(WTTW News)
With the holidays just around the corner, hospitalizations for COVID-19, flu and RSV are increasing in Illinois, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data.
Forty-four counties in the state were at an elevated level for COVID-19 hospitalizations, according to CDC data for the week ending Nov. 25. Cook County remains at a low level for COVID-19 hospitalizations.
Statewide, there were 1,039 new COVID-19 hospitalizations reported, an increase of 20% over the previous week, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health.
As we anticipated, we are seeing an increase in respiratory viruses including COVID-19, flu and RSV - both in Illinois and across the nation, IDPH Director Dr. Sameer Vohra said in a news release.
Officials are asking residents to take precautions to reduce the spread of respiratory illness. These include:
These tools are especially critical for those most at risk for severe disease including those who are over 65, immunocompromised or have chronic medical conditions, according to IDPH. State public health officials said they are also especially concerned about pediatric ICU capacity, which is limited in many areas of the state.
Vohra recommended in a news release that holiday hosts enhance the safety of guests by providing proper indoor ventilation, encouraging good hand hygiene and reminding guests to cover coughs and sneezes.
Further, if someone is feeling symptoms of a respiratory virus such as coughing, sneezing, sore throat, a runny nose or fever its best to get tested and stay home to prevent the spread of illness.
During this critical period with hospitalizations rising, I encourage all of our residents to use the tools available to keep yourself and your families healthy and protected, Vohra said.
Contact Eunice Alpasan:@eunicealpasan| 773-509-5362 |[emailprotected]
With COVID cases and other respiratory viruses on the rise, you might know someone who has recently tested positive or wondered how long a person is contagious.
The answer depends on several factors.
As of Friday, 44 counties in Illinois were at an elevated level for COVID-19 hospitalizations, according to the state's Department of Public Health. In all, 39 counties were at a medium level and five were under the "high" alert as the state saw a 20% increase in hospitalizations within the last week, according to data from theCenters for Disease Control and Prevention.
So how long could you spread the virus if you test positive?
The CDC's guidelines for isolating have not changed since May.
Regardless of vaccination status,those who test positive should isolate from others for at least five days and isolate from others in your home, the CDC reports. You should also isolateif you are sick and suspect that you have COVID-19 but do not yet havetestresults, the guidelines state.
To calculate the number of days you should isolate, the CDC has a guide:
If you had no symptoms:
If you had symptoms:
If you had no symptoms, you can end your isolation after day five, but for those who experience symptoms, that line might be different, the CDC notes.
Those who have mild symptoms can end isolation after day five if they are fever-free for 24 hours, without using fever-reducing medication, but those with more moderate or severe illnesses will need to wait until day 10.
Those who have mild symptoms that are not improving should also wait until those symptoms are improving and they are fever-free for 24 hours.
Others with more severe illness may also want to consult with their doctor before ending isolation and could need a viral test to end their isolation period.
Despite ending isolation, those who test positive should continue to avoid people and mask through at least day 11, according to the CDC guidelines.
Before determining your isolation time, you'll need to take a COVID test.
Those who have symptoms are urged to get tested as soon as possible, though officials continue to caution that a negative at-home test may not be as reliable as a positive one.
"If your antigen test is negative, take another antigen test after 48 hoursortake a PCR test as soon as you can," according to the CDC's website.
Those who don't have symptoms but may have been exposed should wait five days after exposure to take a test, according to the CDC guidance.
While many Americans may have unused tests in their homes, it's important to check the expiration dates, experts say.
The Food and Drug Administration has extended the expiration dates of many popular at-home test products, which means some such kits may still be safe to use, CNBC reports. You can check expiration dates for each brand using a page on the FDA'swebsite.
In the early months of the Covid-19 pandemic, when many people who are now still sick were first infected, the common wisdom was that the coronavirus either sent you to an intensive care unit or, more commonly, caused mild symptoms that resolved after two weeks. But when my sister-in-law got infected in March 2020, she was still burning with fever after three weeks, then six, then more. In this newspaper and elsewhere, young and formerly healthy people shared stories about surviving but not recovering. When I interviewed scientists and clinicians about these lingering symptoms in May, most expressed surprise. Thats unusual, one said.
It wasnt. By May 2020, affected patients had already formed support groups thousands strong, coined terms like long Covid and long-hauler and even conducted research on their own communities. Even that March, people with similar illnesses like myalgic encephalomyelitis (also known as chronic fatigue syndrome or M.E./C.F.S.) had warned that the new pathogen would trigger a wave of disability. They knew then what is clear now: People infected by Covid can be pummeled by months or years of debilitating symptoms, including extreme fatigue, cognitive impairment, chest pain, shortness of breath and postexertional malaise a state in which existing symptoms worsen after even minor physical or mental exertion.
I wrote about long Covid in June 2020. In the following days, I got more than 100 emails from people who thought they were going mad or had been told as much and felt validated to see their reality reflected. That story was the first of an octet; those responses were the vanguards of thousands more.
Long-haulers have told me that through those pieces, they better understood what was happening to them, found community and medical care, and felt the relief of recognition at a time when friends, family members and health care professionals brushed off their ordeal as imaginary. As a science writer, I have written about many topics throughout my career. None have affected me more than long Covid. None have more profoundly changed my view about what journalism can achieve and how it can do so.
Covering long Covid solidified my view that science is not the objective, neutral force it is often misconstrued as. It is instead a human endeavor, relentlessly buffeted by our culture, values and politics. As energy-depleting illnesses that disproportionately affect women, long Covid and M.E./C.F.S. are easily belittled by a sexist society that trivializes womens pain, and a capitalist one that values people according to their productivity. Societal dismissal leads to scientific neglect, and a lack of research becomes fodder for further skepticism. I understood these dynamics only after interviewing social scientists, disability scholars and patients themselves, whose voices are often absent or minimized in the media. Like the pandemic writ large, long Covid is not just a health problem. It is a social one, and must also be understood as such.
Dismissal and gaslighting youre just depressed, its in your head are among the worst aspects of long Covid, and can be as crushing as the physical suffering. Theyre hard to fight because the symptoms can be so beyond the realm of everyday experience as to seem unbelievable, and because those same symptoms can sap energy and occlude mental acuity. Journalism, then, can be a conduit for empathy, putting words to the indescribable and clarifying the unfathomable for people too sick to do it themselves.
Many long-haulers have told me that theyve used my work to finally get through to skeptical loved ones, employers and doctors a use that, navely, I didnt previously consider. I had always imagined that the testing ground for my writing was the minds of my readers, who would learn something new or perhaps even change what and how they think. But this one-step model is woefully incomplete because we are a social species. Journalism doesnt stop with first-generation readers but cascades through their networks. Done well, it can make those networks stronger.
After my most recent piece, which explained how severe the fatigue of long Covid and M.E./C.F.S. can be, one long-hauler told me that her sister said, I did not understand how sick you really felt. Even healthy people started writing in: A 25-year-old reader who has spent her life watching her mother wrestling with M.E./C.F.S. said that until reading that piece, I truly didnt get it (or maybe didnt believe her). People who had been sick for years or even decades said it was the first time they had seen their lives accurately, fully and compassionately reflected in the press.
This is a damning indictment of my profession, my prepandemic self included. I am far from the only journalist covering this topic but clearly there arent enough of us. How could so many people feel so thoroughly unrepresented by an industry that purports to give voice to the voiceless?
In covering conditions like long Covid and M.E./C.F.S., many journalistic norms and biases work against us. Our love of iconoclasts privileges the voices of skeptics, who can profess to be canceled by patient groups, over the voices of patients who are actually suffering. Our fondness for novelty leaves us prone to ignoring chronic conditions that are, by definition, not new. Normalized aspects of our work like tight deadlines and phone interviews can be harmful to the people we most need to hear from.
We cannot afford those weaknesses. Around the world, tens of millions of people are suffering from long Covid. Some might recover but most long-haulers dont fully return to their previous base line. At the same time, the pool of newly sick people will continue to grow since our leaders have rushed us back to an era of unrestrained airborne pathogens and lax public health policies an era that had already cost millions of M.E./C.F.S. sufferers dearly long before Covid arrived.
In this status quo, people are expected to ignore the threat of infection, pay through the nose if they get sick and face stigma and ridicule if they become disabled. Journalism can and should repudiate that bargain. We are not neutral actors, reporting on the world at a remove; we also create that world through our choices, and we must do so with purpose, care and compassion.
Interviewing long-haulers isnt benign. At minimum, I might be asking them to relive their worst experiences to a stranger. Worse, many, if not most, long-haulers experience postexertional malaise, in which minor physical or mental exertion can trigger a loss of energy so profound that Ive described it as the annihilation of possibility. An hourlong call could wreck someone for days.
Knowing this, I started telling people upfront that they could end and reschedule the interview at the slightest inkling that their health might suffer and some did pull that rip cord. I set long deadlines, knowing that I was working on what disability scholars have called crip time. While I usually insist that phone interviews yield better results, I happily sent written questions to long-haulers who struggled with real-time spoken conversations. Good journalists maintain a healthy distance from their sources, but this professional standard can morph into callousness: Staying independent can easily become, I behave how I want and you deal with it. With long Covid, I bend to accommodate my sources needs, not the other way around.
I bring as much curiosity and empathy as I can to interviews. Im not fishing for quotes or dramatic details of horrible symptoms. I want to know how long-haulers feel, including the nuances and minutiae of their lives. I check my own thoughts on the fly, running my interpretations past my sources in real time to check if my understanding and assumptions are correct. I do this iteratively, asking them if they have had the same or similar experiences of the previous sources Ive interviewed, to identify points of commonality or contention; everyone is wrong about something, and being empathetic doesnt mean abandoning rigor.
This approach reveals sides to the illness that are easily missed. For many long-haulers, fatigue differs from everyday tiredness more severe, multifaceted, harder to push through and not cured by sleep. Postexertional malaise is different again: Every symptom burns more fiercely; fatigue is accompanied by flulike, poisoned sensations; and ones batteries arent just drained but missing entirely. These states are all too easily conflated, and their differences became clear to me only after many interviews and much careful listening.
I also center long-haulers in my reporting, treating them as active protagonists of their own stories instead of passive beneficiaries of medical aid. I want readers to empathize, not gawk. The patient-centric approach is sometimes dismissed as advocacy, which is positioned as antithetical to journalism. In fact, its simply good journalistic practice to give weight to the most knowledgeable sources.
Long-haulers saw and predicted the rise of long Covid before credentialed academics did. Many are patient experts who have read the scientific literature on long Covid and M.E./C.F.S. more deeply than many doctors because they are highly motivated to do so. Others are meta-experts who thoroughly understand the communitys desires, needs, history and rifts, and can distinguish reliable voices from grifters. They should be front and center of every story, not merely fodder for anecdotal ledes. Before the pandemic, I mostly interviewed academics with advanced degrees and institutional affiliations. Long Covid taught me to also seek expertise from actual experience, instead of mere credentials. (This is now especially easy to do because large databases of sources have been compiled.)
Those new attitudes and approaches also informed other articles that I wrote about immunocompromised people, burned-out health care and public health workers and people grieving loved ones who died of Covid. Those pieces, about people who had borne the brunt of the pandemic and were still suffering amid the rush to normal, gave me a sense of purpose amid deepening tragedy.
As the pandemic wore on, many grim outcomes I warned about came to pass, and most societal changes I hoped for did not. I watched two successive administrations make avoidable mistakes, and then make them anew with each successive surge or variant. I witnessed almost every publication that I once held in esteem become complicit in normalizing a level of death once billed as incalculable. It was galling, crushing work that wrecked my faith in journalism and its institutions. But the solace that many long-haulers drew from my pieces gave me solace in turn. It convinced me that there is still a point to this horrible work, a purpose in bearing witness to suffering and a reason to continue shouting into the abyss. Sometimes, even if just slightly, the abyss brightens.
I do not mean to be self-congratulatory. The long Covid crisis is far from resolved. Long-haulers need more than confirmation of their pain: They need well-funded and well-conducted research, social support, workplace accommodations and cures. But there is much we can do while waiting for and pushing toward those outcomes.
In his poem Why Bother? Sean Thomas Dougherty wrote, Because right now, there is someone/out there with/a wound in the exact shape/of your words. Those words are ours to provide, those wounds ours to plaster. Contrary to the widespread notion that speaking truth to power means being antagonistic and cold, journalists can, instead, act as a care-taking profession one that soothes and nurtures. And we are among the only professions that can do so at a scale commensurate with the scope of the crises before us. We can make people who feel invisible feel seen. We can make everyone else look.
TAMPA, Fla. Health officials are predicting an incoming COVID-19 surge.
The bad news is that test positively is up, hospitalizations are up, and emergency department is up, visits, I mean, said Dr. Jill Roberts, associate professor for the USF College of Public Health.
The CDCs latest models show an upcoming rise in COVID-19 hospitalizations going through the end of the year.
This comes as a new variant, JN.1, is picking up steam and spreading quickly.
The CDC has reported more than a 25% increase in deaths this past week.
While numbers are going up, officials said its been worse in past years.
Were not where we were with delta and things like that; this is an omicron spin-off strain, relatively mild, said Roberts.
Of course for people who are at risk, people who have other underlying conditions, and people who are like me who are older than 65, are definitely at a greater risk of hospitalization, said public health expert and researcher Dr. Tom Unnasch.
Health officials believe the uptick theyre seeing right now started after Thanksgiving and will get worse as gatherings and traveling continue through the holiday season.
A whole lot of people reported getting sick following their Thanksgiving vacations, and then, of course, those people then spread it to their contacts, and so you kind of see this thing go on, said Roberts.
Once that starts, it doesnt stop because you just get everyone that was traveling spread it to new people and on and on and on, she added.
Experts expect in the next few weeks well see one of the biggest waves weve seen this year.
A lot of this is driven by the amount of contact, close contact that people have with one another. Lets face it: this time of the year, people are going to parties, people are going to concerts, people are getting together with large family groupings for the holidays, and all of those things together give a pretty good chance for these viruses to jump around, said Unnasch.
Officials expect numbers to peak at the end of the month, going into January.
I think were going to see over the next several years or so that this going to be just one more of those season things thats going to be coming around, said Unnasch.
Flu goes up this time of the year all the time, colds go up this time of the year all the time, and COVID is just going to follow that same pattern. This is going to be with us for the rest of humanitys life on this planet, Im afraid, he added.
Doctors encourage people to get tested before seeing older family members and people who are immunocompromised this holiday season.
Im not overly surprised to see us peaking up at this time. I just dont see a scenario where it goes back down real quick because we keep doing the behaviors we were doing that caused peak, said Roberts.
Healthy Savannah, YMCA promote flu vaccination ahead of holidays
by Christian Felt
Healthy Savannah is working with the YMCA of Coastal Georgia to remind residents that it's not too late to get the flu shot as a part of National Influenza Vaccination Week (Credit: File){p}{/p}
(WTGS)
Healthy Savannah is working with the YMCA of Coastal Georgia to remind residents that it's not too late to get the flu shot as a part of National Influenza Vaccination Week.
Elsie Smalls, Healthy Savannah's Operations Manager said as the temperatures continue to drop and the holidays rapidly approach, it is important for residents to protect themselves from the threat of getting sick.
Smalls also said that she wanted to dispel some myths regarding the vaccine.
She said the shot is made up of inactive strains of the virus that can't actually infect you. She added that although it doesn't 100% prevent illness, it will significantly reduce the severity of your symptoms if you were to get sick.
The CDC also offers an online tool to find vaccination providers in your area.
Load more...
Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes ofwebsite accessibility
Sun, 10 Dec 2023 21:23:38 GMT (1702243418735)
9890f0fd01927b7e4ea406a5605d4b397f9985b2
441c1ada281ba9033d861a88cd6132c96b6ce6fe
Fallback Presentation. Using deprecated PresentationRouter.
New York State Department of Health Commissioner James McDonald. (Mike Gwizdala MediaNews Group file)
NEW YORK New York State Health Commissioner Dr. James McDonald recently said in a press release that influenza is now prevalent in New York State. The declaration requires that healthcare workers who have not received this years flu vaccine wear masks in certain healthcare settings.
With National Influenza Vaccination Week recognized on Dec. 4-8, in the release, the Department urged the public to get their flu vaccine as holiday gatherings approach.
We have now declared that flu is prevalent in New York State, which means health care personnel who are not vaccinated against the flu this season need to take extra precautions and wear a mask in health care facilities, as they are exposed to sick patients and come into close contact with those most vulnerable to the flu, McDonald said in the release. Everyone 6 months of age and older should get the flu shot as it is the best way to protect yourself and will lessen the symptoms if you do get sick. Its not too late; get your flu shot today.
McDonalds announcement requires unvaccinated healthcare workers in healthcare and residential facilities and agencies regulated by the Department to wear surgical or procedure masks during those times when the Commissioner declares that influenza is prevalent in New York State.
According to the release, these facilities include but are not limited to: hospitals, nursing homes, diagnostic and treatment centers, certified home health agencies, long-term home health care programs, AIDS home care programs, licensed home care service agencies, limited licensed home care service agencies and hospices.
Amendments to the regulations allow for the removal of masks when healthcare workers are accompanying patients in the community, providing speech therapy services or communicating with persons who lip read.
The Regulation for Prevention of Influenza Transmission first went into effect during the 2013-14 flu season. Wednesdays announcement puts into effect a provision of the regulation that was made annually from 2014 to 2019.
The last time the declaration was made was in late 2019 and was then left in place throughout the COVID-19 public health emergency said the release. On May 18, 2023, after the public health emergency ended, the declaration was removed and will return on an annual basis, if needed as designated by the State Health Commissioner.
The Department also continues to recommend to all who are eligible to get the updated COVID-19 vaccine and RSV vaccine. The Departments Influenza Surveillance Report, with data through November 25, shows a total of 14,227 positive flu cases across all 62 counties in New York have been reported this season to date, said the release.
Outside of New York City, week-over-week lab-confirmed flu cases are up 34%, rising from 1,487 cases in the previous week to 1,993, according to the release. In New York City, cases are up 21%, rising from 1,713 cases in the previous week to 2,068.
This information is also available on the Departments Flu Tracker, said the release, which provides timely information about local, regional and statewide influenza activity.
There have been two pediatric flu-associated deaths in the state; one in Erie County and one in New York City. These deaths will be reported in the influenza report that will be issued later this week, according to the Departments release.
The flu shot is available to those 6 months and older. Those aged 65 years and older, people with certain chronic medical conditions, young children and pregnant women are most in jeopardy of developing serious complications, said the release, which could require hospitalization and result in death.
In addition, the release said those 65 years of age and older should get a high-dose flu shot if available.
Avoiding illness by getting the flu shot remains the most effective way to prevent infection and reduce the risk of severe illness for children and adults said the release. According to research gathered by the CDC, vaccination has significant health advantages, particularly for people at risk of getting very sick, including:
It prevents people from getting sick with the flu, cutting the risk of having to go to the doctor by 40 to 60%.
In children, the vaccine reduces the risk of severe, life-threatening flu by 75%; decreases flu-related hospitalizations by 41%; and cuts the risk of emergency department visits in half.
Flu vaccination during pregnancy reduces the risk of being hospitalized by an average of 40% and helps protect the baby from influenza for several months after birth when babies are too young to get vaccinated.
For older adults, the vaccine reduces the risk of flu-associated hospitalization by about 40%.
Among those with chronic health conditions, the flu shot is associated with lower rates of some cardiac events, as well as reducing the risk of hospitalization from flu-related worsening of lung diseases and diabetes.
The Department utilizes several tools to increase public knowledge about rising flu rates, the release said, and the importance of vaccinations as a critical prevention step, including public education campaigns and information on social media platforms Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.
The flu shot is widely available, found at pharmacies, health clinics and physicians offices across the state, the release said. To locate a flu shot location nearby, visit vaccines.gov.
In addition to getting the flu vaccine, the department listed simple preventative actions that can help stop the spread of influenza and other respiratory viruses:
Wash hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds. If soap and water are not available, use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer.
Avoid touching eyes, nose and mouth with unwashed hands.
Avoid close contact with people who are sick.
Stay home when sick.
Cover cough or sneeze with a tissue, then throw the tissue in the trash.
Clean and disinfect frequently touched objects and surfaces.
For more information about influenza in New York, visit the Departments flu website: health.ny.gov/diseases/communicable/influenza/seasonal.
Influenza cases are on the rise in Taylor County, with an especially large spike seen in local figures after the Thanksgiving holiday.
As of Dec. 2, the number of positive cases of Influenza A and B in Taylor County was 166, with 79 cases of the A strain and 87 cases of Influenza B, said Summer Mitchell, the Abilene-Taylor County Public Health Districts epidemiologist.
Those figures are out of 2,751 tests, meaning about 6% of the flu-like illness patients that we're seeing are actually flu positive, Mitchell said.
Regular hand washing and a flu shot are still the best ways to protect oneself against the illness, she said.
It's not too late to get a flu vaccine, Mitchell said. That's one of the best things you can do to prevent getting the flu.
About Flu
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, influenza is a potentially serious illness that can lead to hospitalization and even death for some, especially vulnerable populations such as the elderly or those who are immunocompromised.
Each flu season is different, but vaccination has been shown to have many benefits, including reducing risk of serious illness and potentially reducing the amount of time someone is sick if they do get the flu.
About Flu Shots
Vaccines are available through the Health District, Mitchell said. Chain or local pharmacies and physicians offices are other options.
Flu vaccines cause antibodies to develop in the body about two weeks after you receive a shot, according to the CDC.
Seasonal vaccines are formulated to protect against the flu viruses research indicates will be the most common during an individual season.
Flu vaccines in the United States are quadrivalent, meaning they protect against four different strains of flu virus, two strains of Influenza A and two strains of Influenza B, the CDC said.
Personal responsibility
Mitchell said other ways to help stop the spread of flu include staying away from those who are ill and regular, thorough hand washing.
People who feel ill should avoid large gatherings to avoid spreading flu or other illnesses a message especially relevant to seasonal gatherings, Mitchell said.
You might get a lot of people sick, she said.
Those who suspect they have the flu should be tested to confirm the diagnosis, she said.
Other concerns
In addition to the flu, the Health District has seen a small uptick in respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, an illness that infects lungs and breathing passages.
Thats kind of consistent through the past few years in the kiddoes, Mitchell said.
Precautions and care are similar to the flu, including practicing good hygiene and keeping children at home if ill.
By the numbers
Local figures show a fairly steady bump in the number of positive cases, starting mid-September. A significant spike in cases happened around the Thanksgiving holiday.
Mitchell said as of Nov. 25, 2023, there were 1,048 confirmed cases of flu statewide, with the Influenza A strain of the virus responsible for about 54% of cases.
Local surveillance of the flu virus will continue through April, she said. Not every medical facility reports to the health department, so the reported figures do not represent a complete snapshot of the countys flu cases.
Try as you might, you may not be able to avoid getting sick during cold and flu season. After all, the influenza virus doesnt discriminate between healthy and unhealthy people, or old and young ones. Plus, the virus spreads easily through droplets in the air when someone who is infected coughs, sneezes, or even talks, so were all potential targets.
Plus, flu season is longer than you might think it runs through fall and winter and even into spring, peaking sometime between December and February so time isnt on your side.
Prevention is key. Getting an annual flu shot can help protect you from getting the flu. You may still get sick even if youre vaccinated, but flu symptoms such as fever, cough, sore throat, runny nose, fatigue, and body aches are likely to be less severe.
If you do get the flu, you may want to take an antiviral drug such as oseltamivir phosphate (Tamiflu), zanamivir (Relenza), or baloxavir marboxil (Xofluza)within two days of the onset of symptoms, especially if you are at high risk of flu complications. You may not be able to get rid of the flu in 24 hours, but these medications will help shorten the length of illness.
There are also home remedies, natural treatments, and other tactics that can help you feel a little better while your immune system fights the flu. Read on for eight strategies.
Getting sleep and taking time to recuperate is the best thing you can do for yourself, your coworkers, and your family, says Len Horovitz, MD, a pulmonary specialist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. Sleep strengthens the immune system, he explains, and the truth is, when youre feeling sick, you wont feel like doing much else.
Sleep as much as you can and avoid contact with others until you have been fever-free (without taking any fever-reducing medication) for 24 to 48 hours.
While lying down, place an extra pillow under your head to help drain your nasal passages and make yourself more comfortable.
If you have a sore throat, gargle with water or salt water, Dr. Horovitz says. Gargling can help lessen inflammation and loosen mucus in the throat, he explains, clearing out irritants such as germs.
The immune system requires hydration in order to do its job. You have to stay hydrated so your cells are functioning as well as they can, says Christine Ryan, RDN, a registered dietitian-nutritionist in Seattle. Dehydration can delay your recovery.
For additional benefit, get your hydration from tea. Ryan recommends teas containing herbs, spices, or other flavorings known for their antiviral properties. Turmeric, ginger, cinnamon, clove, black pepper, chamomile, eucalyptus, fennel, thyme, and pennyroyal can all help calm inflammation, according to Ryan.
A report published in 2020 inNatural Product Communicationslists even more antiviral herbs that are useful against cold and flu, such as peppermint leaf and oil.
Theres also green tea, which contains a type of antioxidant called catechins that may protect against a variety of viral illnesses, according to a study published in 2021 inMolecules.
Chicken soup isnt just warm and comforting. Research published in 2022 in Nutrients found that compounds in chicken soup called carnosine and anserine have excellent antioxidant and immunity-boosting effects that can help ease flu symptoms.
The National Library of MedicinesMedlinePlus website notes that chicken soup has been a popular home remedy for the common cold since at least the 12th century, and while its not a cure, it may relieve symptoms for a short time.
If youre stuffed up and feeling miserable, you might try using a neti pot a small teapot-like vessel with a long spout to flush mucus from your nasal passages twice a day, Horovitz says. This is done by placing a saline solution made with distilled, sterilized, or previously boiled water in the neti pot, and carefully following instructions for safe usage.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration offers a neti pot how-to on its website.
Taking a long steamy shower can help soothe irritated throat and nasal passages, while also helping clear them of mucus, says Neil Schachter, MD, medical director of the Mount SinaiNational Jewish Health Respiratory Institute in New York City and author of The Good Doctors Guide to Colds & Flu.
If the flu is making you feel lightheaded or weak, dont risk fainting in the shower; instead, simply turn on the hot water, find a place to sit in the bathroom, and inhale the steam for up to 10 minutes.
In recent years, elderberry (sambucus nigra) has been gaining attention as a possible natural flu treatment. Syrups, pills, and other products containing elderberry line the shelves at major retailers and pharmacies.
Scientists are still investigating the antiviral effects of elderberry extract and juices, says Ryan, but researchers theorize that elderberry can block HA glycoprotein spikes on influenza viruses, which prevents the viruses from duplicating. She adds that elderberry may also work by enhancing the effects of immune system proteins called cytokines, which help fight inflammation.
In a research article published in 2021 in BMC Complementary Medicine and Therapies, researchers reviewed almost 1,200 records and five randomized trials on elderberry for the treatment or prevention of viral respiratory illness. They concluded that elderberry may be a safe option but stated that evidence on both benefits and harms is uncertain and information from recent and ongoing studies is necessary to make firm conclusions.
Some experts are proponents of zinc as an immunity booster that may help shorten the duration or severity of the flu and improve symptoms if used early on. I recommend using one or two lozenges per day, says Dr. Schachter.
Even though there is some research supporting this view, such as an investigation published in The Journal of Family Practice, study findings overall have been mixed on whether zinc can help fight respiratory infections. For instance, the results of a randomized controlled trialpublished in BMJ Open concluded that commercially available zinc acetate lozenges were not effective in treating the common cold. In an analysis of pooled data from 28 randomized controlled trials, also published in BMJ Open, scientists noted that many studies found zinc had only a modest effect or none at all on viral respiratory tract infections, especially in terms of easing daily symptoms.
Note that theNational Center for Complementary and Integrative Healthadvises checking with your doctor or pharmacist before taking zinc, as it may interact with antibiotics and penicillamine, a drug used to treat rheumatoid arthritis and a number of other conditions.
Its important to remember that the flu can have serious consequences, ranging from ear infections to pneumonia to worsening of chronic conditions, such as congestive heart failure, asthma, and diabetes, according to theCenters for Disease Control and Prevention. In some cases, it can even be deadly.
If you have the flu, you should be feeling better within five to seven days, but if you are not and still have a fever or have started to feel badly again, be sure to call your doctor, Schachter says.
The age of extinction
Researchers warn of one of largest ecological disasters of modern times if the highly contagious disease reaches penguin colonies
Bird flu is spreading in the Antarctic, with hundreds of elephant seals found dead, and fears it could bring one of the largest ecological disasters of modern times if the highly contagious virus reaches the remote penguin populations.
The virus was first reported among brown skua on Bird Island, off South Georgia. Since then, researchers and observers have reported mass deaths of elephant seals, as well as increased deaths of fur seals, kelp gulls and brown skua at several other sites. Cases have been confirmed 900 miles (1,500km) west of South Georgia, among southern fulmar on the Falkland Islands.
Dr Meagan Dewar, chair of the Antarctic Wildlife Health Network, told the Guardian that the situation among southern elephant seals was concerning. At some sites weve had mass mortalities, where we are getting into the hundreds, she said. There is a likely chance it could be avian influenza.
So far tests have confirmed bird flu deaths at eight sites across the Antarctic, and the disease is suspected with confirmation from tests still pending at 20 further sites where animals have died.
Researchers reported that a number of elephant seals had been exhibiting symptoms of avian flu, such as difficulty breathing, coughing and accumulations of mucus around the nose. Lethargy, spasms and an inability to fly are symptoms in birds.
While a number of seabird cases have been confirmed, many including the elephant seals are still classed as suspected, pending lab results.
So far there are no recorded cases on the Antarctic mainland home to unique ecosystems that are some of the worlds most isolated but the disease is expected to arrive in the coming months as birds move.
Dewar said: Its devastating to watch that happen and recording all the cases were getting.
Penguins are starting to cluster together as the breeding season starts, and this close contact makes them particularly vulnerable. Previous outbreaks in South Africa, Chile and Argentina show they are susceptible to the disease.
If the virus does start to cause mass mortality events across penguin colonies, it could signal one of the largest ecological disasters of modern times, researchers wrote in a pre-print research paper last month.
Many species in the Antarctic are found nowhere else, so the consequences for the region of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) spreading are unknown.
The Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research said recently: Given the dense breeding colonies of wildlife in the Antarctic and sub-Antarctic regions, HPAI is expected to have devastating impacts on the wildlife and to lead to catastrophic breeding failure and mortality events in the region.
The virus has killed an estimated 20,000 sea lions in Chile and Peru. Dewar said: If we start to get outbreaks similar to what weve seen in South America that could have very big impacts. Emperor penguins and chinstrap penguins have been taking significant declines, so if we get large outbreaks in those species, that could cause further pressure on those colonies.
The current outbreak of the highly infectious variant of H5N1 which started in 2021 is estimated to have killed millions of wild birds. The strain spreading in Antarctica is clade 2.3.4.4b, which has decimated bird populations across the UK, continental Europe, South Africa and the Americas, with seabird colonies experiencing losses of 50% to 60%. The H5N1 strain has not yet reached Oceania
Dr Michelle Wille, from the University of Sydney, who is helping to record deaths, said: Its terrible news that its now in the sub-Antarctic, and we are very worried about viral spread into the Antarctic. In addition to negative affects on animals, the removal of vast numbers of animals from the Antarctic ecosystem may have long-term ecosystem effects.
Researchers from the British Antarctic Survey and the British governments Animal and Plant Health Agency are identifying possible cases, testing them and sharing data. It is challenging to record what is happening because of the size of Antarctica and the small number of people monitoring it. A number of reports of mass deaths have come through tour vessels.
Many places in South Georgia are now closed to tourists and even researchers have to go through a number of procedures to get there in a bid to stop the disease spreading, said Dr Michael Wenger, who trained as a marine biologist and has been working as a guide in Antarctica for 18 years.
He added: Its already hard to estimate numbers in normal situations, because the area is huge and there are a lot of animals. Now with the areas closed, its even harder.
{{topLeft}}
{{bottomLeft}}
{{topRight}}
{{bottomRight}}
{{.}}
One-timeMonthlyAnnual
Other
