Every winter, the Netherlands has to deal with a flu epidemic, which can keep our country under the spell for about 8 weeks. At the moment there is already a minor flu epidemic.
Slight flu epidemic
On average, 61 out of 100,000 inhabitants have now reported to their GP that they have flu-like symptoms, but there are also people who do not contact their GP. The epidemic is very early this year. In 2012, many people did not suffer from the flu until around March.
Winter flu
Influenza epidemics usually take place in the winter. This is because our resistance is worse and we are more likely to be infected with the flu. If we ourselves have the flu in the winter, we infect more people than we would infect in the summer. The people you have infected, in turn, infect more people in the winter, and this creates an epidemic. The slightest difference in our resistance can make a huge difference in the spread.
Resistance
The fact that our resistance is lower in winter is due to changeable weather, cold and less exercise in the open air, for example. A good resistance works against the flu and most Dutch people are aware of that. 75 percent work on the resistance. The most popular ways to work on the resistance are:a varied diet (84 percent), drinking enough (70 percent), getting enough sleep (almost 70 percent) and relaxing enough (more than 50 percent).
Have you caught the flu yet?
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