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.

流感季节到了，所以H1N1也就来了-那个导致猪流感的病毒。当季节性流行感冒完全发挥威力的时候，在不做实验室实验的情况下很难将季节性流行感冒同猪流感病毒感染区分开。这两种传染病有什么区别？一份新的研究报告表明H1N1流感病毒可能比季节性流感潜伏期更长。

通常情况下，患流行性感冒的人会被告知呆在家里并且远离其他人，直至发烧状况完全解除。不幸的是，这一招可能不适用于H1N1流感病毒。看起来H1N1流感病毒会在出现最初的症状后，继续存留在体内至十天之久-这要比典型的季节性流感病毒存留的时间长几天。

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这意味着你将在产生流感症状10天后仍然据有传染力吗？不一定。要具有传染力，就得有一定数量的病毒潜伏，而在关于此项的研究中，研究者们只是记录了会有病毒潜伏，但没有记录病毒的量。还不确定在引发流感7至10天后，是否有足够的H1N1病毒活跃的潜伏了。一个人能持续多久传染性地携带H1N1流感病毒可能也要视其是否接受抗病毒药物而定，如泰米弗氯。

因为即便在退烧的情况下还有可能具有感染性，许多专家建议携带有H1N1病毒的人群呆在家里不要去上班和上学，直至他们不再咳嗽位置。咳嗽时H1N1病毒传播的主要途径之一，而且一旦不咳嗽了，传播病毒的危险就会变得相当低了。就是说，远离那些感染了H1N1病毒且仍然咳嗽的人非常重要--特别是如果他们正在发烧。

这项研究表明什么？如果你被诊明携带H1N1流感病毒，在休息几天后不要急着立刻回去上班。这样会有可能你会将你的病毒传染给你的同时，会使你在办公室不受欢迎。尽可能的呆在家里，不只是带到退烧，还要带到你的咳嗽完全的平息下来的时候。对大多数人来说，这可能会是7天或者更长的时间。如果你的工作容易同诸如此类孩子，孕妇和老年人等H1N1流感并发症的高危感染人群相接触，那么直至你完全康复再返回工作就显得更加重要了。