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About the flu

How flu is spread

The flu virus is spread easily through the air from person-to-person, via droplets caused by coughing and sneezing. If you breathe in these respiratory droplets the flu virus will enter your body through your nose and mouth and start to infect the airways. In addition to being passed directly from person-to-person, you can also become infected by touching contaminated surfaces - like a telephone or door handle - and then touching your nose or mouth, or by rubbing your eyes.

Not surprisingly, the risk of infection is greater in crowded conditions, such as schools and buses, and for those living with a lot of other people, such as in nursing homes. Most healthy adults with flu are infectious 1 day before symptoms start and remain infectious for up to 6 days more. That means that it is possible to pass on the flu to someone else before you even know you are sick.

Children - flu 'spreaders'

School-age children are often the first to get the flu because their immune systems are not fully developed. The younger the child is, the more vunerable they are. As children grow up, they are regularly in close contact with other children in daycare, nurseries and school, allowing the virus to be easily spread among them. Children then bring the virus back into their homes and other places where they interact with other children, such as after-school activities, infecting their families and friends as well. Children with flu generally remain infectious for longer than adults - usually for more than than 1 week. [1]

How to protect yourself

Before the flu season, it is possible to have a flu jab to protect yourself from catching flu. However, when flu strikes, it is also possible to take a prescription antiviral medication to help stop catching the flu yourself. Then, simple healthy habits, such as regular hand-washing and covering your mouth or nose with a tissue when coughing and sneezing can greatly reduce the risk of catching flu and spreading it to other people.

To view a short film about how flu is spread from person to person, follow the link.

  1. Nicholson K. Human influenza. In: Nicholson K, Webster RG, Hay A, eds. Textbook of influenza. Oxford, UK: Blackwell Science, 1998: 219-64.
  • "I would describe flu as something that makes you feel very, very ill. You get a headache, aching bones, and are generally fed up"
  • "When I get flu symptoms I feel like a train has run over me"
  • "I felt very sick and, during the first week, I had high temperature. Flu was very different to a cold. I went back to work after two and a half weeks. Then I suffered a setback for another week"
  • "I run a guesthouse; flu would be a real pest for me. I couldn’t cook, I shouldn’t cook, and I wouldn’t cook, so I would need to get a lot of extra help in. It would cost me a lot more money. So flu’s a real problem, a right downturn"
  • "I work on my own and when I can’t work, I have to try not to infect my little children, so they avoid getting the flu as well"
  • "I feel a little numb, like I’m in another dimension. Because in general I have sore throat, headache, I feel all clogged-up. Usually a sensation like I’m floating in the air"
  • "Shivers, sweats, makes you ache. Last time I had flu I was off for two weeks"
  • "I think that I would probably be concerned that I would pass flu onto my children, who might not be able to deal with it as well as I would"
  • "Flu makes you feel like you’ve been hit over the head with a baseball bat. You don’t feel like you can get yourself out of bed as all your energy is drawn from you"
  • "I was incapable of working. It just wasn’t possible at all… and my flu dragged on for more than a week"
  • "I have no strength. It annoys me because I can do nothing, it seems like I’m wasting my time"
  • "Flu’s like being hit by a truck because you feel completely gone. There is no energy left in your body. You are suffering from high temperature. You’re sweating a lot and you feel really unwell"
  • "First of all infinite tiredness, then I feel like sleeping and don’t want to eat"
  • "I felt really miserable because my muscles and my bones were aching. Well, I can hardly describe it, I just felt really awful, absolutely miserable"
  • "It’s like there’s something huge treading on your head, like a deafening noise that destroys the eardrums"
  • "The fever was constantly rising – I immediately measured my temperature as soon as I got home. It was 41°C and it kept rising and I was wondering what’s going on. I was really scared! Everything was hurting and it all happened so fast. Flu came out of the blue"
  • "I always feel like my limbs have iron weights tied to them and I’m going to fall over any minute, a really stuffy runny nose and feel antisocial"
  • "I was totally dependent on others! I was incapable of doing anything at all"
  • "The real flu knocks you for six – you just don’t want to move or do anything. It’s not very nice"
  • "Not being able to go to work. Not being able to do the things I have to do at home and the commitments that I have day by day"