Study Shows Why the Flu Likes Winter

Interesting...

Quote :

Researchers in New York believe they have solved one of the great mysteries of the flu: Why does the infection spread primarily in the winter months?

The answer, they say, has to do with the virus itself. It is more stable and stays in the air longer when air is cold and dry, the exact conditions for much of the flu season.

“Influenza virus is more likely to be transmitted during winter on the way to the subway than in a warm room,” said Peter Palese, a flu researcher who is professor and chairman of the microbiology department at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York and the lead author of the flu study.

Dr. Palese published details of his findings in the Oct. 19 issue of PLoS Pathogens. The crucial hint that allowed him to do his study came from a paper published in the aftermath of the 1918 flu pandemic, when doctors were puzzling over why and how the virus had spread so quickly and been so deadly.

As long as flu has been recognized, people have asked, Why winter? The very name, “influenza,” is an Italian word that some historians proposed, originated in the mid-18th century as influenza di freddo, or “influence of the cold.”

Flu season in northern latitudes is from November to March, the coldest months. In southern latitudes, it is from May until September. In the tropics, there is not much flu at all and no real flu season.

The story continues here...

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/05/health/research/05flu.html?no_interstitial

That'd be simple enough to verify. Just map influenza rates. I think it may be true, but not for those reasons. People can become more physically stressed by harsh winter weather conditions, weakening the body more and making it more susceptible to the influenza and cold "viri".

But then biology was my weakest subject.

The Paineful Truth wrote:

That'd be simple enough to verify. Just map influenza rates. I think it may be true, but not for those reasons. People can become more physically stressed by harsh winter weather conditions, weakening the body more and making it more susceptible to the influenza and cold "viri".

But then biology was my weakest subject.

Yeah, if you read the rest of the article it describes how the conclusions were made. It turns out that influenza is most likely to spread during dry (20% humidity) and cool (41 degrees F) weather. It's based on tests done on guinea pigs.

But it doesn't look like they mapped it, which should show a correlation between flu rates and climate.

No they didn't in the article anyway. They did make mention of the fact that the flu is almost non-existent in the summer and in tropical regions however.