This is flu season

Here are the common symptoms: rapid onset, usually in an hour or two; sudden and increasingly severe headache; sore throat and dry cough; rising fever that can reach 104 degrees Fahrenheit in adults and higher in children; sneezing and runny nose; muscle aches in the back, arms, and legs; loss of appetite; fatigue and lack of energy, sometimes for more than a week; severe chills, accompanied by feeling very hot, then very cold; occasionally, nausea and vomiting, especially in children.

Got all that? Just thinking about it is more than enough.

According to Investigating Influenza and Bird Flu, each year between 4 and 20 percent of the world population catches some form of influenza. In the United States, about 250,000 people contract the flu each year, and about 36,000 die from flu-related causes.

After reading this, sounds like a good idea to get a flu shot!