Health & Fitness

Colds, Flu and Fever: Where the Sick People Are

Wondering where colds and the flu are striking near Brick? Use our "Sickweather" map to track ailments this winter.

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Karen Wall, Patch StaffVerified Patch Staff Badge

Feeling sick? Did you tell your Facebook friends? Every day, people update social media sites when they or a loved one gets sick. (Or when a coworker coughs all over them.) Our “Sickweather” map scans social networks for illness indicators, allowing you to find the people with colds, flu and fever. Sickweather is like “radar for sick people.”

Cold viruses are always with us. Flu season occurs in the winter. Flu outbreaks can happen as early as October and as late as May. Click on common cold, flu or fever to see each map. Select national view to see a five-day heat map of reported ailments.


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Flu Vaccines

The Centers for Disease Control recommends a yearly flu vaccine for everyone 6 months of age and older. As long as flu viruses are circulating in the community, it’s not too late to get vaccinated.

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Also, you can take preventive actions — stay away from sick people and wash your hands to reduce the spread of germs. If you are sick with flu, stay home from work or school to avoid getting your germs on others and making them sick, too.

Three common flu viruses circulate among people today: influenza A (H1N1) viruses, influenza A (H3N2) viruses, and influenza B viruses, according to the CDC. All of the 2015-2016 influenza vaccine is made to protect against the following three viruses:

  • an A/California/7/2009 (H1N1)pdm09-like virus
  • an A/Switzerland/9715293/2013 (H3N2)-like virus
  • a B/Phuket/3073/2013-like virus. (This is a B/Yamagata lineage virus)

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