According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the flu activity is increasing in the United States.

The best way to prevent the flu is to get the flu vaccine each year. The vaccine takes one to two weeks to start working and is 70 to 90 percent effective in preventing the seasonal flu.

Every year from 25 million to 50 million people are infected with flu in America. Of those, more than 200,000 people end up in hospitals and approximately 23,000 die, according to reports from ADH. The seasonal flu is spread easily, through coughing, sneezing or touching a surface that has the virus on it and not washing the hands afterwards.

The flu attacks the throat, the nose and the lungs. The people who are most endangered by the flu are the children, the elders ,the persons who have chronic health issues and the pregnant women.

Doctors advise the Americans to get shots against the flu at least once a year, in order to better avoid it. On the other hand, CDC recommends flu shots every six months. After the vaccination, the patient has to wait up to two weeks in order for the vaccine to start being efficient. The flu vaccination can protect the people from the flu, and it has been known to have an efficiency that is up to 90%.

In order to avoid the flu infection, people should wash their hands often, avoid contact with sick people and hold a tissue close to the mouth when they sneeze or cough. The flu is linked to more severe complications like pneumonia, bronchitis, ear infections and sinus infections. Even though most of the people recover from the flu in maximum two weeks, to a lot of people catching the disease is fatal. Symptoms of the flu include fever, nausea, body aches, chills, coughing, sneezing, muscle aches, runny nose, tiredness, vomiting, sore throat and diarrhea.

Since the flu season started in October, two people already died in Arkansas due to the flu. This month, the flu activity was seen mostly in Arizona, in the South East and on the West Coast. One of the most shocking cases of flu was registered in Washington, where a 12 year old girl died only four days after she started showing flu symptoms. Piper Lowery complained of having high fever on January 12 and on January 16, she was already dead. The flu activity is increasing in the United States, and people should prepare to fight the disease. One of the best weapons against the flu is the vaccine, which is not too late to have.

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