About influenza A(H1N1)
Q: What is the difference between seasonal flu and the new A(H1N1) influenza?
A: The main difference is that the new A(H1N1) influenza is caused by a
completely new virus that only certain older people seem to have an immunity
to. Seasonal flu on the other hand is caused by viruses which are fairly
similar to each other from year to year. This means that a large number of
us are immune to them because we have had similar viruses before. We do not
know exactly how long that kind of immunity lasts, but probably several
years.
The influenza virus is divided into different types, called A, B and C. Each
type A virus is then divided into sub-groups, which are given names like
A(H1N1) or A(H2N3). In turn each sub-type contains various strains. The new
kind of influenza is a strain of the sub-group A(H1N1). Some sub-groups of
the influenza virus are more likely to cause illness than others. Most
strains of the influenza virus produce the same symptoms, ie a fever, cough,
sore throat, headache, aching muscles and a general feeling of being unwell.
Children may also complain of stomach pains, and in some cases the new
A(H1N1) virus has also caused diarrhoea.
Q: How many people in Norway have caught the new A(H1N1) flu?
A: On the situation reports page we provide a regular update of the
situation in Norway. There you can draw up your own statistical overview of
the number of confirmed cases in Norway nationally, by county and by local
authority level:
[Publisert: 25.11.2009]
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