Mike Snider Flu is ramping up across the country just as millions prepare to hit the road for holiday celebrations. While influenza activity across the U.S. isn’t currently at abnormal levels, travelers may want to take some precautions to avoid illness – and prevent spreading it. More than half of the states in the U.S....
By Helen Branswell Oct. 17, 2022 VIRGINIA MAYO/AP Before the Covid-19 pandemic emerged, influenza trackers would begin reading tea leaves around this time of the year, looking for signs of whether there would be an early start to the flu season in the northern hemisphere and which of the various flu viruses might be responsible for...
by Laura Hegwer, Rush University Medical Center Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain The 2020–2021 flu season was the mildest on record, but experts can’t rule out a “twin-demic” of influenza and COVID-19 this time around. Last year, flu cases were 99% lower than a typical flu season. In the Emergency Department at Rush University Medical Center, staff rarely saw patients with...
Flu season starts in the fall, and this year, the continuing coronavirus pandemic will complicate the picture. COVID-19 and the flu are both contagious respiratory illnesses. You may be wondering: If you get sick, what should you do? How important is it to get your flu shot this year? (Spoiler alert: very.) Will the flu...
In 2017, a terrible flu season in Australia presaged an American outbreak in which 79,000 died. Experts advise getting the shot soon. Australia had an unusually early and fairly severe flu season this year. Since that may foretell a serious outbreak on its way in the United States, public health experts now are urging Americans...
