What Is a Type A Flu?

By james

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People living in the past would not have had the same access to medical assistance that we do, and this made us a lot more vulnerable to diseases. Diseases that we more or less shrug of nowadays would have been far more threatening in the past, posing a very real threat to our lives.

One example of such a disease is the flu. It is a disease that has taken countless lives throughout history, and is still responsible for taking around 500,000 lives every year in the modern world. It also looks set to be with us for a lot longer still, although the good news is that it is less of a threat than it used to be.

1. What Is the Flu?

The flu is a disease that is caused by the influenza virus. It is a common virus and many people will fall ill with it at least once every year. It is a type of respiratory infection, meaning it affects the lungs and airways. It is thankfully not usually a serious condition, but it still has the potential to be dangerous.

The flu is typically transmitted through infected droplets in the air, or by coming into contact with contaminated surfaces. The disease is very contagious, but its spread can be limited by taking certain precautions. While we usually think of the flu as a different disease, there are different varieties of it.