Flu season has arrived and so has the H1N1 virus – the virus that causes swine flu. When seasonal influenza is in full force it can be difficult to distinguish between it and infection with the swine flu virus without doing laboratory testing. How do the two infections differ? A new research report shows that the H1N1 flu virus may be shed for longer periods of time than the seasonal influenza virus.

    Usually, people with seasonal influenza are told to stay home and away from other people until the fever completely resolves. Unfortunately, this may not apply to the H1N1 flu virus. It appears that the H1N1 flu virus continues to be shed up to ten days after the initial symptoms start – several days longer than what is typically seen with seasonal flu.

    Does this mean you're still contagious ten days after developing symptoms? Not necessarily. To be contagious a certain quantity of virus has to be shed and, in this study, researchers only documented that virus was being shed, not how much. It's unclear whether there's enough of the H1N1 virus being actively shed seven to ten days out to cause infection. How long a person remains contagious with the H1N1 flu virus may also depend on whether they received antiviral medications such as Tamiflu.

    Because there's the potential for being contagious even after the fever has subsided, many experts recommend that people with the H1N1 flu virus stay home from work and school until they're no longer coughing. Cough is one of the primary means by which the H1N1 virus is spread and once the cough is gone, the risk of transmitting the virus is much lower. In the same vein, it's important to stay away from people with the H1N1 virus who are still coughing – particularly if they're running a fever.

    What does this study show? If you're diagnosed with the H1N1 flu virus, don't be too quick to rush back to work after only a few days of rest. There's a chance that you'll spread the infection to your co-workers which won't earn you many fans at the office. If at all possible, stay home not only until your fever is gone, but until your cough has completely subsided. For most people this will be seven days or more. If you work in a facility with people at high risk for H1N1 flu complications such as children, pregnant women, and the elderly, it's even more important that you not return to work until you've fully recuperated.

    流感季節到了，所以H1N1也就來了-那個導致豬流感的病毒。當季節性流行感冒完全發揮威力的時候，在不做實驗室實驗的情況下很難將季節性流行感冒同豬流感病毒感染區分開。這兩種傳染病有什么區別？一份新的研究報告表明H1N1流感病毒可能比季節性流感潛伏期更長。

    通常情況下，患流行性感冒的人會被告知呆在家里并且遠離其他人，直至發燒狀況完全解除。不幸的是，這一招可能不適用于H1N1流感病毒。看起來H1N1流感病毒會在出現最初的癥狀后，繼續存留在體內至十天之久-這要比典型的季節性流感病毒存留的時間長幾天。

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    這意味著你將在產生流感癥狀10天后仍然據有傳染力嗎？不一定。要具有傳染力，就得有一定數量的病毒潛伏，而在關于此項的研究中，研究者們只是記錄了會有病毒潛伏，但沒有記錄病毒的量。還不確定在引發流感7至10天后，是否有足夠的H1N1病毒活躍的潛伏了。一個人能持續多久傳染性地攜帶H1N1流感病毒可能也要視其是否接受抗病毒藥物而定，如泰米弗氯。

    因為即便在退燒的情況下還有可能具有感染性，許多專家建議攜帶有H1N1病毒的人群呆在家里不要去上班和上學，直至他們不再咳嗽位置。咳嗽時H1N1病毒傳播的主要途徑之一，而且一旦不咳嗽了，傳播病毒的危險就會變得相當低了。就是說，遠離那些感染了H1N1病毒且仍然咳嗽的人非常重要--特別是如果他們正在發燒。

    這項研究表明什么？如果你被診明攜帶H1N1流感病毒，在休息幾天后不要急著立刻回去上班。這樣會有可能你會將你的病毒傳染給你的同時，會使你在辦公室不受歡迎。盡可能的呆在家里，不只是帶到退燒，還要帶到你的咳嗽完全的平息下來的時候。對大多數人來說，這可能會是7天或者更長的時間。如果你的工作容易同諸如此類孩子，孕婦和老年人等H1N1流感并發癥的高危感染人群相接觸，那么直至你完全康復再返回工作就顯得更加重要了。