Well cold and flu are two different viruses! So today we will discuss about flu.
Flu or more commonly known as Influenza virus is a genera from the virus family called Orthomyxoviridae and it is divided into types Influenza virus A and Influenza virus B. There is a flu vaccine is available but it is very expensive.

The morphology is that it is typically spherical, enveloped, pleomorphic, there are spikes on the envelope, groups of HA or NA in ratio of 5:1. The genome contains single stranded (-) RNA in 8 segments, 3 polymerase polypeptides with each segment and 5’ and 3’ end of all segments are highly conserved.

The Pathogenesis is the respiratory tract in human, affinity of the HA for receptors in the epithelium of the tract, innate resistance, mucus cilia, immunocompromised elderly and premmies and there are also existing antibodies like anti-HA Ab and IgA,IgG. There are also macrophages, NK cells and cytokines.

The symptoms are high fever, prominent headache, usual aches and pains, common fatigue and common cough.

The lab diagnosis is throat swab/gargle/nasal wash, virus culture (MDCK cell line or chick embryo), direct EIA (HA) and PCR.

The epidemiology is that it is present all throughout the year where incubation (1-4 days) will take place and a few serotypes are circulating simultaneously and the virus is abundant in nasal discharge.

The control is the flu vaccination, antiviral drugs like receptor analog to prevent attachment, transcriptase inhibitors, RT inhibitors, Protease inhibitors and virions assembly.

Thus, as you can see that cold and flu are a not the same so next time if you have a either of these two think twice before you declare the virus!