{"id":15449,"date":"2020-09-10T10:08:29","date_gmt":"2020-09-10T14:08:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.singlecare.com\/blog\/?p=15449"},"modified":"2021-09-21T11:10:52","modified_gmt":"2021-09-21T15:10:52","slug":"how-do-you-get-the-flu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.singlecare.com\/blog\/how-do-you-get-the-flu\/","title":{"rendered":"Is the flu airborne? Learn how the flu spreads."},"content":{"rendered":"

Transmission<\/a> | Flu season<\/a> | Contagiousness<\/a> | How to stop the spread <\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

The influenza virus (aka, \u201cthe flu\u201d) is kicking around all year long. But things really start to amp up when the weather turns cool. Fall and winter are prime flu season months, with cases of the contagious respiratory illness peaking between December and February. With the novel <\/span>coronavirus<\/span><\/a> (COVID-19) and the flu on a collision course, this could be \u201cthe worst fall, from a public health perspective, we’ve ever had,” Robert Redfield, MD, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said in a widely circulated <\/span>WebMD interview<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

The flu is more than just a cold on steroids. It comes on suddenly and can produce a fever, chills, fatigue, headache, body aches, vomiting, and diarrhea\u2014in addition to symptoms often associated with the common cold, like a sore throat, sneezing, cough, and runny nose. <\/span>The CDC<\/span><\/a> estimates that between 39 to 56 million people in the United States were infected with the influenza virus between Oct. 1, 2019 and April 4, 2020, with 24,000 to 62,000 dying.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Preventing the flu is more important than ever, thanks to the coronavirus pandemic and an already-burdened healthcare system. Sure, <\/span>vaccination<\/span><\/a> is key. But knowing when and how the flu virus is transmitted are important tools in keeping you and your family flu-free this season.<\/span><\/p>\n

Is the flu airborne?<\/h2>\n

Experts believe that the flu is primarily spread <\/span>through the droplets<\/span><\/a> released when an infected person sneezes, coughs, or speaks. These droplets land in the mouths or noses of people nearby. Or, less commonly, a person might touch a surface contaminated with them, then touching his or her own face.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But now there\u2019s evidence showing that influenza transmission can also be airborne. A 2018 study out of the University of Maryland and published in the journal <\/span>Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America<\/span><\/i><\/a> found that the flu virus can be shed in tiny droplets suspended in the air from the exhaled breaths of infected people. How far these infectious aerosols travel and how long they stay in the air wasn\u2019t studied, but standard COVID-19 safety protocols\u2014standing six feet away from people and wearing a face or surgical mask\u2014may be good infection-control measures in addition to handwashing.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

And while you may have heard a lot about how limiting our exposure to germs weakens the immune system, some healthcare professionals say it\u2019s not something we need to be concerned about in the short term, as we fight the COVID-19 pandemic. \u201cI can see all these measures decreasing the immune response, especially in the very young, who are building up their repertoire of memory cells,\u201d says <\/span>Hilary Smith, MD<\/span><\/a>, a pediatrician affiliated with Boston Children\u2019s Health Physicians. \u201cBut I\u2019d rather take my chances killing some good germs [along with] the coronavirus.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Whether it\u2019s droplets or aerosols, another thing to consider when it comes to catching any germ is one\u2019s own individual immune system. \u201cWhy does the flu always hit the very old and the very young particularly hard?\u201d Dr. Smith asks. \u201cIt\u2019s because of their [weaker] immune systems, to a degree. As a pediatrician, I can get coughed and sneezed on by kids with the flu all the time and in the 14 years I\u2019ve been practicing, I haven\u2019t caught the flu. Is that all because I got the flu shot? No. A lot of it just depends on your immune system.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

When is flu season?<\/h2>\n

You can catch the flu at any time of year, but cases tend to tick upward starting about October, peaking around February, and then dropping (although not disappearing) in the spring and summer.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

RELATED: <\/b>Is it a summer flu or something else?<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n

Vaccination is an important tool against the spread of the flu, but what worked last year might not work this year. That\u2019s because the flu virus itself can change from one year to the next.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cInfluenza viruses replicate in human and animal cells using a process that easily allows changes to its genetic material,\u201d explains <\/span>Robert Hopkins Jr., MD<\/span><\/a>, a professor of internal medicine at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. \u201cThis results in a constant shift in virus characteristics and, less frequently, major changes that can lead to pandemics. There\u2019s active research ongoing to develop a \u2018universal\u2019 flu vaccine to protect us by attacking parts of the virus which remain more stable despite these genetic \u2018errors.\u2019 The vaccine we will use this year has three major changes from the type we used last year\u2014again, it\u2019s a guess\u2014but I am hopeful it will be very effective.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

How will COVID-19 affect this year\u2019s flu season? Will more people social distancing and <\/span>wearing face masks<\/span><\/a> help tamp down the spread of the flu? Or will people, wary of making a trip to their doctor\u2019s office where COVID-19 patients might be, forgo the flu shot? Only time will tell.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cUnfortunately, our experience with COVID has demonstrated that our society, as a whole, is not very good at personal-protection activities,\u201d comments Dr. Hopkins. \u201cWhile I would love to see a significant uptick in influenza vaccination acceptance this year\u2014and I will certainly push for that\u2014I expect this to be a difficult winter with the convergence of COVID and flu along with RSV [respiratory syncytial virus, a common and contagious respiratory infection usually seen in young children], which also causes significant respiratory illness in the winter.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

How long is the flu contagious?<\/h2>\n

According to the CDC, an infected person can start <\/span>spreading the flu<\/span><\/a> virus one day before symptoms arise and up to seven days after. Overall, though, an infected person is most contagious three to four days after their symptoms start. Children and people with a weakened immune system (for example, those with certain immune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, and people on chemotherapy) can be contagious for longer than seven days.<\/span><\/p>\n

Most people recover from the flu and are no longer contagious after about a week. Staying home and away from people while you recuperate is important to stopping the flu\u2019s spread. Experts at <\/span>UC-Irvine Health<\/span><\/a> say you should stay home until:<\/span><\/p>\n