(Radio Iowa) – A particularly nasty flu season is peaking in Iowa and several hospitals in the state report admissions spikes and flooded emergency rooms.
One Des Moines hospital even postponed all elective surgeries that require overnight stays. Brian Simmons, infection preventionist at Emplify Health by Gundersen, is urging Iowans to learn how to identify the key symptoms of the flu versus a cold so they’re not unnecessarily contributing to overcrowded E-Rs. With a cold, you’ll likely have a sore throat, runny nose and coughing or sneezing, while with the flu, there will also usually be a fever, chills and body aches.
With either one, Simmons says it’s best to stay home, rest, drink plenty of fluids, and let your body’s immune system fight. About 300-thousand Iowans get the flu every year and, along with pneumonia, it kills about one-thousand of them.
