Flu virus and hives

From late fall through early spring, with a peak of activity occurring sometime between December and February, those symptoms tip us off to the virus. The flu comes with a set of very noticeable symptoms that often stop us in our tracks. For older adults, young children, pregnant women, and those with a compromised immune system, the flu can be very severe and in some cases lead to death. These groups can benefit greatly from those textbook symptoms, but should also keep an eye out for less common signs.

The most common signs of the flu remain the same. Along with the signs we mentioned above, the virus can cause a headache, sore throat, runny or stuffy nose, chills and in some cases diarrhea or vomiting. A less common sign of the flu is a rash. In fact, only about 2 percent of patients with influenza A will have a rash. In January of a mother in Nebraska found that her son, who had no common signs of the flu, came home with a rash that would not go away.

After testing it was discovered he had contracted influenza. Please keep watch on your children so if they develop hives, please call your pediatrician. I have never heard of this symptom but it is obviously something to be on the lookout for. He added that while influenza A viruses have caused the majority of flu illness this season, there have been recent reports of prevalent influenza B in areas of Texas and other parts of the country and that B viruses can have a late-season surge after A viruses start to wane.

Shaffner, emphasizing that in this case, the child did not experience the typical and sometimes severe flu symptoms, such as fever or respiratory illness. The only thing you can do to keep it from spreading is take a hives treatment that eliminates hives. Viral hives are caused when your immune system senses an allergen in the body and releases histamine into your blood stream to fight it off. This is what causes the hives to appear on your skin, however, more specifically, viral hives are generally caused by a viral infection such as the flu, hepatitis, herpes, croup and many other viral infections.

Your immune system is attempting to eradicate these viruses by releasing the histamine that causes your viral hives. Viral hives symptoms include red bumps and swollen areas on the skin that seem to appear out of nowhere. They are usually very itchy and may cause a burning or prickly sensation - especially when touched. They can appear on any part of your body and can vary in size from as small as the eraser on a pencil to as large as a dinner plate.

These types of hives symptoms can be easily treated at home with the right over the counter medication. However, these chemicals also cause skin inflammation, resulting in a rash.

The rubella virus , also known as German measles, typically causes mild illness in both children and adults. However, this can cause stillbirth or miscarriage and severe birth defects in developing babies. People with rubella can pass the virus to others by sneezing and coughing as well as through their saliva.

They may be contagious for a full week before they develop a rash. The rash caused by German measles typically starts on the face, and within 3 days, it spreads to the rest of the body. The rash can appear red on light skin. It may be hard to see on darker skin but feel rough or bumpy to the touch. This virus is common in teenagers and young adults but can occur at any age. A rash may occur with infection, though it is not the primary symptom. Like its nickname — the kissing disease — suggests, mono is passed through bodily fluids like saliva.

Mono can have three different types of rashes. Mono rashes can appear as:. Chickenpox , caused by the varicella-zoster virus, causes a rash with fluid-filled pustules. This virus is highly contagious to those who have not been vaccinated. You can catch chickenpox by coming into contact with the saliva of a person who has the virus, such as when they sneeze or cough.

You can also get the disease by touching the blisters or the liquid inside the blisters. Pregnant people can also pass chickenpox to their babies before birth. For those who have received one or two doses of the chickenpox vaccine, milder breakthrough cases can occur, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention CDC. Shingles infection is caused by the same virus that causes chickenpox. If you have had chickenpox, you are at risk of developing shingles.

The risk of reactivating the virus increases with age, and 1 out of every 2 people in the United States will develop shingles in their lifetime, according to the CDC. When the virus reactivates, it travels down your nerves to your skin. As the virus spreads there, the shingles rash begins to form.

Though similar to chickenpox spots in children, the shingles rash and illness are often more severe in adults. Older adults may also be at risk for complications such as nerve pain, blindness, and neurological conditions. People who develop shingles often note that pain occurred at the site where the rash develops. Unlike the rash caused by a chickenpox infection, a shingles rash typically occurs on one side of the body, often in a single area or stripe.

Hand, foot, and mouth disease is caused by viruses in the enterovirus family. It commonly affects children under age 5, but it can affect people of any age. It can be very contagious but does not typically cause serious illness. You can get hand, foot, and mouth disease by coming into contact with the bodily fluids of a person who has the virus. This includes:.