Influenza B
What is Influenza B?
A person who is struck down by influenza could pass the disease
to others and this respiratory disease can be treated and
prevented through immunization is possible.
The influenza virus usually attacks the nose, throat and
lungs and affects the patient’s respiratory system and
it is different from the normal common colds. Usual symptoms
of influenza are such as fever, headaches, tiredness, dry
coughs, sore throat, congestion in the nose and aches in the
body and the symptoms may be serious and cause the person
to be debilitated for several days.
Influenza B can be considered as another type of influenza
and this virus is not prone to change as frequent as do influenza
A. Even though anyone may be afflicted with influenza B there
are more often children who show signs in greater occurrence
than do adults. Influenza B infections are usually not as
serious as influenza A and age does not matter.
The influenza B virus is usually not found in non-humans
and is not classified as sub-types as is the case with influenza
A viruses. The effect of influenza B virus is that it may
result in morbidity and fatalities in humans though they are
generally thought of as being less serious than influenza
A viruses.
The influenza B virus may cause an epidemic but till now
there are no known cases where they have caused pandemics.
Influenza B viruses and certain subtypes of influenza A virus
can be further characterized into strains and there are several
different strains of influenza B viruses and the influenza
A subtypes. The newer strains replace will replace the older
ones and this process can happen through antigenic drift.
There have been recent cases of children dying of influenza
B in New Zealand and most experts are puzzled by this and
do not seem to have ascertained why it affected children and
young people so seriously.
Tests conducted on the Hong Kong B virus in Melbourne did
not reveal any new mutation of a more virulent strain. Well,
we need not worry about such cases since it is not known to
be very serious and is certainly less so than the influenza
A virus. It appears that young children are affected more
seriously by influenza B than young people and the severity
of the attack seems to be much stronger than previously thought
while children in Australia did not seem to experience similar
complications even though they were exposed to the same B
strains.
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