The Flu and Airports (fastcompany.com)

An anonymous reader writes: The CDC says this year's flu season is on track to either rival or dethrone 2009's swine flu. 3,000 people across the U.S. have died as a result of the flu in the first 20 days of 2018, according to the National Center for Health Statistics, and that number has likely risen. If you want to avoid the flu (and of course you do) the National Institute of Health says orange juice won't cut it. Instead, the best flu prevention is a vaccine, and it's not too late to get one. Pair a flu shot with frequent hand washing, and avoiding touching your eyes, nose, or mouth so you don't transfer any virus from your hands, and you just might manage to avoid the flu.

Comments

I got a flu shot this season

[cyberchondriac]

But I'd heard that this year's vaccines had mostly missed the mark.
It'd probably be more effective this year to wash your hands often, don't shake hands (I know, it's antisocial), and keep your hands away from your face.. or my face.

Re:I got a flu shot this season

[jellomizer]

Still even when the flue vaccine misses its mark, it still normally lessons the symptoms if you are to get the flu. It can be the difference between being out of work (feeling like crap) for a week vs being in the hospital for a week and out of work for an additional week.

Having the flu before, I make a point to get a vaccine every year (normally in September when it first gets out) just so I can avoid as much of the pain and misery of having the flu as I can. If I get it, it may be a few days of misery vs a week.

Re: I got a flu shot this season

[arth1]

I didn't exercise, ate poorly, and smoked a pack a day for 20 years. I hardly ever got sick either.

There could quite possibly be a correlation there. If your habits made people shy away from you more than an average person, you would also be less likely to become infected.
If everybody had halitosis, diseases would have a harder time spreading.

Re:I got a flu shot this season

[arth1]

Technically, "getting influenza" should not count as a form of "preventing influenza".

Why not? It helps prevent future infections better than a vaccine does.

A downside is that if you have had a particular influenza strain and then get a vaccine for the same one, you likely will be sick for a couple of days, as the immune system response is triggered full on.

Time off for illness

[bit trollent]

In most of the US there are no paid sick days for restaurant workers.

So when you are drinking your soda and eating your sandwich, ask yourself if the sandwich maker could afford to take a sick day.

Is America a truly modern country without universal healthcare or paid time off for illness?

Re:Time off for illness

[DaveyJJ]

Huh? Canuck here. Sick at home Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday last week. Slacked my co-workers (not even head office) said, "Sick, staying home" ... response was "Okay, great." I get 10 sick days and 10 personal health days off, none of which I need any documentation for. I also worked nearly a decade in the US and was docked pay (and verbally berated) for taking a measly three days off after my second son was born and my wife wasn't mobile. I call BS, AC.

Either TFS or the Headline sucks.

[sconeu]

There is no mention of airports in TFS.

This year's flu is an A/H3N2 strain.

[hey!]

This is a strain known for producing severe flu cases and sometimes-fatal secondary complications.

There is evidence that in past A/H3N2 outbreaks, people who contracted the flu despite being vaccinated had less severe symptoms and fewer complications. Even if the vaccine is only "10% effective" at preventing infection, the evidence still suggests that it's worth getting, especially as this flu is claiming the lives of many young, healthy people.

IMPORTANT: the "10%" figure was an early estimate from Australia in December. More recent figures I've heard are 17% effectiveness and 30% effectiveness in the US.