As summer coasts towards its end, many people will be beginning to worry about the onset of flu season. The most common time for flu outbreaks is between December and March. Although they are known to occur from October, and as late as May. Flu can be a debilitating illness, deeply unpleasant for two weeks if you’re in good health. Or a serious threat if you’re older, have any existing health conditions or are otherwise more vulnerable.

Today we’re taking a look at this important question: can you avoid the flu?

Unfortunately there is no way to guarantee that you won’t catch the flu, short of retreating to a hermetically sealed bubble. What you can do is employ a series of overlapping measures that make it progressively less likely that you’ll catch it.

Masks and Gloves

One of the main times we are exposed to the danger of infection is one when we are on public transport. This is when we’re forced into close quarters with other people, in poorly ventilated conditions, and have to touch surfaces shared by many other people: a perfect storm for viral transmission.

If you’re concerned to avoid picking up the flu during this winter, it can well worth your while investing in some flu masks and gloves, as well as hand sanitiser. Remember that these can provide protection (for you and for other people!) but that protection is only as good as the way you use it: if you don’t wash or change your mask, it ceases to provide a meaningful filter for droplets from your mouth and nose. If you touch it regularly, you can still transfer viruses to the surfaces around you, and if you wear gloves but still touch your face while wearing them, you can still pick up viruses!

Health Protection

The NHS offers a free flu vaccine to the most vulnerable – and to those caring for them. If you’re over 65, or have a chronic disease which renders you especially vulnerable to the flu or its complications, then you can claim a free vaccine. If you don’t fall into a protected category, you can still book a jab with many high street chemists or your doctor.

It’s important to remember that even the vaccine doesn’t render you immune to the flu. In any given year several different strains of the virus circulate and mutuate, and there’s a chance one can make its way past the antibody defences the vaccine helps you to create. Your best chance of avoiding the flu is by being careful about your hygiene, wearing a mask and getting the vaccine, as well striving to boost your general level of health with regular exercise and a healthy diet.