Every year around Thanksgiving time, and even as early as October, that dreaded time of year rolls around: Flu Season. Who could possibly be thankful for high fever, body aches and chills, endless streams of mucus, and all the persistent coughing. Since it’s a little difficult to avoid the inevitable, there are a few precautions you can take to not let the flu dampen your holiday spirit.

To avoid the flu you really have to know what it is. Contrary to popular belief, influenza is not a bacterial infection, and although it may help your symptoms, over the counter medicine will simply not treat it properly and that usually will lead to complications.

Influenza is a viral infection of the respiratory passages that is highly contagious and is deadly in often cases if it is not treated properly. It causes fever, severe aches throughout the body, and a buildup of mucus in the nose, sinuses, throat, ears, or chest. It often occurs in epidemics and occurs most commonly in the fall and winter time.

As Daniel Bulling, a health teacher at LNE put it, “It can vary person to person in severity. From a minor inconvenience to death.” Some people may experience very minor symptoms whereas others’ symptoms could lead to a major and life threatening complication.

Seasonal flu is the most commonly known but that doesn’t mean it’s the one and only kind of influenza you can be infected with. There are quite a few: seasonal, avian, swine, variant, and epidemic.

Many are familiar with swine flu due to the outbreak in 2009, which occurred when a previous reassortment of bird, swine, and human flu viruses basically combined with the Eurasian pig flu virus. It has been the second of the two pandemics involving the H1N1 influenza virus since 1918. In the United States, the outbreak caused a whopping 60.8 million cases, 274,304 hospitalizations, and a total of 12,469 deaths, all from April 2009 to April 2010, according to the Center for Disease Control.

The old wive’s tale that being out in the cold with wet hair or playing too long in the snow will cause the flu is definitely not true. Although you may get the sniffles or a slight cough, the reason the flu thrives in the winter is completely different.

Flu commonly occurs in the winter time due to the cold and dry weather. When you are sick you may have a humidifier near your bedside  to help you breathe by clearing your nasal passages. Not only does humidity clear your airways, but it also snatches the virus that is traveling through the air to the ground since it is more difficult for it to move around through the stuffiness of the heat. In winter however, it moves around much easier through the cold and dry air and the fact that the majority of people stay indoors during winter, helps it spread easily from person to person.

There are several more theories as to why the flu occurs in the winter time. One of those theories is the fact that it is darker in the winter and less vitamin D and melanin is absorbed from the sunlight, so our immune systems weaken. Another theory states that changes in air circulation in the upper atmosphere cause the virus to spread. This might explain why in some places the flu lingers around a little longer than in others.

The first obvious way to avoid the flu is by getting a flu shot/vaccines. However, that is not always people’s first choice. With all the controversy on vaccination, there are bound to be people who are a little hesitant on getting injected with needles of medicine they can’t even pronounce.

According to The Center for Disease Control (and Prevention), only around 46% of Americans get flu shots, a staggering less than half percent. The devastating outcome to this is the 200,000 people that are hospitalized each year due to flu complications and the 30,000+ people that lose their lives from it.

When asked how many students are admitted for showing signs of flu, Myrna Stanard, the school nurse here at LNE said, “I think we see more sore throats, sometimes mono, some stomach bugs too.”

Other tactics to avoiding the flu can be accomplished right at home. For example, washing your hands, staying away from sick people (since you only have to be six feet away from someone to be infected, and if you do get the flu) be sure to stay home to avoid spreading it to others. Stanard shared some tips for staying healthy and even avoiding the flu, “Get rest, eat healthy, don’t smoke, keep your immune system strong.”

Some people, however, are more prone to the flu or the complications that come with it, so for them it’s not that easy. People who are morbidly obese as well as people with conditions such as asthma, COPD, heart disease, blood disorders, people with weakened immune systems from cancer or HIV or AIDS, people with neurological conditions like epilepsy, cerebral palsy, or people who have suffered a stroke, are more likely to suffer pneumonia, bronchitis, sinus or ear infections, or even death as a complication of influenza.
For those who can avoid the flu, Bulling said, “Eat nutritious food, sleep well, stay away from sick people!”