U of M, Crookston professors do battle against germs
They’re researching compounds to fight staph infections.
Read more on Crookston Daily Times

Border patrol: Immune cells protect body from invaders
Barrier sites — the skin, gut, lung — limit the inner body’s exposure to allergens, pollutants, viruses, bacteria, and parasites. Understanding how the immune system works in these external surfaces has implications for understanding such inflammatory diseases as asthma, psoriasis, IBD, and food allergies, all of which occur at the body’s barriers. Researchers have identified an immune cell …
Read more on Science Daily

There are four different medications which is used in the treatment of influenza especially. They include
• Tamiflu (oseltamivir)
• Symmetrel (amantadine)
• Flumadine (rimantadine)
• Relenza (zanamivir)

All these four medications are available only through prescription. They help in prevention as well as treatment of the influenza disease. In prevention mode, the drugs are to be taken a minimum of two weeks before the onset of the flu outbreak or flu season in the community. In treatment mode, the drugs help in lowering the flu symptoms significantly and also the duration matters.

Flu shot or vaccine is the nest known preventive measure against influenza, but there are also some drugs which can do the same job at times. The first three drugs namely Tamiflu, Symmetrel and Flumadine can be used from the age of just one year, meaning that even children can take it.

It is strongly recommended for the people infected with flu to consult a healthcare provider for treatment as soon as possible. It is essential for the patients to get treated within 48 hours subsequent to the beginning of flu. The drugs used in the treatment of flu helps in reducing the time that flu symptoms last and returning faster to daily routine. The main drugs used in the treatment are Tamilflu, Relenza, Flumadine and Symmetrel. Their benefits are given as follows  

There are three types of influenza or flu, namely A, B, C. Among the three types, type A is the most dangerous. There is a strong belief that Type A has been responsible for many global outbreaks like in 1918, 1957, 1968, etc. In addition to these types, the viruses have been classified based on the place and year of discovery of the strain, type of HA, NA proteins, lab identification number, etc.

The first influenza virus was discovered in 1930s. Scientists have categorized those viruses from that time into three main types, as already mentioned, depending on the composition of proteins they possess.

Symptoms of influenza and cold seem to be similar, but the symptoms for influenza are more severe and can last longer than for that of cold. The common symptoms of flu are fever, dry cough, chills and sore throat. It is possible for the virus to spread even before the symptoms show up in an infected person and for 3-4 days after the appearance of symptoms. When infected with the flu virus, the symptoms normally appear after 1-4 days.

The flu symptoms that appear soon after infection are fever, dry coughs, sore throat, chills, runny/ stuffy nose, muscle aches, headache, and excessive fatigue. The fever starts to decline normally on the second day or sometimes the third day after the illness shows up the symptoms.