10 Things to Know About Cold and Flu Season

We are already one month inside Cold and Flu season. Coughing neighbors walking their dog. Coworkers dwindling the communal tissues down to zero. What can you do to protect yourself?

“The cold and flu season really begins when school starts in September, and continues all the way through the spring season,” said Dr. David Topham, professor of microbiology and immunology at the University of Rochester.

No one likes getting sick, but the flu is particularly nasty. The virus can be deadly, and even in mild forms it disrupts work and family life while making its victims miserable. Here's what you need to know to protect yourself this season:

• The best protection against the flu is getting vaccinated.

Doctors say this repeatedly, but it can’t be reiterated enough. Despite some spurious conspiracy theories about flu shots and even some mainstream skepticism about their effectiveness, there’s no better way to protect you and your family from the harmful virus than getting vaccinated.

• The flu can be deadly even for healthy people.

Getting the vaccine is particularly important because the flu can be deadly.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, it’s very difficult to know how many people die annually from the flu. Its estimates range from 3,000 to 49,000 depending on the year.

• Use "Common Sense Hygiene" to reduce your risk of catching the flu and other viruses.

Aside from getting the flu vaccine, which experts agree is the best defense against the virus, basic hygienic behaviors also significantly reduce your chances of getting sick. Hand washing is one of the best effective countermeasures against influenza. Also, "respiratory etiquette" or covering sneeze or cough with your sleeve rather than your hands, reduces the risk of illness spread.

• This year, the CDC is not recommending the use of the nasal spray vaccine.

For the past few years, many doctors have recommended a nasal spray version of the flu vaccine, as a replacement for the injection. Many kids preferred this method to getting a shot.

But people who received the nasal inoculation in recent years showed little if any benefit from it. No one is quite sure why it didn’t work, but the CDC does not recommend the nasal vaccine this year.

• The flu changes every year, which is why we need annual vaccines.

Unlike the vaccines for measles or mumps, the flu shot only offers protection for the upcoming seasons. Why do we need a new one every year?

Influenza viruses, of which there are many strains, mutate very quickly, so the protection that the vaccine provided one season may not work in the future.

• Some seasons, the flu vaccine is relatively ineffective — but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t get it.

By examining influenza infections around the world, researchers try to predict which forms of the virus will be prevalent in the upcoming season.

There’s no way to know for sure how much protection the vaccine will provide this season, but the experts still agree that you’re much better off getting it than not.

• The flu shot does not give you the flu.

One common misconception people have about the flu vaccine is that it can actually cause the infection itself.

However, people tend to get their flu shots as the flu season begins, and many of those people are bound to get cold viruses, or possibly even the flu itself, shortly after getting the vaccine. This can confirm the misguided idea that the vaccine can cause illness, but it is most likely to just cause soreness at the site of the injection.

• Stay home when you’re sick, if at all possible.

If you do get the flu, it can be tempting to try to power through it and go to work anyway.

Resist that temptation.

By going to work, you risk spreading the virus to others. And unnecessary exertion may tire you out and prevent you from getting better. If your case is serious, visit your doctor, but stay away from your office and keep sick kids home if possible.

• Vaccination benefits the whole community.

Experts are clear that getting a flu shot is in your best interest — it helps you avoid getting an extremely unpleasant illness and avoid the most dangerous consequences of the infection.

Families with young infants, especially, should make sure that every member who is eligible gets vaccinated.

• The flu penetrates deeper into the body than other viruses.

Why is influenza so much worse than other common colds and coughs that we get all the time? The main reason is that it penetrates much more deeply into our respiratory system than these other viruses.

Unlike common cold viruses, the flu can replicate in the lungs, where it can cause dangerous secondary infections such as pneumonia. It’s these secondary infections that are particularly dangerous and are most likely to cause complications or death.