Flu: a very contagious virus
The flu virus spreads very easily because all it takes is droplets of saliva, expelled by cough or sneezing to catch it. You should know that an adult carrying the influenza virus is contagious even before develop symptoms and up to 5 days after falling ill. As for children, they can do without the flu virus during one week.
Flu: the vaccine does not cause the disease
The best way to put the odds in your favor to make sure you don’t catch the flu is of course to get vaccinated . Because, contrary to a very widespread idea, the vaccine does not give the flu. Quite simply because the strain that was used to make the vaccine is a dead strain. Of course, after receiving the injection of the vaccine, your body may respond with a flare-up of a mild fever (as with all vaccines), but this usually goes away after two days.
Flu: last year’s epidemic toll
Since 1984, the GROG Network (Regional Influenza Observation Groups) has been monitoring the arrival and circulation of influenza viruses on French territory. Last year, influenza viruses were delayed and remained very sporadic until December.
It was then the influenza A (H3N2) virus which became predominant and which was at the origin of the epidemic wave (it represented 89% of the viruses analyzed).
The GROG alert threshold was crossed for 5 weeks (from January 30 to March 4), the epidemic peak being during the week of February 20 to 26. This epidemic therefore occurred a little late in the season, when a cold wave. And while the overall impact of influenza has remained comparable to that of influenza epidemics in previous seasons, the impact of the A (H3N2) virus has been greater than in previous seasons. in the elderly .
Obviously, the virus has not yet appeared but if, this year, you have decided to take the lead, you also have the choice between anti-flu essential oils and homeopathy to boost your immune defenses.
