Most flu cases are treated at home, but antivirals help high-risk patients

Annual flu shots remain the best defense against influenza

Flu vaccination typically reduces the risk of medical visits by 30 to 60% and lowers hospitalization rates by around 40%. Between 2023 and 2024, in the US alone, vaccines prevented an estimated 120,000 hospitalizations and nearly 7,900 deaths.

The flu is a contagious respiratory illness caused by influenza viruses

Unlike the common cold, influenza attacks suddenly with fever, body aches, and fatigue. Seasonal strains circulate worldwide, infecting up to a billion people each year and causing hundreds of thousands of deaths despite vaccines and treatments.

Find out how prevalent the flu is at this current moment

Updated weekly, this USAFacts resource shares current data from the CDC detailing how many cases of influenza and other flu-like illnesses accounted for doctor's visits. Monitor the spread of respiratory illness during flu season with this handy resource and prepare accordingly.

Human records of influenza stretch back more than two millennia

Accounts of flu-like illness appear as early as 412 BCE, when Hippocrates described a sudden wave of cough and fever. Centuries of recurring outbreaks culminated in the first clearly documented pandemic in 1580, spreading from Asia into Europe and Africa.

Explore 3D models of some of the most dangerous viruses

Everyone has come in contact with common viruses—typically something like influenza (the common flu)—but sometimes they encounter more dangerous strains. While we're familiar with the symptoms that manifest, it wasn't until the advent of advanced microscopy that scientists could pin down the exact structure and behavior of various viruses.

Pooping or puking out pathogens is sometimes recommended with food poisoning

Sometimes stopping food poisoning-linked diarrhea with over-the-counter medications is a bad idea because it may prolong illness. Doctors can advise you if your diarrhea or vomiting is severe about what medications to take and when, but generally doctors recommend trying to stay hydrated during a bout of food poisoning and letting the body naturally remove pathogens from the body via vomiting or diarrhea, as needed.

Tips for reducing the risk of antimicrobial resistance

Antimicrobial resistance is bad news. But there are lots of things you can do to both protect yourself from superbugs and help keep the problem of antimicrobial resistance from getting worse. This page from the CDC offers clear, straightforward guidelines that can help keep you—and your loved ones—healthy.

HFMD symptoms typically begin to show up 3-6 days after exposure

Fever is often the first symptom and then painful sores may develop a day or two later. Coxsackie A16 is currently the most common enterovirus that leads to the disease, though there are several other enteroviruses that can cause it as well.

Most cases of West Nile virus are asymptomatic in people

About 1 in 5 infected people develop symptoms from West Nile, including symptoms such as fatigue, head and body aches, and vomiting. But around 1% of patients develop severe complications such as encephalitis or meningitis, which can be life-threatening. Those who are most likely to become severely ill are people over age 60.

Home allergy tests don’t work well and experts urge caution

Doctors do not recommend at-home allergy test kits because their results may be inaccurate and confusing, and lead people to make lifestyle changes that are not warranted. Tests that require sending in a hair sample, for example, will not be helpful because hair does not have the relevant antibodies that blood testing would detect.

Fevers are an immune response to create hurdles for pathogens

Substances called pyrogens prompt the brain to raise the body temperature to levels where bacteria and viruses struggle to survive. The higher temps also support immune cells fighting off the invaders.

How to think yourself into health

Can the right thoughts lead to a stronger immune system? Neuroimmunologists like Hai Qi study how drugs targeting the brain, as well as thought exercises, can prompt stronger immune responses to infection. This six-minute video investigates the radical claims.

Vitamin A does not cure measles, but it helps reduce the symptoms

Also known as retinol, vitamin A plays a significant role in supporting the body’s immune system. The virus attacks the immune system, and studies have shown a correlation between vitamin deficiency and severity of measles symptoms. Supplemental vitamin A doses are now a part of recommended treatment for pediatric patients.

Watch the cumbersome, but necessary, precautions healthcare workers must take to care for and protect themselves while caring for Ebola patients

Treating someone with Ebola involves a painstaking process of suiting up (donning) and peeling off (doffing) protective gear. Doctors follow detailed CDC guidelines. Properly suiting up is key to protecting against fluids that transmit Ebola, and correctly removing a suit that could be contaminated with the virus is also critical.

Most Americans are now dying at home, reversing 20th century trends

For most of the 21st and 20th centuries most Americans died in hospital settings. But in 2016, home-based deaths overtook hospitals; most Americans are now dying at home, likely fueled by individual preferences to die at home or to receive at-home palliative care.

Inhalers dilate airways and reduce inflammation

People with asthma suffer from constricted airways in their lungs, whether from muscle pressure, mucus buildup, or inflammation. Inhalers help people breathe medicine directly into their lungs to immediately relieve these symptoms.

Watch the cumbersome, but necessary, precautions healthcare workers must take to care for and protect themselves while caring for Ebola patients.

Long-haul COVID: What doctors want patients to know

Long COVID continues to be a medical mystery, but some parts of the puzzle are falling into place. Learn more from intensivist Devang Sanghavi, MD.

How tPA, which helps dissolve blood clots, can lessen the severity of a stroke

One of the most exciting recent advances in treating stroke is a medication known as tissue plasminogen activator, or tPA. It is only effective for use in some ischemic strokes, and it must be delivered within 4.5 hours of symptom onset to have a chance at working.

Oxford scientists turned Fleming’s mold discovery into medicine

In 1939, a team at Oxford—including Howard Florey, Ernst Chain, and Norman Heatley—revived Fleming’s forgotten discovery. Using makeshift equipment like bedpans and milk churns, they purified enough penicillin to prove it could treat deadly infections.

Hookworm infection, though risky, may help fight certain autoimmune conditions by tamping down the immune system's inflammatory response.

Migrane 101: data, symptoms, and treatments

Living with migraine, however often the neurological condition attacks, is a journey fraught with pain and isolation. This migraine guide offers insight into the condition, common triggers, possible treatments, personal stories, and tips for managing life with migraine.

Hippocratic doctors treated severe mental illness with the poisonous plant hellebore

Since symptoms like hallucinations were believed be due to an imbalance of black bile, yellow bile, blood, and phlegm, the treatment at the time was to bring those humors back into balance. That meant standard treatments could include bleeding a patient or using substances like hellebore to induce vomiting or diarrhea.

How supplements and alternative medicine are being used to treat MS

MS patients often use complementary and alternative medicine approaches for MS, including acupuncture, yoga, specific diets, herbs like turmeric, and cannabis. Information on integrative approaches often come from support groups and online communities. Complementary care is typically used in conjunction with traditional medicines.

Certain medications that affect blood flow or mood boost the risk of heatstroke

Drugs that narrow blood vessels, beta blockers that regulate blood pressure, diuretics, antidepressants, and antipsychotics can all affect the body's ability to regulate its internal body temperature, and so individuals taking these medications need to take special care in extreme heat and when exercising in hot conditions.

It's never too late to start hormone replacement therapy for menopause symptoms

This board-certified gynecologist discusses how it's ideal to start estradiol as soon as possible after menopause to maximize its benefits, but that if older women have healthy hearts they can still start these medications later, in consultation with their doctors, and the products could be useful if women are continuing to suffer from symptoms of menopause or want to fight bone loss.

Is it possible to cure diabetes?

Treatments for diabetes depend on the type of condition a patient has. Gestational diabetes typically goes away after birth, and those with Type 2 diabetes may be able to reverse their condition through diet, exercise, and blood sugar management. Type 1 diabetes has no cure, but can be successfully managed.

Doctors differentiate between a phobia and fear by asking patients whether their fear interferes with their day-to-day activities.

The 2026 Ebola outbreak is hampered by a lack of vaccine against the species of the virus, heightening the need for rapid tests to aid in disease control.

Human-to-human transmission of hantavirus remains extremely rare, so the 2026 hantavirus cruise ship outbreak doesn't mean we're facing a COVID-style pandemic risk.

Telehealth demand for GLP-1s for weight loss is booming as consumers seek easier access.

Poison ivy's rash-causing compound is found in the plant's roots, stem, and leaves—so coming into contact with any part of the plant can lead to rashes for the 85% of people who are allergic to it.

Fireworks-related ER visits are on the rise—in 2024, they increased by 52% as compared to the prior year.

After 25 people used virtual reality headsets to practice flying with virtual wings—flapping their arms—their visual cortex responded to the wings almost as if they were real arms, treating them as body parts.

Alzheimer's can lead to brain shrinkage, with an average of around 2% of volume reduction per year

To reduce wrinkles in clothing, research recommends gentle wash cycles with more water and tumble drying with smaller loads and longer times.

The boiling temperature of water decreases with increasing elevation because the molecules need less energy to overcome the lower atmospheric pressure associated with thinner air.

Elk Cloner, the first computer virus to spread in public, was written as a practical joke by Richard Skrenta, a Pittsburgh high school student.

At the beginning of the 20th century, a group of young men ate standard American food—replete with food additives like borax and formaldehyde—as part of government research to better understand food safety.

Venture capital is a form of funding provided to early-stage companies with high growth potential, typically in exchange for an equity (or ownership) stake

20,000 letters to the advice columnist 'Dear Abby' provide insight into prevailing sex, religion, and LGBTQ fears, anxieties, and concerns from the 1950s onward.

In 2026, Finland was named the world's happiest country for the ninth consecutive year based on its wealth, social safety network, and high life expectancy, among other factors.

In 1939, baseball star Lou Gehrig delivered his inspirational 'Luckiest Man' speech after retiring due to the health condition that now bears his name.

Sunflowers have long been a symbol of nuclear disarmament because they can extract large amounts of radioactive cesium from soil.

Coral reefs get their colors from zooxanthellae—microorganisms that line corals' digestive tracts and provide them with sugars in exchange for a home within this protective tissue.

US intelligence allegedly pursued more than 600 schemes to assassinate Cuban revolutionary Fidel Castro.

While atoms are normally made of protons, neutrons, and electrons, exotic ones have been built with antimatter—alternate versions of normal matter that live for fractions of a second and are about a billion times as rare.

Massive 3D printers have been used to build homes by stacking layers of 'concrete toothpaste,' a fire-resistant material that effectively insulates against outside noise.

For centuries, it was common to sleep in two shifts: a few hours at the beginning of the night, and a longer period beginning around midnight

Hotels in Cannes, the glamorous city on the French Riviera, hire hawks to ward off seagulls during the city's famous film festival.