Selects: How the Flu Works | STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW

oh God hi everybody it's Chuck. here boy my selection this week is Hell. the flu works and I'll give you one. reason why this is from November 14th. 2017 I hope you like it I'm going back. to. bed welcome to stuff you should know a. production of iHeart Radio.

hey and welcome to the podcast I'm Josh. Clark there's Charles W Chuck Bryant. there's Jerry this is stuff you should. know about the flu which I have you. don't have the flu do you I don't know. man I can't I can't I've been on the. planet for 41 years okay I still can't. really tell the difference between a flu. and a cold I think the difference that I. can tell and I don't get the flu much.

you know always get the stomach bug. which as it turns out is not a flu I. just learned no but um I don't get the. flu flu much but I can always tell. though when I'm super achy like the flu. just makes me feel like dog. dooo right whereas the cold is just a. big inconvenience yeah I've had uh no. I've definitely had like lots of aches. and um I woke up like shivering one. night oh so you had a fever for sure I. guess so um I guess it it must has just.

been one night in the middle of the. night so that's that's the flu right. probably so I guess I I do have the flu. no no joke everybody well I'm erecting. the clear glass in between us yeah I I. think that I've had it long enough now. based on the research from this article. that I'm not contageous or else I would. have called this off so did you get it. in New York I wonder I think so yeah dir. dirty New York right yeah which I was. like I was just walking walking around. like with my hands um inside of a couple.

of like plastic Dwayne Reed bags that. still didn't work well that was your. problem probably right there right Wayne. Reed because I didn't take them off when. I ate gross yeah so yes we were in New. York for some bellhouse shows right. those went pretty well yeah thought they. were great all right so the flu. check we won't reminisce about past. victories we'll just talk about the flu. instead yeah uh how about a stat right. off the the get-go here okay um the flu.

the CDC also sorry everybody for the. sniffling that's going to inevitably. happen I'm trying hard not to do it. you're method podcaster right uh which. is also what I said in my very first. episode that's right remember that yep. it's not any funnier. now so the CDC right here in Atlanta. Centers for Disease Control and. prevention uh not the. cdcp no they just stuck with the. original letters um they reckon that.

about 5 to 20 between 5% and 20% of. United States peoples MH uh get the flu. each year compared to about 10% to 25%. in dirty cold Canada right I know and. normally when you get the flu um it's. just you're laid up for a couple of days. right yeah you like you said you feel. like dogd or something like that yeah um. that's the seasonal flu but even with a.

seasonal flu which usually here in the. United States or in North America runs. from what like October to March yeah. roughly uh and then I didn't really. think about this before but in the. southern hemisphere it runs the opposite. and actually peaks in August right yeah. um most of the time it's just an. inconvenience for you but it it actually. kills people sometimes yeah it can be. dangerous for sure so and.

2011 and 12 that was a pretty low year. in for deaths from the flu in the US. there were 12,000 people who died from. the flu or complications from the flu. 2012 13 flu season 56,000 people died uh. that year and I think the average is. something around 36,000 people in the US. die from the flu every year yeah and. apparently the World Health Organization. says around the world as many as a. quarter of a million people to half a.

million people can die every year from. the flu right there a lot of lot of. folks it is so I mean and the idea of. dying from the flu that's that's awful. because I mean if you feel bad enough as. it is from a flu that you recover from. in a few days imagine dying from that. that would just be a terrible way to die. yeah um and the whole thing Chuck comes. down to this little tiny virus mhm the. influenza virus and there's different. types and influenza I found um is.

actually a a a shout out to the Italian. name for it originally did you know this. uh did not so I'm going to say it. normally but then you have to say it in. your famous talian accent uh influenza. defo are you talking about the influence. of the Fredo yeah which means influence. of the cold oh all right a lot of for. for many many many many years because. the flu um is most predominant in the. colder months um.

everybody just assumed that it was the. actual cold that was getting you sick. right um that turns out not to be true. it it's an actual it's a virus that does. seem to favor the um cold drier. conditions of the winter months um but. this little tiny virus gets into your. body and it starts this chain reaction. that is just. fascinating yeah so it is a respiratory. illness so like I said before when you. hear people say the stomach flu which. I've said said a lot in my life M cuz I.

get it once a year with the poopy butt. and the vomitous. mouth and this the ill belly at the same. time though I can't I think I've asked. you this before but I don't remember has. it literally ever happened at the same. time mhm I think once in my life man. that's rough I was on the John with a. bucket oh God so rough uh well the worst. time I ever had it I may have told the. story before I was sick at a friend's. house which is the worst as when I was. not living in Atlanta but I was in. Atlanta oh no and um I was like I got to.

I just got to get to my mom's house Mom. yeah I was like I just much more. comfortable being sick there yeah and he. was working it was just one of those. things and so I got in my brother's car. that I was borrowing while I was in town. I don't like where this story is going. and I. drove No Lie probably about a 100 miles. an hour to Snellville from Atlanta yeah. thinking and I pooped in my pants in the. car.

and I remember thinking if a cop pulls. me over he would have to be a cold. heartless individual to give me a ticket. because I would just say Sir don't take. me to prison take me to a hospital. because I'm dying yeah so I drove 100. miles an hour it was kind of fun so you. made it home you showed up with poopy. pants and your mom took care of you yep. showed up to to Diane's house and uh I. lived but anyway uh that was a long way. of setting up this which is that is. actually not a flu the stomach flu is.

not because the flu is 100% a. respiratory illness right and is not. something that happens in your stomach. or in your in your butt right and let's. let's talk first before we talk about. the actual effect of the flu let's talk. about the virus a little bit for a. second okay so back in 1931 there was. this Iowa farm physician which is to say. he was a human physician of humans but. he probably lived on a farm because it. was Iowa in 19 31 yeah his name was.

Richard schop and he was trying to. figure out what this bug that was. getting people was um and he. investigated uh with pigs first because. there are plenty of other animals that. can come down with the flu not just. humans right right um and he finally. isolated he isolated a flu virus in. swine and it led to this discovery of um. the isolation of the flu virus in humans. too so right after that they started. classifying the flu.

by strains you got a B and C right so a. is the most common and most severe. that's the bad news yeah uh B is a. little milder uh a little less prevalent. and then we go all the way down to C. which is I get the feeling sea doesn't. happen a lot and it definitely isn't uh. the one that you're going to have like a. a big epidemic of the flu from a sea. yeah I couldn't find much on C influenza. either poor c yeah it it'll make a come. back one day and it'll it'll shock the.

heck out of all of us right so so um. type A infects all sorts of different. species right humans birds of all kinds. pigs bats horses even yeah I mean. remember the Aven flu that was uh that. scared the world oh yeah and that was a. right that was a strain uh B strain is. almost exclusively infective of humans. apparently the only other species ever. found a type B influenza virus in is.

seals God knows where they got it from. or if we got it from Seals who knows. maybe up north I don't know and then. that C1 it just infects humans and. pigs so you got the three types that's. right and then one other thing about. them um about the classification of of. flu strains is that there are also. subtypes right and so you mentioned like. Aven flu and the one that scared. everybody was I think.

h5n1 yeah that was it I remember so the. H and the N are the they refer to the. the two kinds of the two main proteins. that you find on the outside of a flu. virus um uh. hemaglutinin and neurom. minase okay and so depending on those. types of uh H protein or M protein uh. that's that's how they subtype flu.

strains yeah so I mean that's a good. little facto I don't think anyone really. understands what those letters mean. that's what they mean you know yeah but. as far as you're concerned just pay. attention to the news and when they talk. about the scary ones they'll mention. those letters and numbers and then you. can impress your friends yeah you can be. like oh well that they're talking about. hemog glutin and neurom minad days and. they'll say shut up nerd I hope you get. sick so uh as far as the the standard. flu that we're talking about here the.

virus uh it gets into your body and it. it kind of makes a beline to your. respiratory tract mhm uh and it binds. with your cells it's viruses did we do. one a general one on viruses the one I. think uh we really went in depth on was. HIV where we talked about how virus. enters the body and takes over it's just. vicious it is but it's also it's kind of. like admirable in a really like deadly. efficient way you know it is so they. bind to the surface of your of the cells. in that respiratory tract and then they.

say hey I'd like you to meet my little. friend RNA why don't why don't I inject. my uh genetic information into your. nucleus and see how you like it right. and when it does that the uh the cell. has been officially hijacked and the. virus uses the cell's own um RNA. transcription process to create the. proteins that are needed to make new. versions of the virus so the virus is.

using this host cell in your respiratory. tract to um make copies of itself and. suddenly before the cell knows what's. going on it's made millions of copies of. these viruses right and apparently when. you talk about it step by step it seems. like this takes a little while right no. in seconds seconds after that the virus. has entered your respiratory cell. millions of copies of it have been made. yeah like this is happening so fast it.

moves in there it says I'm in charge now. cell out of the way yeah completely. either way I'm running the show here uh. we're we're copying each other and it it. we're going to move out to the cell. membrane because this cell's going to. die very quickly and then that's just. going to poof me out into the body. further to infect other cells and it's. it's scary how quickly this happens. right so if you think about it if that. first cell produces millions of viruses. V viral copies. and then they're released um from the.

cell out into the rest of the the other. respiratory cells and each of those. infects another cell and then those. cells all make millions you see how. quickly these um these viruses reproduce. in your body yeah and once that starts. to happen you are infectious I think. once that first cell ruptures you become. infectious um but this can be like a day. before symptoms right so this is this is. something people are always saying like. oh I'm not infectious anymore like me I.

said it earlier too right I know but. supposedly the day before you you even. know you're sick the day before the. first symptoms start before you start. like sniffling a little bit or whatever. you're infectious buddy yeah and you're. infectious up to seven days after that. day you first start showing symptoms. with the flu and if you're a kid you can. be infectious even longer because if. kids are anything they're walking germ. factories they are disgusting monsters. it's hilarious.

um it's true man like uh my kid didn't. get sick at all for the first 18 months. of her life and I thought I've got a. Wonder baby yeah really I don't know. what's going on we put her in daycare a. couple of days a week and she was sick. non-stop for the next six months man. that is rough it is rough and then they. get the family sick we'll talk a little. bit about that and how that happens but. all this is to say during flu season. especially if you work in like an office. where you know when you hear like the. flu's going around or whatever ever or.

anywhere you work or in school if you. hear about the flu going. around even if you don't feel sick or. your cube mate doesn't feel or look sick. just start washing your hands a lot oh. yeah that's like they they say it's the. best way to prevent getting the flu or. spreading the flu is washing your hands. a lot and it's so simple that you almost. might discount it but it's actually true. like that's the best way to do it you. can wash the flu virus off of your hands. with some soap. that will bind to it and the water will.

wash it right off wash that flu right. out of your hair yeah and if you have. the flu stay home yeah everybody but me. stay home well we we're up against it we. we had to record today and also wash. your hands just constantly like I if I'm. about to touch anything I'll wash my. hands first right if I'm going to go. somewhere outside of The Hot Zone which. is whatever room I'm sequestered in you. know will wash my hands you know I.

appreciate that I mean trust me we're in. this tiny studio now the three of us I. know I'm trying not to breathe uh yeah. you've done all this on one breath it's. impressive I know um well quickly before. we take a break so you can breathe again. uh where we're going to talk about. symptoms afterward uh before you get. these symptoms though what's happening. is your respiratory system is going to. become inflamed and this. inflammation might stick around for a. few weeks uh but from there it moves.

into your bloodstream and then that's. when you're going to get these symptoms. once it sort of moves into the. bloodstream right and we're going to. talk about the symptoms as promised. right after this. [Music].

all right Chuck let's talk breathe yeah. a little bit let's talk. symptoms okay you know what I need I. need one of those like um reads that. Bugs Bunny used to like hide in the. water when Omar fud was hunting him. uhhuh I could just like get a long one. and maybe a crazy straw would be even. better and just like pipe it out to the. air duct right there that's a great idea. what do you we'll get everybody else. sick except you and J.

so um the symptoms sound a lot like a. cold because the symptoms are kind of. the same uh a cold is is usually not as. fraught with potential complications and. maybe a little less severe but they're. pretty close which is why you couldn't. tell earlier if you had a colder fever. or uh flu right the the but that fever. um that's the the big one apparently. it's a big distinction between the yeah. I think that's kind of the way I. distinguish it right yeah and the cold. colds are also caused by viruses are. caused by Corona viruses which can there.

are types of Corona viruses that are. really bad that cause like Ms and SARS. yeah um but for the most part when you. catch a cold from a Corona virus it's a. a low-level virus or it's a rhino virus. um that's the other one that that causes. the common cold right so it's just a. different kind of virus producing. similar symptoms to a flu do you. remember when uh Peter sarsgard was on. Saturday Night Live years ago no he was. you know the actor sure he he was on. there during the SARS uh when there was.

that SAR scare mhm in the United States. and one of their skits was he had. developed the SARS guard SARS guard. which was just basically a surgical mask. but it was just funny they said SARS. guard SARS guard like 30 times and I. laughed every time um his I think his. younger brother was Pennywise the clown. in the It movie right oh I don't know. I'm pretty sure that was a SARS gard and. he is amazing yeah have you seen it no. oh you got to see it you're going to.

love it now was he a SARS guard or a. scars guard oh God I didn't know there. were two different things well they're. the scars guards which is like stellen. scars guard is the dad okay and then the. son was the dude. on uh True Blood the vampire show and. then recently on that uh Pretty Little. Liars I think I don't know one with. Nicole Kidman okay uh that's Alexander. Scar's guard I think that might be him. is sgard the one who's in Fargo SAR no.

who is that Peter. sarsgard yeah that's another dude what. is up with all these guys so are you. sure you're not just dropping the K off. of Peter scars. guard all right here's the deal the guy. in Fargo uhhuh man this is such a bad. Sidetrack already it's pretty bad the. guy in Fargo was Peter. stormier okay so he's not even in the. equation then no but definitely know. that there is Peter sarsgard okay.

because he either was or is married to. Maggie. Gyllenhaal oh yeah I guess I knew that. Peter sarsgard okay and then there's. stellen and Alexander scarg guard and I. don't know who It the clown was it's. Bill Skarsgard and is he related to the. scars guards I guess so yeah I believe. he's the youngest of them okay oh I'm. sorry I was wrong it was Tim Curry I was. talking about no actually I uh we never.

look stuff up but I did look that up. yeah uh because the headline here says. Alexander skarsgard's reaction to his. brother. bills uh clown costume yeah he's it's. good his acting goes Way Beyond the. costume they did good with the costume. but it was his acting that oh yeah it. was it was good I know there were so. many people screaming at their phones. but I think we finally got it right yeah. sorry about that everybody I I also want. to apologize for any medical students um. who are being forced to listen to this.

as part of their class hopefully your. instructor fast forwarded through that. part all right back this all got started. with uh SARS guard SARS guards oh yeah. that's right because that's from the. Corona virus this is the influenza virus. we're talking about that creates this. inflammation which is your immune. response right in your lungs that's. correct and uh the symptoms like a cold. are coughing sneezing that The Fever. which is different like we said with the. flu right achy body which usually comes. with that fever fever and then Josh's.

runny nose and congestion that you can. hear in your overall. lethargy yeah I am a little under the. weather I guess is a good way to put it. I can tell um so those are just standard. flu symptoms you can have secondary. symptoms from complications of the flu. right um one thing that that has long. gone hand inand with the flu as far as. like death from flu complications goes. is bacterial pneumonia yeah that's no. good. and um for a very long time science.

wasn't quite sure why that why you were. just so susceptible to bacterial. infections when you battling the flu and. they figured it out it's actually your. body's immune response that is. responsible for it right right so when. you have the flu and your body starts to. battle it off and you get a fever um and. and you're uh lungs become inflamed. that's that's your immune your immune. system's response to the flu virus but. when your body says okay calm down.

everybody let's bring the temperature. back down um and your body represses its. own immune response it opens the door. for bacteria that normally it would be. able to fight off to take advantage of. this kind of naturally weakened state. that your immune system is in and you. can you're much more susceptible to. infections from bacteria and that's. where pneumonia comes from you can get. viral pneumonia but you you usually get. bacterial pneumonia and that's the stuff.

that people can die from because that. bacteria infects your air sacks in your. lungs which fill a fluid and puss and. blood and you you die from choking on. Bloody froth that fills up your Airway. oh my God yeah it's not it's a bad Jam. man uh severe dehydration is another. secondary symptom of the flu uh that's. why of course you always want to drink. plenty of water when you have a cold or. flu I look that one up too Chuck because. if you think about it why why would you. be dehydrated from the flu it's from.

sweating yeah sure your nose running. yeah um you're just leaking fluids yeah. you are and like they start to add up. and all of a sudden you're dehydrated. before you even knew it that's right uh. ear infections especially if you're a. kid um sinus issues Emily always gets. bad sinus problems along with this stuff. I know she was starting to get a little. sniffly is she sick she did get sick oh. that poor lady yeah New York man it. killed everyone I love.

um and then if you like in Emily's case. she's slightly asmatic uh but if you are. asmatic you have like diabetus it can. make that stuff. worse yeah she doesn't have diabetes. right no well the reason diabetes is um. is comorbid with the flu or is. problematic when you have the with the. flu is because uh type 1 diabetes. especially is an autoimmune disease so. your immune system is. already repressed. I guess yeah and then heart conditions.

can be exacerbated by it because you're. getting less oxygen from your lungs into. your bloodstream which strains the heart. and if it's already weak people have. heart attacks from the flu if they. already have a heart condition is that. crazy yeah again it's a bad Jam well. actually we in uh in the episode coming. up about the the silly one about the 10. uh cursed movies M remember the the. little girl from Poltergeist. died from at 12 from a heart attack.

brought on by the flu yeah right yeah or. she had like a stomach blockage they. initially diagnosed it as the flu Oh. okay but I thought it was not never like. a virus like that I don't think so I. think they mistook it all right well. then forget all that but people do so. your point Still Remains correct okay um. so how you get the. flu is this um like you said it's. generally about November through March. January and February tend to to be the.

worst of it uh here in the United States. M and um as we mentioned offices and. schools especially because children are. filthy monsters who just don't wash. hands and they breathe on each other and. touch each other and they don't cover. their mouths when they cough or sneeze. but it's pretty cute when they hug each. other it's very cute actually it's worth. it's worth all the sickness in the world. it's pretty great but um that's the. reason that kids tend to spread it more.

because as much as you try and teach. them to cover their mouth when they. cough and sneeze and wash their hands a. lot it's just not really on their radar. like it is for adults no you not at all. because they are dirty dirty dirty. creatures uh and then you know the kid. then in turn brings it home and then the. family gets infected pretty quickly. because try as you might um there's just. a lot of close contact with kids that. you can't avoid and even if you're. washing your hands uh they will find a. way to infect you right and if you go.

even further back there's an even. earlier origin before kids picking it up. at daycare or preschool um for the flu. usually it comes from other animals we. were finding right very frequently birds. like we were saying right and they used. to think that it that for a human to. catch a flu from a bird especially um. that flu had to show up in a mixing. vessel usually a pig which was capable.

of taking it it could be infected by a. bird flu and a human flu and flu viruses. have this amazing talent called. reassortment uhhuh where a flu strain. and another flu strain can get together. and be like oh hey you have eight. proteins that make up your uh your RNA I. do too let's mix and match and see what. happens and they thought for a long time. that this really only took place in Pig. and then out would come a new super.

virus that no one had ever seen before. that humans could catch but from. Southeast Asia people being in close. contact with infected um Birds. especially like in the poultry industry. or something um there have been cases. that started in the 90s of Aven flu. coming directly from birds to humans so. that that theory went out the window. yeah um and that's what set off those. fears of a bird flu pandemic that we. lived with for many years yeah that's.

right uh as far as and you know that a. lot of that was just spread from bird. poop yeah and it scared people because. that that those bird flues are no joke. like they they have like a 60% mortality. rate 60% six out of 10 people who come. down with h5n1 bird flu die right yeah. luckily it's really really difficult to. catch it even when you are around sick. Birds it doesn't very frequently make to. jump to humans but it can is what they.

what they found yeah as far as the. regular flu the the garden variety flu. that we're talking about mainly here uh. it spreads from uh well like we said. from from touching stuff from coughing. and sneezing when you cough and sneeze. even even if you think you're covering. your mouth pretty well um there may be. little little fluids squirting out. between your. fingers uh up to a few feet. a fire it's in the air around you um.

that stuff can travel you know so if. that lands on a door knob or if someone. covers their mouth like a like a normal. and then opens a door or borrows a. stapler or whatever it's going to be on. that door knob and then you touch it and. that's why like handwashing by the Sick. and by the non- Sick is so crucial yeah. and if you're like having an anxious day. at work and doing your normal thing of. chewing on your stapler to relieve.

anxiety and the guy who borrowed it was. sick you're toast you are toast and as. you mentioned earlier it Bears repeating. uh you can be sick a day before symptoms. and you can uh or you can be contagious. a day before symptoms and still remain. contagious up to 7 days after the. symptoms start right so even if you feel. better after day four you could still be. spreading that junk around for a few. more days right and they say that even. after you feel better you should stay in.

bed an extra day because again your. immune system is is compromised and you. are are like you can catch other stuff. so you want to be careful that extra day. really pays off and that's when you just. lay in bed and watch stranger things too. right I haven't seen it yet is it good. yeah we just finished it last night cool. did you see the first season yeah oh. yeah yeah that was great season 2 is. just as great if not better I'm happy to. say w I'm glad to say that that too I. was a little nervous you know cuz it was.

something I loved and it's like oh man. season two a lot of pressure well yeah. that's how it happens the sophomore. season is very frequently like a. everyone's aware of the success of the. show and what people are saying about it. and they try to adapt to the. expectations rather than continuing on. doing what they were doing before but. good for you guys stranger things yeah. so great I want to get those Duffer. Brothers on movie Crush oh yeah that'd. be cool those guys be great um we take a. break yeah I think so all right we'll.

come back and talk a little bit about. [Music]. pandemics all right Chuck so we were. talking about how seasonal flu has.

Seasons that's why it's called seasonal. flu right uhhuh um that's that's I guess. one classification of flu there's also a. pandemic flu and the same kind of flu. virus can be a pandemic flu or a. seasonal flu and I think usually the way. it happens is a new virus will emerge. from say like livestock or ptry or. something like that and infect humans. and if it's totally novel where no human. is has ever encountered a flu of this.

type before it can just lay waste to. people it can kill a lot of people it. can infect a lot of people it can spread. the world and when that happens it. becomes classified as a pandemic flu. after a couple arounds around the world. people will have started to develop an. immunity to it but it'll still be passed. around and so for the decade or so it. can be the predominant strain of the flu. but it'll be it'll have changed over to. a seasonal type of flu so it's almost.

like the the pandemic versus seasonal. type flu describes how contagious it is. and the how how virulent it is I think. that's the big distinction yeah and I. think also in the pandemic doesn't that. mean it has left the. country yeah I think that is kind of one. of the indicators of it too yeah uh 1918. that was it this these numbers are. staggering this is the worst flu. pandemic in world history in 198 18 mhm. uh for I don't know what months exactly.

but 1918 and 19 and it killed uh more. than 20 million people around the world. and it killed most of those people. actually in four months from September. to December isn't that crazy more lives. were lost than all 20th century Wars. combined to to the flu yeah you said 20. million 20 million worldwide about half. a million in the United States I saw in. many reputable places 50 million people. died around the world that is just it's.

staggering yeah and it was like right at. the end of World War I and just came out. of nowhere and one of the other really. noteworthy things about it that just. baffled people was it was killing like. healthy people under the age of like 22. 23 24 like just healthy young people. killed by the flu a lot of them died. from pneumonia and they finally figured. out that it was. because it had been about 20s something. years since a flu resembling that type.

of strain had made the rounds so people. under say like age 25 had never been. exposed to it so it was a novel flu. which just leveled the the people it was. exposed to who had never never. encountered something like it before. yeah it's I mean it's scary to think. about I mean surely that couldn't happen. today could it or could it oh yeah yeah. sure man you think that we could head. something like that off these days. um do you know like a third of the.

population of the world was infected. with that flu that year wow is't that. crazy I know that's hard to believe yeah. that can totally happen it's um it's a. real. concern all right so as far as your risk. of getting the. flu uh if you're a kid like there's. different risk groups like high risk low. risk whatever uh medium or average risk. uh but if you're under two years old. your your little immune system isn't. quite smart enough yet to know how to. fight things off so you're definitely.

more at risk and as always uh what. affects the children also affect the. elderly so if you're over. 65 um seniors is elderly wrong to say I. think elderly technically 81 oh really. yeah all right so we'll go with seniors. seniors active senior adults who have. decades left ahead of them that's right. uh who else anyone who has a any kind of. chronic like I mentioned mhm asthma or. diabetes any kind of chronic condition.

if you're pregnant uh if you work in. hospital or a doctor's office yeah or. nursing home nursing home is not just. people who work there but the residents. too are in a really um vulnerable. position yeah because they are in the. elderly age range their immune systems. are pretty compromised if they're in a. nursing home they're probably ill. already and then they're living in close. quarters with other people who are ill. that's that's a that's a recipe for a. disaster yeah sure is um it's also a. recipe for tapioca pudding it is the.

best. around um remedy wise and we'll talk. about vaccinations here in a minute. because I thought that was kind of one. of the most interesting parts of this MH. um but as far as remedies if you get the. flu um it's a it's a virus so you can't. take anti uh biotics no uh you can't. take a pill that's going to cure you uh. there are some antiviral drugs which. I've never tried any of these have you. no no no I tried Zam last year once I.

think that's for colds yeah I thought. that was like discredited well it I mean. I had a few people say oh you know you. should try Zam it helps not cat a cold. faster it killed my sense of taste and. smell oh no for several days to the. point where I was scared I don't. remember that I'll bet you were scared. yeah and I looked it up and it's a thing. oh I do remember that actually yeah yeah. that that's just really unnerving the. idea of maybe it's permanent yeah it was. it was pretty pretty freaky yeah I'll.

bet and super noticeable it wasn't like. a a subtle thing you'd be like. Chile I miss you so that was my. experience I'm not making some sweeping. statement about that medication way to. COA man but there are antiviral drugs. called Uh there's one called. tlu rinza flu flumadine little on the. nose if you ask me right flu Stu. well antiviral drugs they seem like a.

good idea but they seem like a good idea. under the premise that seasonal flu. strains were used to think they they. used to think that they died out at the. end of a season right right well they. started tracking them like our Global. monitoring system is really topnotch and. they can track flu around the world and. they found that seasonal flu at the end. of the season in North America it just. goes to South America oh yeah um so. since since that's the case when you use.

antivirals and you're exposing these flu. that go on to survive you're also. training them evolutionarily speaking to. adapt so that those those antiviral. drugs are useless against them for. people who like really need them so just. like with antibiotics using antivirals. just to to cure a common flu or to. shorten a common flu is probably a bad. idea when you're talking about the whole. population yeah and that's what they do. they they what they try to do is just. keep the spread cellular spread from.

happening as as much as it can right. isn't that sort of the easiest way to. say it yeah yeah there's there's one. keeps them well two a pair of them keep. them from replicating and then another. one traps them inside a cell once they. enter right it's like oh God I I can't. get out the door is locked and then. death and they're all prescription drugs. right if I'm not mistaken so vaccines. are like pretty hot they're like the hot.

thing to do on a Friday night is to go. get a flu vaccine right yeah I didn't. get uh I didn't get flu shots for many. many many many years until uh I had a. kid yeah and they say like if you if you. especially if you have a baby under six. months of age they can't be. vaccinated um and so everyone around. them should be vaccinated is the the. recommended recommendation from the CDC. yeah like our close family the the. grandr and the abas mhm all uh and the.

pop pops and the Papas and the poas and. the mangs and the Momos Momo that's your. dog. yeah uh yeah Momo got a flu shot that. was nice of her she's very kind uh so. yeah we all got flu shots and I I just. wasn't you know I never got the flu much. I never I I didn't have a disbelief in. the flu vaccine I was just like nah I. don't I don't really need to bother with. that yeah that's kind of that was fine. do you get them now though now is it a.

habit of yours now well yeah now just. they just sort of recommend it when you. have kids up up until they're a certain. age you should uh get vaccinated as a. family right and when you have kids if. you get them vaccinated you um once. they're able to be vaccinated again. under six months they say no no no don't. do that um when they're young though and. you're getting them vaccinated they need. to be vaccinated twice like a month. apart yes and so with flu vaccines in. general they recommend that you get it. as early in the season as possible.

because it takes about two weeks for. that to take effect so with a kid then I. guess you would want to get um so that. six weeks before the flu season I don't. know or is it is that second one pretty. much like okay now it's taking effect so. is it four weeks plus two weeks or just. I don't remember the schedule. um yeah I don't remember the schedule. well ask your doctor okay we're not. doctor doctors stop press well they'll. tell you like when you go to get your.

little uh Kitty checkups they say you. know come back in this month and get. your flu shot right number one and then. flu shot number two and so for um a. while there they there were two kinds of. flu shots that the CDC recommended one. was an actual shot the flu vaccine that. was in a shot form yes and then there. was another one that's called live. attenuated uh influenza virus um which. came in the form of a nasal spray and. that was usually recommended for kids I. don't know if it's cuz kids don't like.

needles or or what but the CDC has. officially stopped. recommending um nasal flu vaccines yeah. don't do those anymore well and when. they were doing it when we say kids you. had to be over five because it was a. like you said a live a live virus right. it was a live weeken virus yeah and. that's different like if you think all. right I'm going to get a flu shot so. that means I'm going to get the flu. virus shot into me and so I might feel.

like I have the flu that's not really. the case it's it's really kind of neat. how they do it these these scientists. and doctors like you said track what's. going on in the world of flu all over. the world and they they sort of make a. well they don't sort of they they very. definitely make a prediction and say. Here's the flu strain specific to the. United States let's say that I think. we're going to be faced with this year. and they make their best scientific.

guess possible mhm and that is the you. get a a not live version of that virus. injected into your body your body sees. hey foreign Invader here let me produce. antibodies then if that virus or if the. real flu knocks on your door later that. winter your body says wait I've met you. before I know how to fight you yeah but. it's pretty cool like and it literally. the. effectiveness uh I looked up this year. and it's a year-to-year thing it's 40 to.

60% on this year's strain and it it. varies because it really just depends on. how well those scientists have predicted. how much they get it right right because. if if they get all three wrong well then. you're toast when you encounter the flu. that's going around that season like the. VAC usess but even when they do get it. right it's kind of baffling that. sometimes the flu vaccine just doesn't. bestow any kind of immunity. yeah apparently Australia just came out.

of a really bad epidemic flu season down. there and what didn't cause a lot of. deaths but everybody was sick with the. flu um it was a a H3 type flu that went. around and even though that strain. showed up in the vaccine that was given. out um only like 15% of people who got. vaccinated and were exposed to the flu. were immune to it like 85% of people got. flu vaccines and then encountered the. flu still got sick that's a pretty bad.

track record for a flu vaccine and. they're they're just not sure why one of. the theories is so when they make um flu. vaccines they grow them in egg protein. typically like eggs that's the medium. they use to actually grow the viruses. that they then kill um one researcher. pointed out that at least one kind of. flu virus mutates in the presence of egg. protein so that this the virus that you. put in to grow in there is different.

from the one that comes out it's a. mutated version and so maybe that would. would prevent um your body from. recognizing the original one that you. were trying to introduce it to in the. vaccine so interesting it is pretty. interesting well and they say there's a. list of uh people who should not receive. the flu shot and one of the one of those. qualifications is if you are allergic to. chicken eggs then you shouldn't get a. flu shot yeah there's like a couple of. other ways that they make flu shots um. flu vaccines but that chicken egg is the.

most predominant way to do it yeah if. you're currently uh have a fever wait on. your flu shot uh under 6 months of. course we said you cannot uh if you have. had flu shots in the past and you had a. bad reaction CU like I said it's not. going to make you sick but you might. feel a little achy or have sore muscles. or something mhm but you can have a bad. reaction and if that's the case then. maybe flu shots aren't for you right and. if you're an antivaxer then you probably. already decided that flu shots aren't.

for you correct which we will never do. an episode on that on vaccinations right. oh you don't think so I don't know man. so the the idea that of flu vaccine can. you know check all the boxes but still. just be wrong wrong wrong or not confer. immunity um has some people looking for. a universal vaccine or one that lasts. way longer than just a year um what. they're targeting is so when you get a.

normal vaccine That vaccine is based on. that ha protein the H hemog gluten. yeah um and that's the most quickly. evolving part of any flu virus right so. they're saying well let's look at other. parts of the flu virus that don't evolve. nearly as quickly and Target that and. some of those parts are even basically. Universal among all flu viruses so if. you can find if you can create a vaccine. based on a stable part of a flu virus.

that's a part of every flu virus one. vaccine could. confer ideally lifelong immunity from. all influenza for anybody who takes the. vaccine one vaccine to cure them all. exactly wow. yeah so uh you got anything else no I. mean I guess we're not going to cover. the Boogie wogie. flu I thought that was Boogie wogie. Fever no it's the Rock and pneumonia and. the Boogie WGY flu oh that's nice what's.

that from is that an Atlanta Rhythm. Section song no they're they're better. than. that oh okay uh well since I said. Atlanta Rhythm Section. everybody that means it's time for. listener. mail uh yeah this is a Simpsons. overlooked uh overlooked Simpsons bit. from us and this is not one of those we. got plenty of things where people like. how could you not have mentioned this.

quote Yeah I know or this episode yeah I. know but the response was good then. people weren't necessarily uh poo pooing. it no and also I want to say thank you. to everybody who wrode in to just say. congratulations or to thank us um that. was all every single one of those emails. or tweets or posts were all well. received so thanks for those guys. totally uh but this is something we we. failed to mention which definitely. deserves its own email uh and this from. Rich our man on Cape Cod as he says Hey.

guys was listening to The Simpsons to. parter enjoyed it very much you. explained how an episode came to be from. conception uh to animation Etc and you. paid respect to each portion but then. you slided off one of the most important. men in the franchise you just said and. then they slap Danny Elman score on it. and it's done well is any true Simpsons. of fishon would know Danny Elfman has. never once written a score to the. Simpsons uh he wrote as we know just the. uh the title or the uh theme the theme. song so he says uh that job fell to the.

immensely talented and recently. terminated via email Alf Clawson wow uh. for 27 years every score every queue. every song was composed orchestrated and. conducted by Clawson and his live. Orchestra uh he's won two emys and seven. Annie awards for his work the reason. this was such a painful site uh was cuz. this Omission has been happening for. years Clawson has worked insane hour is. writing music for a live Orchestra to. accompany an animated show he's always.

played second fiddle nailed it he said. uh to all those who think Elfman is any. part of the show after he pinned the. main title in fact the main title uh. theme song we all know and love is. actually clawson's reorchestration of. elfman's theme that took place uh. midseason 3 with a lush or more crisp. orchestration wow I bet you anything. Rich plays the OBO Alf Clawson I'm so. sorry I know he said I admire your. podcast for bringing light to. information uh that has been stuck.

lurking in the shadows you always make. sure credit is given to those uh who. sometimes went their entire lives. without getting the nod they deserve. well this guy's really turning the knife. in our backs isn't he and I feel you o. Clawson that respect so Alf Clawson for. real and then he it was a bit of a. longer email he told the story of how he. was recently fired by email which is not. cool no it's definitely not yeah after. 20 27 years of of dedicated work I know.

man not cool guys so that is Rich our. man on Cape CAD well thanks a lot Rich. appreciate that that was one of the. better emails I've heard in a while. agreed uh if you want to try and top. rich Let's see what you got you send us. an email stuff podcast howstuffworks.com. and join us at our home on the web stuff. you should know.com. [Music]. stuff you should know is a production of. iHeart radio for more podcasts my heart. radio visit the iHeart Radio app Apple. podcasts or wherever you listen to your.

favorite shows. [Music].