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Nov 5, 2009
In any given flu season nearly everyone comes in contact with the flu virus, but only one in five people actually contract the flu.
In the future, a simple test may be able tell who is about to come down with the flu days before any symptoms set in. In the meantime, don’t fall for any number of folk remedies that are proliferating on the Internet. For instance, one popular urban legend holds that raw onions can attract flu virus like a bug zapper traps flies. But, as The Wall Street Journal explains: “Viruses require a living host to replicate and can’t propel themselves out of a body and across a room.”
So, as we previously reported for cancer, the question is not: Why do some people get the flu? The question is: Why doesn’t everyone get the flu?
3 Responses to “Who Gets the Flu?”
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Helium
November 5th, 2009 at 2:50 pm
Interesting. Lesson: It doesn’t help to avoid the germs. What helps is to have the right genes.
November 5th, 2009 at 2:54 pm
Say, Tom. Where do we get the right genes?
November 5th, 2009 at 3:23 pm
I understand there is a threshold, which must be surpassed, for a viral or bacterial infection to take hold. We come in contact with hundreds of cells routinely but need something like, say, 10,000 to 20,000 to develop symptoms. There is also a phenomenon known as quorum sensing, where the germs don’t go on the attack until their numbers are sufficient.