Influenza
Definition
An infectious disease caused by an influenza virus. Symptoms can be mild to severe including high fever, runny nose, sore throat, muscle pains, headache etc., often leading to pneumonia if not treated properly.
Analogy
Influenza is like a computer virus. It infiltrates your body (the computer), takes over the system, and starts causing problems until it's removed or defeated.
Related terms
Pandemic: An outbreak of a disease that occurs over a wide geographic area and affects an exceptionally high proportion of the population.
Virus: A submicroscopic infectious agent that replicates only inside the living cells of an organism. Viruses can infect all types of life forms.
Vaccine: A biological preparation that provides active acquired immunity to a particular infectious disease, such as influenza.
"Influenza" appears in:
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Study guides (1)
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