People use the word “flu” as short-hand for any number of respiratory or intestinal infections, but for doctors “flu” is influenza. And when it comes to respiratory infections, it’s the big one.
Influenza has arrived in Northern California.
The infection usually begins abruptly with fever, body aches, lack of energy. There is cough and often sore throat, ear pain, headache and runny nose. The fever can be high and can last five days or more.
The CDC map of influenza in the US is here.
Information from the CDC for families about children with influenza is here.
Ways to prevent the spread of influenza are here.
Cleaning strategies are here.
Cover that cough!
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About Lisa M. Asta, MD
Lisa M. Asta, M.D. is board-certified by the American Board of Pediatrics and is a Fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics, for which she is also a Media Representative (she has been interviewed for “Kids Health” on Health Radio, and quoted in Parenting Magazine, USA Today, and the New York Times, among other publications). She is a Clinical Professor of Pediatrics at the University of California at San Francisco and past pediatric chair at John Muir Medical Center in Walnut Creek. She graduated from Temple University School of Medicine and the Johns Hopkins University.
Dr. Asta is also a writer whose fiction has appeared in Inkwell, Philadelphia Stories, Schuylkill, and Zeniada. Her essays have appeared in the Journal of the American Medical Association, Hippocrates, the San Jose Mercury News, and The New Physician Magazine. She is an occasional contributor to KQED public radio’s Perspectives series, and has written articles for Bay Area Parent, Valley Parent, Parents’ Press, and Parents Express, as well as online at WebMD.com, Rx.com, and MyLifePath.com. She wrote a chapter in The Field Guide to the Normal Newborn, ed. Gary Emmet, M.D. BabyCenter.com currently has two how-to videos for parents in production which feature Dr. Asta.
For more on Dr. Asta’s writing, visit www.LMAsta.com
People use the word “flu” as short-hand for any number of respiratory or intestinal infections, but for doctors “flu” is influenza. And when it comes to respiratory infections, it’s the big one.
Casa Verde Pediatrics, Inc. 