What's Going Around: Flu

Staying home on Thanksgiving might be a blessing to all

Reports of less flu-like illness across the country in recent days had some thinking we may have seen the worst of the H1N1 virus. But it's not necessarily so.

One Toledo family physician says the last couple of weeks had seemed to calm down when it comes to flu-like illness. But, now she's seeing an increase in calls.

Dr. Cathy Cantor says there was a "flood of calls last week, beginning of this week with the typical fever, body aches, sore throat, fatigue, from all ages, both kids and adults."

Dr. Cantor says whether it's the H1N1 virus, or seasonal flu, treatment is the same for a flu-like illness. "You just treat the symptoms. If they're a severe enough case, you can use Tamiflu, but the biggest thing is to make sure you contact your physician because as we know, these symptoms can progress rapidly."

Doctors are concerned that Thanksgiving travel and gatherings may help spread the virus over the holiday. Dr. Cantor reminds us about "doing all the little things, make sure you cough into your elbow, get up from the table, wash your hands, again, not eating and drinking after each other, especially with those Thanksgiving dinners, trying each other's dessert, or what have you. Those are the little things you can do to make sure you're not spreading the illness among your family members."

Dr. Cantor says she's actually told some patients they're too sick, and they're going to have to skip their family Thanksgiving gathering.

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