Five Common Misconceptions About Seasonal Flu

It’s that time of the year again. You probably think I mean Christmas, but as a virologist the sight of glitter, fairy lights and moulting pine trees immediately makes me think of the flu season. And if there’s one thing that can ruin your family’s Christmas, it’s the arrival of that particular unwanted guest.

But there are lots of myths around about flu. Here’s a quick guide to some common knowledge that actually turns out to be wrong.

I’ve got the flu

You probably haven’t. Four or five weeks ago, I would have said that you definitely hadn’t, but the first laboratory confirmed cases of the 2014-15 season are now with us, so if you have those familiar symptoms, you may well be one of those unlucky enough to have a preview of the coming epidemic. However, the balance of probabilities right now is that you don’t have the influenza virus but one of the many other things that regularly inflict similar misery on us – like respiratory syncytial virus, a coronavirus or an enterovirus.

This last trio give you severe doses of what we generally call the common cold. Real flu, however, is caused by a different group of viruses. Symptoms of flu are more severe, including high temperatures, aches and pains, lethargy and can also include feeling nauseous. If you have a bit of a headache and feel sniffley, it’s more likely to be a cold.

But the flu will muscle all of these things out of the picture as the winter’s epidemic builds. More and more of us are likely to be having real flu rather than just bad colds.

I can’t avoid it

OK, there is no foolproof method of protecting yourself. If somebody does give vent to a hurricane-force sneeze on that crowded bus, then the air could well be loaded with aerosolised virus, and that virus may linger long after the sneezer has left the bus. But there are ways you can minimise your risk.

A lot of people catch flu, not from inhaling sneeze-aerosol, but from touching surfaces that have been sneezed on, or have had hand-caught sneezes wiped on them – such as the bell the sneezing passenger pressed to leave the bus, or the hand rail near the door. This is called fomite transmission, and you can minimise the chances of you picking up a virus this way by simply remembering not to put your fingers in your mouth, nose or eyes while you are out of the house.

“Hands down” is the motto, and then wash your hands when you get home. This way the flu virus goes down the drain instead of into your body. Carry a bottle of hand-gel in your pocket for those occasions when you are eating out.

It doesn’t really matter

[Image: Multiple use. Bus by Shutterstock]

Yes, I know, you’ve had worse, stiff (if wet) upper lip and all that. But such macho attitudes do no favours to other people. While the vast majority of younger people suffer for three days and then gradually return to the Christmas spirit, for many elderly people a bout of flucan mean their last Christmas.

So do them a favour – if you feel unwell, stay at home, get a hot drink and some DVDs and wait until you are better before returning to the outside world. Thousands of vulnerable individuals die every year because tough young people insist on battling though. And at the very least, your fellow travellers and colleagues might appreciate it too.

Vaccination isn’t an option

Yes it is. Vaccination is for everybody. Not just to protect yourself, but to prevent you spreading it to others. There are three types of flu virus: A, B and C. As the first two occur most often, these are the ones covered by seasonal vaccines, developed each year.

Some people are particularly vulnerable to flu – those in older age but also pregnant women, adults and children, those with underlying health conditions and those with weak immune systems. These groups should certainly go for an annual flu jab. While your local health centre will probably turn you away and tell you to come back once high-priority cases have been dealt with, they are doing that because they have limited time and public money.

But there are plenty of private providers – pharmacies and supermarkets – that will vaccinate you much sooner for as little as the cost of a cinema ticket.

We can catch it by eating infected chickens

Flu is fundamentally a disease of birds, meaning that at any one time, most of the world’s of flu virus particles are in ducks, geese and seagulls rather than humans. If television ancestry show Who Do You Think You Are? ever gets round to featuring a human seasonal flu virus as a guest, then the ancestral trails would all eventually lead back to birds.

But the flu viruses we suffer from are rather specialised beasts, that have journeyed a long way from their duck pond origins and adapted especially to the task of living and breeding in us. So it is very difficult for us to catch a bird flu and conversely difficult for the birds to catch one of ours.

The recent arrival of bird flu strain H5N8 in the UK poses no risk to humans as consumers of poultry. So enjoy your turkey. It is perfectly safe. But please, please, first wash your hands.

http://www.iflscience.com/health-and-medicine/five-common-misconceptions-about-seasonal-flu

Don't Fall For These 5 Probiotics Myths

By Cari Nierenberg,

Probiotics can be a confusing concept for consumers to grasp, and with an ever-growing array of foods and supplements now containing good bacteria, decisions about whether to use or buy these products may not be getting any easier.

People have misconceptions about the use of probiotics, their benefits, and their role in promoting health and treating diseases, said Dr. Patricia Hibberd, a professor of pediatrics and chief of global health at MassGeneral Hospital for Children in Boston, who has studied probiotics in young children and older adults.

Part of the problem with probiotics is the way they are advertised, she said. None of the supplements or foods that contain these bacteria are approved to prevent or treat specific illnesses, but manufacturers are allowed to make general health claims. For example, food makers can say that their product "improves digestive health," a vague phrase that's not clearly defined.

There are also many unanswered questions about probiotics, and although the science looking into these products is promising, the research is still emerging. Some questions include exactly how much of a probiotic product people need to consume to see beneficial health effects, how exactly probiotics work in the body, and which microbes and dosages work best for specific medical conditions. [8 Tips to Be a Probiotic Pro]

"People don't understand the subtleties related to the different organisms," Hibberd said. It's even confusing for physicians to wade through all the probiotic options available to their patients when they're asked for advice, she added.

To help separate fact from fiction, here are five myths about probiotics in foods or supplements.

Myth: All probiotic supplements are basically the same.

"This is absolutely wrong," Hibberd said. Theoretically, every single probiotic supplement available on the market could be different, she said. Some probiotics have a single strain of organisms, while others contain multiple strains. Different strains of the same species may even be different, and could have different effects on health.

Microbe concentrations can also vary widely among products. Because these diverse organisms can have different effects on the body, it's difficult for scientists to tease out their exact health benefits, and the ways they may work.

And with hundreds of probiotic species, researchers haven't yet studied all of them. "We need to know the important features of some probiotic organisms that can help prevent or treat specific medical conditions," Hibberd told Live Science.

Myth: Probiotics can replace medications.

Although some people may prefer natural treatments, probiotics have typically been studied in conjunction with medications — not as a substitute for them.

"I would never advocate stopping a medication and switching to a probiotic," Hibberd said. Instead, people should use probiotics as additions to their existing treatment programs, or preventively so they might avoid the need for a medication down the road, she explained.

Myth: Food and supplement labels provide accurate microbe counts.

Not always. Food labels typically don't tell consumers how many bacteria are in the food, and instead may simply state that the food has "live bacteria" or "live cultures." Ingredient lists may provide more information about the organisms found in the food, such as their genus and species names.

And there are definitely probiotic products that don't have fair or accurate microbe counts, Hibberd said. Generally, high-quality supplements from reputable manufacturers will indicate a reliable microbe count, while also listing the organisms' genus, species and strain, Hibberd said.

But some supplements may provide a live microbe count "at the time of manufacture," which does not guarantee this same amount will be available when you buy the product or take it.

And some products might not even contain the live organisms, or the levels of such organisms, claimed on their labels. A study done in 2013 by ConsumerLab.com, an independent testing service, found that five of 19 probiotics supplements tested contained fewer microbes than advertised, delivering 16 to 56 percent of the listed number of organisms.

Myth: Most yogurts are generally a good source of probiotics.

"Just because it's yogurt, doesn't mean there are probiotics in it," Hibberd said.

Some yogurts that include the words "live and active cultures" on their ingredients list offer billions of good bacteria in a serving. But not all of them do.

All yogurts with live bacteria contain Lactobacillus bulgaricus and Streptococcus thermophilus, but some manufacturers add other probiotic bacteria after pasteurization, such as L. acidophilus, L. bulgaricus, L. rhamnosus and L. casei[1] .

Myth: Taking probiotics might help prevent colds.

People often look for products to help support their immune systems so they are less likely to get sick, Hibberd said. Although there's some preliminary data that probiotics might help ward off colds, no high-quality trials support this claim, she explained.

"The evidence isn't really there yet," Hibberd said. Researchers are still trying to figure out exactly how probiotics might work to support the immune system, and more broadly, which conditions probiotics are most effective for, she said.