The Flu is Coming to Town

Influenza (commonly called the “flu”) is a contagious respiratory illness caused by influenza viruses (source: CDC) known to cause high fever, headache, nausea, fatigue, and weakness. While being down for a few days may be an inconvenience to some, the dangers of the flu are real. Here's more from the CDC:

Every year in the United States, on average 5% to 20% of the population gets the flu; more than 200,000 people are hospitalized from flu complications, and about 36,000 people die from flu. Some people, such as older people, young children, and people with certain health conditions, are at high risk for serious flu complications.

So beyond washing hands and getting vaccinated, you may be wondering, "How can I stay on top of flu news?" The Healthy Turtle is here to help:

Google Flu Trends: A just released tool from our friends at Google charts flu activity state by state. How? By measuring how many times certain search terms are used. Google explains it better:

We have found a close relationship between how many people search for flu-related topics and how many people actually have flu symptoms. Of course, not every person who searches for "flu" is actually sick, but a pattern emerges when all the flu-related search queries from each state and region are added together.

We compared our query counts with data from a surveillance system managed by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and discovered that some search queries tend to be popular exactly when flu season is happening. By counting how often we see these search queries, we can estimate how much flu is circulating in various regions of the United States.

Right now, the Google Flu Trend graph rates the flu activity of Maryland as "low." For more, visit this site.

CDC Flu Map: Each week, the CDC pulls together data from epidemiologists across the United States to give a snap shot of the geographic spread of the flu. While the map, found at this address, does measure the severity of the flu in any given area, it's still a handy tool to know where reports of the flu are coming from, particularly on a state by state basis.

Thus far, Maryland shows no flu activity, but our neighbors to the North (Pennsylvania) are showing signs of activity.

MORE FLU NEWS: The Washington Post's health blog The Checkup reports that a Consumer Reports survey finds that only 52% of Americans have decided to get a flu shot this year. My favorite excuse: 5% would rather get sick than go to work.