Jezebel: Flu

Flu Season At Its Worst This Year

Lane Moore — Sat, 07 May 2011 16:50:00 EDT

If you've been feeling like this flu season will never end, you're not alone. According to monthly reports, 3.3 percent of Americans reported having the flu during February (typically the peak of flu season), as opposed to the 2.2% of Americans who reported the same illness in February of last year. More »

Science Confirms Men Are Babies When They're Sick

Dodai Stewart — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 15:30:00 EDT

A study says one in two dudes exaggerate and are likely to call a cold a "flu" and a headache a "migraine." Try having cramps, jerks! [Daily Mail] More »

'Tis The Season

Anna Holmes — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 18:10:00 EDT

[Silver Spring, October 14. Image via Getty]

Swine Flu: Fingers Point; American Child Dies

Anna North — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 09:30:00 EDT

The US suffered its first swine flu death yesterday, and accusations are flying about who "started" the epidemic. More »

Is There A Secret To Never Getting Sick?

Dodai Stewart — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 16:00:00 EDT

Cold and flu season is coming, and to be honest, I am dreading it. Last winter, I got strep throat for the first time in my life, and I wanted to die. The fever and sensitivity to light were awful. And while I've had bad tonsils ever since I was a kid, I've never not been able to swallow anything for so many days in a row, and it was horrifying. Anyway, I'm thinking about getting a flu shot this year, just to boost my immunity. (I've never gotten one before.) Yesterday, CNN had a story called "How Some Women Never Get Sick," with five "tips" on how to avoid coming down with a cold. Some of them you've heard before: Wash your hands often, take a double shot of vitamin C and zinc at the first sign of sniffles, eat more garlic, "stay positive." But there were two I'd never heard of. For instance: More »

Burning? Itching? Bad Breath? We Heart Cranberries

Jennifer — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 14:00:00 EST

Everything your college roommate told you is true. Well, at least about the magic healing powers of the cranberry. Cranberry juice, long guzzled by paranoid sexually active women everywhere in an attempt to save themselves from the agonizing pain of a urinary tract infection, has been confirmed as having legit scientific capabilities for stopping not just UTIs, but other ailments. (Is it just us or do the antibiotics that treat UTIs inevitably lead to - ugh - yeast infections?) Professor Itzhak Ofek of Tel Aviv University took it upon himself to investigate the little wonderfruit and found that cranberries contain a non-dialyzable material molecule, which interacts with female (and female only) bodies only in a way that yields a sort of protective coating that pushes back bacteria. In the case of UTIs, this molecule has been shown to coat the bladder, thus preventing infection, but the same effect also takes place in the mouth, Ofek found, which is why he subsequently developed a cranberry-juice based mouthwash. More »