INFLUENZA

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does influenza mean? 

• INFLUENZA (noun)
  The noun INFLUENZA has 1 sense:

1. an acute febrile highly contagious viral disease

  Familiarity information: INFLUENZA used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• INFLUENZA (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

An acute febrile highly contagious viral disease

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Synonyms:

flu; grippe; influenza

Hypernyms ("influenza" is a kind of...):

contagion; contagious disease (any disease easily transmitted by contact)

respiratory disease; respiratory disorder; respiratory illness (a disease affecting the respiratory system)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "influenza"):

Asian influenza; Asiatic flu (influenza caused by the Asian virus that was first isolated in 1957)

swine flu; swine influenza (an acute and highly contagious respiratory disease of swine caused by the orthomyxovirus thought to be the same virus that caused the 1918 influenza pandemic)

 Context examples 

Influenza B viruses are usually found only in humans.

(Influenza B Virus, NCI Thesaurus)

Influenza type A viruses can infect people, birds, pigs, horses, and other animals, but wild birds are the natural hosts for these viruses.

(influenza A virus, NCI Thesaurus)

A drug used to treat infections caused by the influenza A virus.

(Amantadine hydrochloride, NCI Dictionary)

The long-held approach to predicting seasonal influenza vaccine effectiveness may need to be revisited, new research suggests.

(Study finds factors that may influence influenza vaccine effectiveness, NIH)

In addition to activation of inflammatory cytokine genes like IL-1 and TNF, H. influenzae activates TLR2 expression and genes involved in mucus production.

(NFKB Activation Pathway, NCI Thesaurus/BIOCARTA)

Rarely reported in humans prior to 2009, the disease is caused by a mutated strain of swine influenza A (H1N1) virus.

(H1N1 Influenza, NCI Thesaurus)

Investigators found that people with higher levels of HA stem antibodies at the start of the study were less likely to become infected with influenza.

(New study reveals a novel indicator of influenza immunity, National Institutes of Health)

An inhibitor of inosine monophosphate dehydrogenase with activity against several influenza A and B viruses.

(Amitivir, NCI Thesaurus)

The influenza A virus can infect people, birds, pigs, horses, and other animals.

(influenza A virus, NCI Dictionary)

A vaccine against serotype b of the Gram-negative bacterium H. influenzae (Hib).

(Haemophilus Influenzae B Vaccine, NCI Thesaurus)