The fall air brings much delight: jack-o-lanterns, apple pies, and piles of crunchy, multicolored leaves to jump in. It also brings some not-so-delightful things, like influenza. Every year, as you sip your first pumpkin latte of the season or buy your favorite pumpkin ale, you should think to yourself "now would be a great time to get a flu shot".
Despite historical evidence that influenza is nothing to mess around with, its power is often drastically minimized. The flu is not just a bad cold. Have you ever heard of someone being killed by a cold? I didn't think so. Influenza has the potential to be so deadly that it is responsible for one of the worst epidemics ever recorded: the 1918 flu , also called the "Spanish flu", which killed at least 20 million people. Though most flu strains aren't this dangerous, even seasonal flu causes thousands of deaths every year. And as 2009 reminded us, flu pandemics are not an event of the past.
It's true that most people who get the flu won't die or suffer complications such as pneumonia, but they will be miserable, bed-ridden sacks of viruses. If you've had the flu, you know that it confines you to a horizontal position for about a week (sorry, no such thing as the "24-hour flu") while you alternate between fever-induced delusions and writhing in pain from body aches. It's not a good time. Not even worth some sick days. Trust me, the movies you've been wanting to watch will not be funny if you have the flu.
If that's not reason enough to make you want to avoid the flu, consider what your infected respiratory droplets might do to those around you. Oh, you're home alone watching movies and won't get anyone else sick? WRONG - that strategy won't work. When you become infected with the flu, you are contagious for one day before you begin having symptoms.
Your best bet for protecting yourself and those around you is to get vaccinated each fall. While the flu vaccine doesn't provide immunity for all flu variations, it does guard against the three strains which are expected to be most common during a given season. Because there are so many strains of flu virus, and the virus is constantly mutating, the vaccine changes every year. Researchers around the world monitor flu activity in order to determine how the vaccine should be formulated for each flu season (talk about a stressful job). It's important to note that the vaccine is made from killed viruses, in other words the viruses cannot make you sick! The part of the virus that your immune system needs in order to produce antibodies against the pathogen remains. However, it is impossible for the flu vaccine to cause the flu (unless the nurse who gave you the shot sneezed on you).
Flu season generally peaks in winter, so now is the time to get vaccinated. Be smart and don't let the flu mess with you!
If that's not reason enough to make you want to avoid the flu, consider what your infected respiratory droplets might do to those around you. Oh, you're home alone watching movies and won't get anyone else sick? WRONG - that strategy won't work. When you become infected with the flu, you are contagious for one day before you begin having symptoms.
Your best bet for protecting yourself and those around you is to get vaccinated each fall. While the flu vaccine doesn't provide immunity for all flu variations, it does guard against the three strains which are expected to be most common during a given season. Because there are so many strains of flu virus, and the virus is constantly mutating, the vaccine changes every year. Researchers around the world monitor flu activity in order to determine how the vaccine should be formulated for each flu season (talk about a stressful job). It's important to note that the vaccine is made from killed viruses, in other words the viruses cannot make you sick! The part of the virus that your immune system needs in order to produce antibodies against the pathogen remains. However, it is impossible for the flu vaccine to cause the flu (unless the nurse who gave you the shot sneezed on you).
Flu season generally peaks in winter, so now is the time to get vaccinated. Be smart and don't let the flu mess with you!
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