Health Warning: ‘Influenza-like illness’ doubles in past week

If you're not feeling the best as of late, then you might want to head to the doctor as influenza-like illnesses have doubled in Ireland in the past week.

According to the HSE's Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC) influenza-like illnesses (ILI) have risen from 15.7 per 100,000 to 26.2 per 100,000 during the second week of February.

This means that the ‘flu’ is currently doing the rounds in our communities, according to Dr Joan O'Donnell, specialist in public health medicine with the HPSC.

People who are in the high-risk bracket for contracting the flu should head down to their local doctor to get vaccinated against the disease. So how do you know if you’re in the high-risk bracket?

Well, Irish Health reports that those most at risk are aged 65 years and over, anyone over six months of age with a long-term illness requiring regular medical follow-up (such as chronic lung disease, chronic heart disease or diabetes), pregnant women and those with lower immunity due to having specific illnesses and getting particular treatments for them.

But don’t go getting all worked up if you do have the sniffles and a cough, as that’s more than likely just ‘man-flu’. The ‘real’ flu is different to your everyday common cold as it generally develops quickly, often within a few hours. If you have the flu you will suffer from a high temperature, sore muscles, dry cough, headache and sore throat. So, you'll know about it.

A cold on the other hand usually just involves a runny nose, a normal temperature and a short fuse… well, if you’re a bloke that is.