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How the Flu Works

Staying Healthy Image Gallery Flu season is upon us.  Get health tips with staying healthy pictures.
Staying Healthy Image Gallery Flu season is upon us.  Get health tips with staying healthy pictures.
Peter Dazeley/Photographer's Choice/Getty Images

Every winter, like clockwork, the flu returns. It inf­ects millions of ­us -- about 5 to 20 percent of the U.S. population alone, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) [source: CDC]. Health Canada estimates that 10 to 25 percent of Canadians get the flu each year [source: Health Canada]. It leaves us sniffling, sneezing, coughing, achy and generally feeling miserable for anywhere from a few days to a few weeks.

Although most of us think of the flu as a mild annoyance that we have to deal with each winter, it can actually be a very dangerous disease. The CDC estimates that in the United States alone, more than 200,000 people are hospitalized­ with the flu or with flu-related complications each year, and more than 36,000 people die from it [source: CDC]. Around the world, the flu kills between a quarter of a million to half a million people a year [source: WHO].

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­In this article, we'll find out how people get the flu, what the symptoms are and how to protect yourself.

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