Strep throat, stomach bugs and even some people coming down with the flu right now. With the kids back to school, the germs spread fast.
“Make sure your immunizations are up to date, go get your flu shot, things like that, those are things you can do to minimize your risk of coming down with something,” said Christopher Piel, UMC emergency center medical director.
UMC’s emergency room seeing a spike of patients suffering from sore throats, stomach bugs, and respiratory issues. With school back in session, and the weather cooling down. When you’re in close quarters with other people, whether it be in classroom, work, or an event, it’s easy to spread these viruses.
“Getting people out of the summer, where they’re probably more isolated, not in close contact with one another, to a time of year where there’s a lot of close contact, so yeah those illnesses spread like wildfire,” Piel said.
And these illnesses come with different types of symptoms.
“We are starting to see an increase in viral illnesses, and that’s things like upper respiratory infections where people have cold and flu type system, also gastrointestinal symptoms, so also some viruses cause vomiting and diarrhea,” Piel said.
Piel says to stay healthy, you’ll need to do more than wash your hands often.
“It’s a time where activities are high, so everyone’s involved in things, they’re staying out late, maybe they’re not sleeping as much, maybe they’re not eating as well as they should be,” Piel said.
Although it’s not officially flu season yet, Piel said they’ve already seen some flu cases.
“So certainly a good reminder and good time to say get your flu shot,” Piel said.
