Cause of Influenza Influenza is caused by a virus in the body; the family of RNA viruses that cause influenza in humans

is Orthomyxoviridae. Flu spreads when infected persons cough, sneeze, or even talk around others. People with flu are contagious a day before symptoms appear and three to seven days after. Children can be contagious for more than a week. You can get the flu simply by touching a surface like a telephone, keyboard or doorknob that has been contaminated and then from your hand to your nose or mouth. Breathing the air within a six foot diameter of a person sneezing or coughing may also transmit the virus to you in respiratory droplets

there are three types of influenza viruses. Type A is the most common flu. It changes often and causes a new epidemic, or mass outbreak of flu, every few years. An epidemic usually peaks within 2 or 3 weeks after the first cases occur. Type B causes smaller, local or regional outbreaks and Type C causes only mild illness. It is so contagious because the person who has it can spread it is unaware until a day or so later that they had the flu.

At work and in the home, you can do some things to avoid passing flu on. Wipe the phone and keyboard with disinfectant wipes before working in another person's area, such as reception. At home, keep the bathroom and kitchen clean, wash bedding and remove trash and garbage regularly, especially if someone has become sick. Make sure the air in the home is regularly recirculated. What Causes Mumps? A person suffers mumps when infected with the mumps virus. It can be transmitted via respiratory secretions (e.g. saliva) from a person already affected with the condition. When contracting mumps, the virus travels from the respiratory tract to the salivary glands and reproduces, causing the glands to swell. Examples of how it can be spread are: sneezing or coughing using the same cutlery/plates with someone infected sharing food and drink with someone infected kissing someone infected touching their nose or mouth and then passing it onto a surface someone else may touch Someone infected with the mumps virus is contagious for approximately 15 days (six days before the symptoms start to show, up to nine days after they start).

The mumps virus is part of the paramyxovirus family, which is a widespread cause of infection, especially in children. Tuberculosis Causes All cases of TB are passed from person to person via droplets. When someone with TB infection coughs, sneezes, or talks, tiny droplets of saliva or mucus are expelled into the air, which can be inhaled by another person. Once infectious particles reach the alveoli (small saclike structures in the air spaces in the lungs), another cell, called the macrophage, engulfs the TB bacteria.
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Then the bacteria are transmitted to the lymphatic system and bloodstream and spread to other organs occurs. The bacteria further multiply in organs that have high oxygen pressures, such as the upper lobes of the lungs, the kidneys, bone marrow, and meninges -- the membrane-like coverings of the brain and spinal cord.

When the bacteria cause clinically detectable disease, you have TB. People who have inhaled the TB bacteria, but in whom the disease is controlled, are referred to as infected. Their immune system has walled off the organism in an inflammatory focus known as a granuloma. They have no symptoms, frequently have a positive skin test for TB, yet cannot transmit the disease to others. This is referred to as latent tuberculosis infection or LTBI. Risk factors for TB include the following:
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HIV infection, low socioeconomic status, alcoholism, homelessness, crowded living conditions, diseases that weaken the immune system, migration from a country with a high number of cases, and health-care workers.