Flu Season Is Here: What You Should Know

It’s that time of the year. You know, that rather unfortunate process you may endure: coughing and sneezing with a side of ibuprofen. 

October marks the start of flu season, which generally ends in March, but can go as late as April. The most active months for flu cases occur between December and February.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says for this flu season there are some new things to look out for.

They updated two of the three vaccines which now will contain A/Brisbane/02/2018 (H1N1)pdm09-like virus and A/Kansas/14/2017 (H3N2)-like virus.

To put it simply, the updated vaccine will better match what’s anticipated to spread throughout the next several months. 

The regular dosage for flu shots this year will now be quadrivalent shots rather than trivalent shots meaning that they will contain two influenza A viruses and two influenza B viruses. 

With the season in full swing, it’s always tough to determine when the best time to get vaccinated is. The CDC says it’s difficult to say because the start, end and peak of the season varies from year to year. Sometimes they recommend receiving one dose for the season as early as July or August to protect yourself from an earlier start to the flu season. 

Once you get a flu shot, it takes about two weeks to set in and for the vaccine to protect the body against the flu, but this is not the only way to protect yourself from the influenza:

-Avoid close contact with people who may be sick

-Always wash your hands with soap and water, and if that’s not available, use alcohol--based hand sanitizers 

-Avoid touching your mouth, nose and eyes as germs can spread more easily this way

-When coughing or sneezing, cover your nose and mouth with your elbow 

But what happens if you do get the flu? WebMD tweeted an infographic you can find here to help with this. 

They also recommend staying hydrated, taking medicine to aid with symptoms, cleaning and disinfecting everything you touch, waiting 24 hours before returning to work or school and of course getting plenty of rest.