I was today years old when I realised ‘flu’ is a contraction of ‘influenza’
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TBF, your confusion is understandable. Many people (in Australia at least) seem to use 'flu' in place of 'common cold', as in 'argh I caught the flu', which is a bit of a frustrating failure of education given how bad influenza actually is. 😬
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I was an adult when I learned this. My spouse gets upset when people call the common cold the "flu". It is very /common/ in the US and Britain too.
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Yeah, I try to educate on this too - in a kind, understanding way that is. Might be an uphill battle but I think it's important, especially if folks are getting confused, thinking that they are getting a vaccine against 'the common cold'.
I’m a little 🤷♂️ on this... majority of ‘influenza-like illnesses’ are not caused by influenza, and the management is basically the same either way
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Definitely think understanding what the influenza vaccine will and won’t prevent is important though!
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