Why Is There A Winter Flu Season?

Popular Science ^ | January 17, 2013 | Emily Elert

[ProtectOurFreedom]

Flu season is in full swing across the U.S... it always happens in winter. ...everywhere on Earth where people have a winter season, they also have a flu season. Part of what makes the timing of each flu season unpredictable is that scientists still don't understand exactly why we have one at all. There have, of course, been lots of theories why flu peaks in winter:

1. people spend more time indoors, with the windows closed, breathing each other's air.
2. darkness (i.e. lack of Vitamin D and melatonin) and cold of winter weaken our immune systems, making us more susceptible to the virus
3. regardless of how we deal with the cold--the flu virus thrives in the cold, dry air of winter, but suffers in the warm, humid air of summer
4. winter flu is ushered in by changes in air circulation in the upper atmosphere.

...scientists had a hard time thinking up ways to test these theories: they needed to be able to run experiments, but researchers aren't allowed to infect humans with nasty illnesses, and most lab animals aren't affected by the flu the same way people are. But then, in 2007, a medical researcher named Peter Palese stumbled across an 80-year-old journal article that reported that guinea pigs get infected and pass on the flu just like humans.

Palese decided to test theory #3--the idea that the flu virus does better in cold, dry air than warm, humid air. He acquired some guinea pigs and ran several experiments to see how temperature and humidity affect the way the flu spreads. In each experiment, he injected half the guinea pigs with influenza A (the common flu), and put them in a crate next to a crate of uninfected animals.

[IamConservative]

Vicks First Defense is not the most pleasant experience when using. You can definitely tell when the mist hits your sinuses. That said, much preferred to suffering a nasty cold that often for me ends in ear infection, sinus infection or both.

[sickoflibs]

RE:”Simple answer? Global warming.”

I agree, and it caused the Coronavirus too, and Ebola,...

China is the biggest carbon emitter and where did Corona start? China !

Its only going to get worse

Greta deserves the Peace Prize, as did Obama.

[Mom MD]

And the kids are back in school providing a nice breeding ground. Usually within 2-3 weeks of school starting all kinds of illnesses start to circulate again

[FamiliarFace]

I use Zicam nasal swabs at the first sign of a cold. So far so good. I was so happy when the FDA allowed it to be brought back to the market.

[MIDad23]

We should outsource it to China.....

[Nevadan]

Thanks for the recommendation. Curious why it is not sold in the US....

[familyop]

Germs like to stick more to warm bodies, when the surrounding air is cold. In winter, people also spend more time indoors with other people and less ventilation.

[heavy metal]

it could be santa claus jumping from house to house that’s spreading it...

[familyop]

Coronaviruses behave similarly. Stock up enough for a couple of months.

[familyop]

"I’m no microbiologist, but I was long ago told that the simple fact that our nasal passages are much drier in the winter makes it easier for viruses to get into the body through the nose."

Yes. Don't touch the nose without tissue, and don't yank out a nasal hair!

[ProtectOurFreedom]

Interesting...never heard about the Norwegian studies. Makes sense with that isolate community.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

“Santa Claus” — I think we can discount that theory because wouldn’t the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, and the Great Pumpkin be spreading the disease, too? That just doesn’t add up.

[aquila48]

Bookmark

[catnipman]

“I’m no microbiologist, but I was long ago told that the simple fact that our nasal passages are much drier in the winter makes it easier for viruses to get into the body through the nose.”

indeed.

which is why this stuff works,i.e., restores dried up mucas membranes:

https://www.amazon.com/Vicks-First-Defence-Nasal-Spray/dp/B000LNEBO2

[catnipman]

“People are concerned that the product does not come in safety packaging and my daughter is very leary of the possibility of Chinese counterfeit products being sold on Amazon. The last batch I purchased on Amazon was shipped by some company in the U.K. “

for a while, Amazon LLC was selling this, and their’s didn’t have a safety seal ... several people have said the UK doesn’t have requirements for safety seals like the U.S. ...

[catnipman]

assuming this is true, the obvious thing to do is increase the relative humidity in our buildings, but in buildings that don’t have proper vapor barriers and/or enough insulation for the climate, too high relative indoor humidity will condense on the outer walls and ceilings during very cold weather (you can easily see the effect on windows, but to a lesser extent this is occurring invisibly in the walls), and this condensed moisture encourages the growth of mold and rot,thus creating an unhealthy and damaging situation ...

[Repeal The 17th]

pretty much the same thing as Zicam.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

I just bought two more on Amazon, but they were shipped by some small company in the UK.

I read the product is made in Germany and sold in Germany and the UK.

Like you, I’ve read that the UK and Germany do not have requirements for safety seals like the U.S. That was shocking to me as they have extra strict requirements on everything else including the minimum curvature for a banana if you want to sell it as a “banana.”

It was weird getting a product with no safety seal on the box nor on the glass container therein.

Some counterfeiter could probably put battery acid in that glass container and customers would not now the difference!

[arthurus]

Winter is flu season because the sun is at a low angle and people cover up their bodies and do not get sunshine on their skin. Taking vitamin D3 is a substitute for the Sunshine D that is missing in winter. I have not had flu or any cold since I started taking D3 supplements 15 years ago. Same goes for my daughters, son, wife, friends and cousins.

[arthurus]

Simple correct answer is vitamin D deficiency due to lack of sunshine reaching the skin.