Flu Facts and Treatment

The flu season is generally from October to April, the cold weather season for most of the United States. Cases usually peak in mid-winter over two to three weeks, then trail off over the next six weeks or so. A highly infectious virus, the flu is transmitted from person to person either through direct contact or through contact with the small droplets of a cough or a sneeze.

One to three days after transmission, symptoms rear their ugly heads. Yet the flu is a sneaky sickness; children and adults are infectious a day or so before symptoms develop, meaning we spread this illness to others even before we know we have it! In general, children remain infectious longer than adults. Each year, between 10 and 20 percent of American adults and up to 30 percent of kids are infected. The degree of illness is variable from year to year: some years the flu is a mild variant, some years it is awful.