Karen’s Opinion

My friend finally got over the flu. Influenza, or flu, is a deadly illness that sometimes takes weeks to finally feel relief from it’s grip. Here in the midwest, the flue is almost at epidemic porportions. Extra caution needs to be taken to protect ourselves from getting the flu.

Influenza (say: in-floo-en-zah) is also called the flu. It’s an infection that causes fever, chills, cough, body aches, headaches, and sometimes earaches or sinus problems. The flu is caused by the influenza virus (say: vy-rus). A virus is a microorganism (say: my-croh-or-gah-nih-zum), which means it’s so small that you can’t see it without a strong microscope.

For most people, the flu is a drag, but it goes away in a week or two. But for some people, the flu can make them very sick. Those groups include:

* babies and kids under age 5
* people older than 50
* adults and kids who have health problems, such as diabetes and asthma

Anyone who’s at risk of getting really sick needs to get a flu shot, or vaccine (say: vak-seen). People such as doctors and nurses also need the shot because they take care of sick people. It’s good for kids who are around older people and younger kids (like little brothers and sisters) to get the vaccine too.

Healthy kids and adults can also get a flu shot, so they are less likely to get the flu. Flu vaccines are usually given in the fall, before flu season starts. Flu season means the months of the year when a lot of people have the flu and it’s easy to catch it. It starts in November and usually ends in April.