Tagged: Flu

As college students return to class from winter break this week, campuses around the nation are bracing for the possibility of a flu outbreak.

What does it feel like to be working in an emergency room during this nasty flu season? Monday. Every day feels like Monday, typically the busiest time of week in the ER.

"Now instead of having a Monday peak, it's seven days a week of a Monday," said Dr. Bill Frohna, who runs the emergency department at MedStar Washington Hospital Center in Washington, D.C.

It's still too soon to say whether this is a historically bad flu season. But it's already clear that emergency rooms around the country are filled with a feverish throng that is much larger than the last time around.

Antibiotics only work against bacteria, but many people get the drugs to treat viral infections, too.

More than half of people coughing and wheezing from acute bronchitis are treated with antibiotics, even though less than 10 percent of the cases involve bacterial infections.