus, not a bacteria. To understand how the flu
spread and grows you need to understand what it does once it is
in a body. The flu is a tiny body of RNA that is protected by a
coat of protein. What it does is push its way into healthy
cells in order to use that cell's reproductive abilities.
Without a host cell, a virus cannot reproduce at all -- it
would simply die.

Once the flu has gotten into your body and taken over some of
your healthy cells, it can make more virus cells, which then
take over more of your healthy cells, and so on, and so on,
until you are very ill indeed.

But how you get the flu in the first place. The flu can caught
in any number of ways, but is most commonly inhaled. If you are
anywhere near someone who has it, and they sneeze or cough, you
could be in big trouble, flu-wise. Just breathing near a sick
person can get you the flu, but coughs and sneezes are powerful
catapults that can send the flu virus shooting out at
unbelievable speeds and distances.

Once you breathe in the flu virus, it attaches itself inside of
you. This could be in your nose, your throat, or your lungs.
From there it will reproduce as much as it can before your body
finally fends it off.

Coughs and sneezes are not the only way to get the flu,
however. You can also get it from touching things that someone
with the flu has touched. Telephones and doorknobs are great
places for the flu to hang out, waiting for some innocent like
you to come along and pick it up. This is why it is important
for you to keep your hands washed at all times.


About The Author: Christopher Thomas contributes articles to
several popular web sites, especially http://biduv.com and
http://famif.com