influenza a

[Cherylshaw]

looking for help from anyone who knows about this or healthcare professionals etc.
my mum is in hospital just now, she thought she had a chest infection and her swabs have came back saying she has influenza a.
(she has suspected copd)
she has just been taken to isolation.
can anyone tell me in layman's terms what it is, is it the flu or worse? should I be worried?
I tried to Google it but I'm not really understanding it
thanks for reading

nobody?

It's the most common form of flu virus and is covered by the vaccine. They'll isolate her so the infection doesn't spread as that means closing off wards (unable to discharge patients back to care homes etc). Hopefully now they've identified it she will recover quickly.

Yes as m0d says it’s flu and the usual seasonal one. Isolation for infection control is important, but also she should be treated with tamiflu as she’s got at least one risk factor for severity (the COPD and possibly older age). Antibiotics might be needed if she’s got a secondary bacterial chest infection on top of the flu.

thank you!