Human Interest
Adults catch flu about once every five years─── 12:38 Wed, 04 Mar 2015
Beijing - Adults catch real flu about once every five years, scientists calculate, based on a field study in China.
Although many of us will feel ill more often than this, other flu-like infections are to usually blame, the international team says.
The scientists tested blood samples from 151 volunteers aged between seven and 81, to gauge how often flu infections strike.
A similar study in the UK will test if the findings apply to British people.
Gathering this sort of lifespan data - which the researchers say has not really been done before - should help experts better understand who is at risk of infection, and how often, as well as how far the disease spreads through communities.
BBC
