What’s True About the Flu?
Take a look at the influenza virus under a microscope, and you'll see a funny-looking spiked ball, much like the famous Russian satellite Sputnik. But if you've ever been flat on your back with the flu, you know there's nothing funny about this highly contagious virus. Test your savvy by taking this quiz.
Stomach flu is the worst kind of flu.
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There's no such thing as stomach flu, says the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The flu is a respiratory illness. Although people frequently use the word flu for any infectious illness they get, flu is a specific type of infection, caused each year by ever-changing, ever-adapting strains of the influenza virus.
The CDC recommends people 50 and older get the flu vaccine each fall or winter.
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Others who should get vaccinated against the flu each year include women who will be pregnant during flu season, children ages 6 months through 18 years, people with certain chronic health conditions, and people who live in nursing homes and other long-term care facilities. People with severe allergy to eggs shouldn't get the vaccine.
The flu vaccine can give you the flu.
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A "flu shot" contains dead virus, so you can't get the flu from it. The nasal-spray flu vaccine, approved for people ages 2 to 49, is made with live, weakened flu viruses that can't cause the flu, the CDC says.
New medications can help fight the flu.
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Antiviral drugs can be used as a second line of defense against the flu, the CDC says. They work best when started within two days of becoming sick and help to reduce the severity of symptoms. These drugs can also be used to prevent the flu, but the CDC stresses that the antivirals are not a substitute for the flu vaccine.
If you don't touch an infected person, you won't get the flu.
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You catch the flu by coming in contact with droplets of an infected person's cough or sneeze. Avoiding people you know are infected will cut your risk, as will frequent hand-washing. But by far, experts say, your best protection is the vaccine.
A test can tell your doctor quickly if you have the flu.
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The Rapid Test takes about 30 minutes to an hour to show a result, experts say. The older viral culture takes two to 10 days, past the time necessary for newer drugs to offer relief.
The flu causes 5,000 U.S. deaths a year.
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About 36,000 Americans die each year after becoming infected with the flu, according to the CDC. Nine out of 10 are senior citizens who develop complications such as pneumonia after they are severely weakened by flu.
Symptoms are worse for the flu than a cold.
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The flu has an acute onset with fever, a non-productive cough, muscle ache, headache, and fatigue. Generally, you feel like you have been run over by a truck. Most colds don't include fever or severe headache, muscle aches are milder, and fatigue and weakness from a cold are far less severe than from flu.
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