Influenza in Iowa is considered sporadic and activity is low at this time by the Iowa Department of Public Health, but there have already been cases of the illness this fall.

Washington County Public Health nurse Lynn Fisher recommends getting the annual vaccine soon so your body has two weeks to build it up in your system. She explains the difference between influenza and the stomach flu, “The flu that the vaccine protects against is a respiratory illness, not the stomach bug. The stomach bug, or stomach flu, is really caused by norovirus, a different virus and there isn’t a vaccine for that.” She adds influenza can present quickly, “That can come on very suddenly. You can be just fine one day and the next day at 4 o’clock in the morning wake up and you have the influenza. Usually its symptoms are a high fever, high, very high, 102 degrees for a couple of days, extreme fatigue, runny nose, body aches and chilling that goes along with that fever. A person is really quite ill and down in bed typically for five or six days.” Fisher also reminds people to cover their coughs, clean their hands, and contain illness by staying home from work or school when you’re sick.