This season get the facts on how to keep your family healthy.
Lately so much attention has been focused on the potential for a bird flu pandemic that it's easy to lose sight of the perils of the regular flu season. The flu is more common than many people realize. In the United States, the flu season may begin as early as October and last until May, peaking between December and March.
The overall impact varies from year to year, but the CDC reports that 5 percent to 20 percent of the population gets the flu every year with more than 200,000 hospitalized for flu complications. Even more alarming is that approximately 36,000 people die each year from the flu (see www.cdc.gov/flu/keyfacts.htm).