If you go to shake someone’s hand over the next few weeks and they refuse, don’t feel bad, they’re just being sensible and taking steps to avoid getting the flu.
But you’d probably know that already because the people who are sick haven’t stopped complaining about it on Facebook and Twitter.
Social media is drowning in mopey and miserable status updates from people stuck at home with a snotty nose or a sore throat. And we used to think it was only men that got the man flu!
Even still, the flu really is rife this year. Approximately 8000 people have been diagnosed with the influenza virus already this winter, and that’s double the number of previous years.
Apparently we can blame the H3N2 virus, which has been around for at least three years, but come out with a vengeance this winter.
Some medical experts, like Anne Kelso, director of the World Health Organisation’s Collaborating Centre for Influenza, say the influenza vaccine is partly to blame.
She told The Australian this morning that “while not dramatically different” the H3N2 virus is not the perfect match for the vaccine.”
But the flu injection is not the only solution. According to Kelso, it’s only ever been 75 per cent efficient, which means three in four people who were jabbed at the beginning of this winter season will end up protected anyway.
Another reason that could explain an increase in flu symptoms could be that we’ve forgotten how to manage and therefore prevent sickness in public spaces. Stuff like washing our hands, covering our mouths when we cough and crucially staying home from work when we’re feeling sick.
Sure the flu strain might be particularly bad this year but you can’t beat the simple stuff when it comes to avoiding illness of any kind. After all, as the saying goes, prevention is better than cure!
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