Talk:Influenza
From Academic Kids
Some of this article has been taken from the public domain CDC publication http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/diseases/flu/fluinfo.htm
Stomach flu -- myth?
The web suggests that the "stomach flu" is an actual disease, though the terminology is obviously unfortunate and not precise. The common distinction seems to lie between "upper respiratory flu" and "intestinal flu". The first one is influenza the second one is not. However, both terms exist and stomach flu does neither just refer to side effects of influenza, nor is it a general description of the symptoms given in the article. Yet, it seems that it is sometimes used to label a group of viral infections rather than a specific disease. However these problems have a common general treatment and so they may even deserve a new article. I am no expert and have no reliable sources, so I won't edit here. Though I generally would not trust the web, here are some links that give a hint at this possible alternative meaning:
- Quote from this page:
- "Although everyone refers to vomiting and diarrhea as stomach flu, these problems are usually caused by a gastrointestinal virus (a true "flu" is influenza, a respiratory infection). Rotavirus is the most common culprit in young children;"
Even if stomach flu is considered too unclear or improper terminology, one should have pointers to diseases that would commonly be labeled this way. --Markus Krötzsch 20:51, 20 Jul 2004 (UTC)
I added the top-of-article Dab for "Influenza", and the distinct Dab page Flu, for related reasons. They each have to do with one of two related confusions:
- One is the misleading standard usage of flu as a synonym for both "stomach flu" and "influenza";
- the other is the understandable but mistaken use of "influenza" as a synonym for "stomach flu", by people who correctly deduce that "flu" is derived from "influenza" but don't realize that "influenza" is no longer a more formal name for "stomach flu".
Further discussion of this (which has not yet changed my opinion that both are needed) is at Talk:Flu; i suggest there be single discussion there.
--Jerzy(t) 07:10, 2005 Feb 24 (UTC)
what's the name
What's the name of the company that was supposed to produce a huge quantity of flu shots for the british and the north american market, but had to redraw most of there million flu shots due to unhygienic production processes? it happened in the season 2004 / 2005.
thanks, --Abdull 16:04, 2 Jan 2005 (UTC)
- I believe the company's name is "Chiron Corporation." Joyous 17:16, Jan 2, 2005 (UTC)
Avian influenza update needed
According to the latest update (http://www.who.int/csr/don/2005_01_21/en/) by WHO (http://www.who.int/en/), avian influenza is most likely contracted by contact with duck blood and not communicable from human to human, and this is why we did not see a larger outbreak of the virus.
Does anybody else think this should be added to the main page? I'd update it myself if I wasn't sick at home concerned that I might have the flu... - Christophernicus 06:24, 26 Jan 2005 (UTC)
- In accordance with updates (http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/avian_influenza/en/) from the WHO, I'm removing the Recent Development section. Avian influenza is transmitted to humans by migratory waterfowl and human-to-human contact has only been confirmed in one unusual case so far. Although a new pandemic is expected sometime, it will not come from avian influenza. - Christophernicus 09:17, 20 Feb 2005 (UTC)
