Flu Season is Coming

 

Flu season is coming. The word influenza comes from an Italian word meaning "influence." Originally the illness was ascribed to unfavorable astrological influences. In a sense, the patterns of astrology still influence how we think of the flu today. The flu isn't caused by changing seasonal patterns, yet we still refer to the start of autumn as 'Flu Season.'

Flu may have nothing to do with the stars, but the ease at which it spreads does have real seasonal causes. During the fall and winter, children go back to school and people in general spend more time indoors due to cold weather. The warm, dry air indoors and close proximity between people allows the virus to spread easily from person to person. Flu Season has real impacts as well, causing 200,000 hospitalizations and 41,000 deaths per year in the US.