• Question: Why is the flu more common in winter?

    Asked by lani to Chris, Emily, Martin, Natalie, Tamsin on 16 Mar 2010 in Categories: .
    • Photo: Emily Cook

      Emily Cook answered on 16 Mar 2010:

      Because the virus can survive longer in cold air than in hot air (you can think of it like your food lasts longer in the fridge). See Martin’s explanation about droplets for why!

      Also, in the cold, the mucous bits in your nose are more likely to get cracks and let the virus in.

      So the virus survives longer and if you breath it in it’s more likely to infect you.
      get that flu shot!

    • Photo: Martin Coath

      Martin Coath answered on 16 Mar 2010:

      Hi Lani – another good question!

      This is really interesting because nobody is totally sure.

      It is true that the flu virus is destroyed by sunlight so this is the best explanation why you are less likely to pick it up in the summer.

      So the basic idea is that people sneeze or cough and they produce water droplets that contain the virus. Most of these droplets are large and heavy and fall straight to the ground and are harmless.

      The very tiny ones float around in the air and then other people breath them in and get sick. When the weather is warm bright and sunny the virus doesn’t survive so long in the droplets.

      This may not be the whole explanation but it is a good start.

    • Photo: Chris Cooper

      Chris Cooper answered on 16 Mar 2010:

      Probably two reasons.

      The flu virus is carried in the air and attacks us via our noses as we breathe in.

      1 The flu virus is more stable (last longer) in cold weather
      2 Cold air causes very small microscopic cracks in our nose that makes it easier for the virus to get to us.

      For more information see:

      http://www.sciencedaily.com/videos/2008/0103-does_winter_cause_the_flu.htm

    • Photo: Natalie Stanford

      Natalie Stanford answered on 17 Mar 2010:

      This is something I’ve tried to read up on in the past, and I remember there not being an exact answer, but lots of hypothesis. I’ll do some more research on it in the next couple of days and tell you what I find. Perhaps you could do some research too and we can see if we get similar answers?

Comments