It’s flu “season” here. Lots about it on TV. Question: why flu “season”? Why now or some other specific time? How does it start at this time? Why not some other time and/or why not all year?

The majority of influenza viruses don't reproduce well in warm temperatures, so in the northern hemispheres, flu activity is seasonal. There are still strains that can and do survive in the tropics, but the 'typical' strains for North America prefer the winter months.

Thanks Doc.

Thanks for the info as well. Does humidity play into this as well?

I always wondered that too

Dave.....refrain from shaking hands!

I wish the custom didn't exist!...No telling how many millions it's killed over time

I went back and reviewed the literature for the latest stuff on influenza. The seasonality of flu, although well documented (that it occurs) is still not well understood (why). An article I just finished reading speculated that the dry/cool air of fall/winter does seem to be a more ideal environment than humid/warm summer conditions. But influenza, while nearly dormant in the spring/summer months, is still active. China is nearly always the origin of most flu outbreaks and peak activity.

Best advice on flu:
1. Get your flu shot
2. Use contact/droplet precautions (sneeze into your elbow, wash your hands often and especially before meals, avoid touching common surfaces at work like door knobs and break room counters, avoid the 'family buffet' as if it literally contained the plague)
3. Most cases of influenza do not need to be treated with prescription meds like Tamiflu. Exceptions are pregnant ladies and people with poor immune systems (under cancer treatment, have chronic medical condition that depresses the immune system, et al)

I very rarely get it. I do take the shot every year. I last had it about 7 or 8 years ago and it only lasted a couple of days.

At 75, I’m pretty healthy but have had dang near everything including polio when I was about 7 years old.

Didn’t know about it generally originating in China but recall a strain a couple of years ago called the Hong Kong flu.

Good to know about avoiding buffets but it certainly makes sense.

I would say I am obsessive about the hand washing....i think it's really helped avoid illness, but nothing is 100%.

Had one guy last week come back to work, shake my hand, and then proceed to tell me he was still fighting horrible flu and bronchitis. I thought "oh great...i really wanted to shake that hand". At work it always helps to have a coffee cup in one hand and a bunch of papers in the other and most wont stick out their hand for a shake seeing that you have no hands free. Leaving public bathrooms these days ya notice how many don't wash their hands? Church is about the worst for lots of handshaking.

I've had some kinda of crap that lasted all through Christmas. Took antibiotics two prescriptions of them to get through it. I had my flu shots and my pneumonia shot. But it took me two prescriptions, second was a double dose over the first script. My great grand child just started day care, a breading ground of all kinda of crap. The doc never called it the flu, so all I an say is it moved into my chest and that has not happened for 4 or 5 yrs.

Whew! Glad to hear that. The last two years we have forgotten to get flu shots before heading south. You all can just keep that stuff up there. No sharing required.

Several of the small school systems around us have cancelled classes for a few days. Lot's of sick kids.

Mark, there's nothing I enjoy more than throwing wet paper towels beside a retail store's bathroom door. No way I'm grabbing that handle. Trash can by the door please.

Could walk to the nearest trash can outside of the restroom. Folks picking up those towels might appreciate that. Would you do that at home?

RAH, I could, but I won't. They might appreciate it, but the store/restaurant/bar/etc. could spend $5 at the dollar store and eliminate the problem for everybody. Most places do that down here. No I don't do it at home, because we don't have a paper towel dispenser. We do have a bin for dirty hand towels though.

Just thinking/remembering. Missed the PB conference with a lung infection. I'm still coughing.

Yes Al I see more and more restaurants adding a trash bin near the bathroom exit door. I try not to throw the paper towel on the floor....but often have to throw up a Michael Jordan shot back towards the can as I exit. I've always thought the bathroom entry at DFW airport were the perfect design....the bathrooms have no doors....just right angles....you don't have to touch anything entering or exiting. The touchless hand dryers are nice too.

All the restroom doors at my office are equipped with foot pulls for folks that don't want to touch handles with their hands.

I got a chuckle out of your post.

For several years I worked with a brilliant and very well educated fisheries biologist. He said he very seldom ever washed his hands during the workday. He believed that it would build up his antibodies.

A long tradition in the Lutheran Church was the "peace be with you" handshake and/or hug from all those around you during or after a Sunday service. During one of the more serious flu outbreaks in the last 10-15 years, Garrison Keillor of Prairie Home Companion was joking about how the Lake Wobegon Lutheran Church was suspending the tradition during the flu season. Lynda and I regularly attend three different Lutheran churches near our homes in WV, VA and NC. All stopped the tradition about that time. It is now a rather rare occurrence.

I know I haven't missed a flu shot at least since I got drafted in 1969. So far so good.

Ken

Zep about the same thing happens to me. Had a guy come and set right beside me and went to telling me how sick he was. coughing everywhere.
My Dr told me to get Tamiflu in the first 48 hours of symptoms.
Are they like antibiotics and it quits working?

dale....I think Tamiflu is only available by prescription but some get good results

https://www.tamiflu.com/taking-tamiflu

I have a friend from Denmark that is a doctor. He has spent a significant portion of his career (now retired) caring for the elderly and was involved in some longivity research.

I ask him what the secret to long life is, based on the research. He said "don't get sick". He said there is evidence that every time we get a cold or the flu or any illness it subtracts from whatever our genetic potential gives us. Of course picking the right parents for the right genes helps too.

John

There is a lot of research into Vitamin D deficiency both in humans and animals/fish. It is a hotly debated topic in my circles. There is interesting information (but not much research) on Vit D levels in farm raised fish vs wild caught fish. Dr. Wetzel could probably speak to this.

There have been lots of stories about medical offices where one provider makes sure all their patients get adequate D supplementation to blood levels of 50ng/dl or higher. Although it is not a controlled trial, the number of influenza cases in the group with adequate D vs those with no supplements is quite remarkable (like close to zero vs the typical seasonal load of sick influenza patients)

To me it is fascinating (as is the article I'll attach for those who would like to wade through a more scientific explanation). But to get to the real answers you need long term randomized and blinded studies. This costs money and the people who sell Vitamin D will never be able to pay to run the study so we probably will never know the true answers.

But it also explains well the original questions at the beginning of this thread, which is, if Influenza virus is in every locality all year, why is it only seen causing troubles mainly in the winter months?

It makes sense in our northern community that influenza activity always peak when the UV exposure totals are lowest (meaning least amount of sunlight for the most days) which also correlates well with the low point in everyone's D levels (for those who don't take D supplements). It also explains fairly well why Australia has influenza during our summer and not at the same time as we do. If the outbreaks were from people living close together, sharing offices in the winter, travelling on airplanes more etc then with global travel we should see outbreaks across the globe in the same weeks of the year like we do with other outbreaks like ebola, etc.

But since it depends on a 'seasonal' factor, which makes sense could be the angle of the sun and temperature which affects how much skin is covered with clothing and the UV factor, which then affects your blood D levels, then it all starts fitting together. The article below said that Hippocrates nailed it hundreds of years before Christ stating that if you want to understand the disease at hand, you have to understand the season of the year as well.

Again, I don't push vitamins or suggest this Vitamin as the be-all answer, but for me it answers a lot of questions and I make sure my family, relatives, especially elderly and young children are not low on Vit D. I see no real risk of toxicity and see no reason to knowingly and purposely keep a Vitamin our bodies need at a very low level. I'm surprised that few know of this, or know of their personal Vit D level.

The Vit D Guru Dr. Cannell and his well written article.

canyon creek that is a very interesting article indeed.

thanks

Temp and humidity

http://jvi.asm.org/content/88/14/7692.full