The beginning of Influenza (flu) and respiratory virus season has arrived. What’s certain is that flu season is a staple of fall and winter, but what we don’t always know is how flu season will actually look since it varies from year to year. Beth Thielen, MD, PhD, pediatric infectious disease physician with University of Minnesota Physicians (M Physicians), answers questions about this year’s flu season, the best ways to stay healthy and what to do if you start feeling sick.
What will this year’s flu season look like?
In a typical respiratory virus season, circulation of viruses like flu and Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) increases around November and December and continues through April. After 2020, this season began to start much earlier than normal, but based on more recent years, Dr. Thielen expects this year to be closer to the typical circulation period.
“I would expect that we typically will see things like RSV and flu coming up, again, around the holiday season and kind of continuing on through the cold months in Minnesota,” Dr. Thielen explains.
Getting your flu vaccine
“If the opportunity presents itself, I think we’re at the point where people can go ahead and start getting vaccinated,” says Dr. Thielen. Now that children are back at school, Dr. Thielen says it is especially important that parents take their children into a clinic to get vaccinated, since disease often begins spreading earlier in schools.
While some may argue that it’s best to maximize immunity by waiting to get the vaccine until closer to peak flu season, doing so can be risky. “There's a lot of variability year to year, and sometimes our guesses aren't quite on point, and the danger of waiting too long is that then you get exposed in the community before you have your vaccination,” Dr. Thielen says.
Dr. Thielen explains that even for someone without underlying conditions or other risk factors for severe illness from the flu, it’s important to get vaccinated against it. There’s an element of unpredictability that exists with respiratory diseases, and Dr. Thielen cautions that they may behave unexpectedly in different people.
“Every year in the hospital I see children end up in the ICU with bad flu, and it is not uncommon that they are children who are otherwise well and whom I would not have predicted a bad outcome,” Dr. Thielen recalls.
Vaccination is also important for protecting our community. Respiratory illnesses are communicable, which means they spread from person to person, and even if you might not be at risk for severe illness from the flu, you likely interact with someone who might be at higher risk or cannot be vaccinated.
“Our community is filled with people who may not respond to vaccines and may have more severe disease, and so part of the reason to get vaccinated is to really drive down the amount of transmission and protect those in our community who can't be vaccinated,” says Dr. Thielen.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend that those 6 months and above get an annual flu vaccination. Special guidance for very young children states that they will need two doses of the flu vaccine if they have not been vaccinated before.
How to protect yourself and others from respiratory illnesses
If you experience symptoms of a respiratory illness, the best thing you can do to protect others is stay home, wash your hands often and get tested for the flu and COVID. If you can’t stay home, Dr. Thielen recommends wearing a mask around other people to prevent the spread of your infection, whether you test positive for the flu, COVID or neither.
Dr. Thielen says the most important thing for people to know about respiratory illness season is the number of respiratory viruses out there that we don’t have tests for. In her lab, Dr. Thielen works to educate people about lesser-known viruses like Rhinovirus and Parainfluenza Virus, and how they can behave similar to viruses like flu and COVID, but can’t be tested for in the same way.
“If it acts like a respiratory virus, it very likely is. So reminding people to take precautions like staying home when sick or wearing a mask when sick, even if they test negative for COVID, is a piece of information I’d like to be known more widely in the community,” Dr. Thielen explains.
When experiencing symptoms of a respiratory illness, it’s important to make sure you are having appropriate conversations with your healthcare provider about your eligibility for treatments that might be available.
Another helpful way to do your part this respiratory season is to ensure that you get all of the vaccines you’re eligible for. In addition to the flu vaccine, this year there is an updated single-dose COVID vaccine and for older populations, an RSV vaccine.
If you aren’t experiencing symptoms of a respiratory illness, but are interested in additional protection from infection, Dr. Thielen says to wear a well-fitting mask like a KN95.
Research to reduce the spread of disease
When she isn’t seeing patients, Dr. Thielen runs a research lab focusing on respiratory viral epidemiology, where she studies what respiratory diseases are circulating and the best strategies to both reduce the burden of disease in our communities and treat infections most effectively.
If you want to know more about what respiratory viruses are hitting the community, Dr. Thielen’s lab is currently recruiting for their household study, MINNE-LOVE-2: Got Snot? For more information about Dr. Thielen’s research, visit Thielen Lab.