viral Infection

As of now the best system of defending yourself from a virus remains effective prevention. While it is impossible to eliminate all exposure to every virus, there's plenty of things a person can do to help prevent the contraction of sure viruses. of the most widely known methods of virus prevention is vaccination. There's various vaccinations that have been developed over the years to help ward off a series of viruses. For example, there's vaccinations for the flu, measles, chicken pox, mumps and plenty of other common viruses. However, not all viruses have vaccinations and for those, prevention will need nice personal hygiene and common sense. of the best ways to prevent the spread of any disease is through proper hand washing and sanitation. It is also important to keep your body healthy so that your immune system will be at its best at all times. Getting the proper amount of nutrients as well as the right amount of rest every night can help prepare your body for an assault.

Diagnosing a Virus

Medications Given for Viruses

Because there's so plenty of viruses it is sometimes hard for a doctor to decide whether or not a patient is ill due to a viral or bacterial infection. In some cases there's nasal swabs and cultures which can be done to decide the presence of a virus but most of the time diagnosis is done through trial and error. No can tell by taking a look at a person whether or not that person is suffering from a virus or not. Even doctors tend to treat patients using their best educated guess. There's some indications that may help a doctor decide if a person is suffering from a virus or bacterial infection. For example, a that is suffering from a virus such as the common icy will usually have clearer colored mucus than a that is suffering from a bacterial infection. Usually the presence of yellow or green mucus is a clear indicator that anti biotic therapy is necessary to clear some kind of harmful bacterial infection. This is not always the cases but it is a nice beginning point for physicians. Another clear indicator that a person is actually sick with a virus and not a bacterial infection is the fact that the issue does not clear up with antibiotics.

As mentioned earlier there's no known cures for viruses. Fortunately, advances in medical expertise have brought us what are called antiviral drugs such as Tamiflu. These drugs do not cure viruses but they will usually help to minimize the severity and even shorten the length of time a person is sick with a virus. It is important to note that the use of antiviral drugs will in no way eliminate the chance of a secondary infection or complication occurring. Further, there is no guarantee that a person will even benefit from using antiviral drugs. Each case and each virus is different and because there's literally thousands of viruses it is hard to make a broad statement about the effectiveness of antiviral drugs as a whole.