Question

1. What type of microorganism is Influenza?

2. What are the risk factors for getting infected with the Flu?

3. Children under what age are more susceptible to acquire Influenza?

Answer 1

1) Influenza is a Virus .

It belongs to the family Orthomyxoviruses.

Size : 80-120nm.

symmetry: Helical.

It is an enveloped virus.

Genome: single stranded RNA

It has a segmented genome.

2) Risk factors :

A) Age: seasonal influenza targets mostly childern younger than 12 months of age and older people greater than 65 years

B) Living or working places

C) Immunocompromised people

D) improper hygeine

E) Pregnancy - in the first and second trimesters

F) chromic illness like Diabetes, hypertension etc.

3) Normally, Children under the age 5 yrs of age are susceptible to influenza.

Those children under the age of2 years are at the Increased riak.

The main reason being the decreased ability to clear the virus as the children lack their own antibodies against the influenza, and more susceptibility to secondary bacterial infections