What is flu?
Hey watch it with that thing! My mum told me my granddad has the flu.
I've never had the flu, so I wanted to learn more about it. I learnt loads of stuff - like how to
make sure you don’t get ill from the flu. Take a look.
More about flu
I had a cold once. Coughed and sneezed a lot, and my nose was like...
Snot everywhere. Very runny. Yuk!
Flu is like that but loads worse, you don’t want to catch it. Dad said doctors know all
about the flu, so I asked one. Take a look!
Hi Chloe, I’m Doctor Steedman. How can I help? Hi Doctor Steedman.
I want to learn more about flu and find out if there’s anything we can do to avoid catching it?
Well flu is a particular kind of bug called a virus, which infects the human body
and when it gets into our body it can cause us to become very seriously ill and we usually
catch flu from someone else who already has the bug.
This is actually what flu looks like, only it's so tiny we can't see it with our own eyes
and in fact we can't even see it with a normal microscope. We have to use a really
special high powered microscope to be able to see it.
How is flu spread?
When someone has flu it tends to live in their mouth and in their nose and basically in their
snot and in their spit. And flu also makes you cough and sneeze, so what happens when you
cough and sneeze when you have flu, is that you basically release bits of snot and spit
that have the flu in it, into the air and other people then breathe it in or it can get into
their eyes or it can get onto surfaces that they touch and that's how they then get the
flu virus. So you can see how easily it's spread from person to person.
How can you prevent this spread of germs?
There's lots of things you can do to stop
the spread of germs. The most important things are to cover your mouth and nose whenever
you cough or sneeze, and to wash your hands before you eat.
Another fantastic way to protect against germs is immunisation.
So, what is immunisation? I found a great video that explains it. Check it out!
If you could have any super power, what would it be?
How about being able to fly? That sounds fun.
Hmmm - maybe not.
How about invisibility?
Now you see them…
…now you don’t!
…Hello? Hello!
Ah, there you are. Okay, how about something that’s really useful?
This one protects you against some illnesses.
Doctors and nurses call it immunisation.
When lots of people get immunised it means fewer people get sick…
…and there are fewer germs going about… …and that’s better for everyone.
So if I was able to have a super power, I know which one I’d pick.
Pretty cool eh?
My friend Aiden has been immunised. You should check out his video to see what being immunised is actually like.
Och! Hey, go easy with the clicks!
I’m in school today, as you can probably tell. But today’s a bit different. Today I’m being immunised against flu.
Hiya I’m Rina, I'm one of the nurses.
Hello
How are you today?
I'm good.
That's good.
I'm just going to ask you a few questions.
Okay.
What's your name?
Aiden Jones
And when's your birthday?
It’s the 18th of March.
So you’re… What age are you?
Eight.
Where do you stay Aiden?
12 Mill Lane.
Okay, so what I want you to do is just take a wee hanky, and I'm just going to skoosh that
up your nose alright. And then we're going to skoosh it...that's it.
Right, that's you and that's you protected. That wasn't difficult was it? Well done.
Thank you.
Right thanks.
It feels a bit funny when it goes in, but not too bad.
Now I won’t pass on flu germs to other people!
See how getting the vaccine may be a bit different this year
The nurse may be wearing
a face mask...gloves and an apron
Okay, remember, if you want to protect yourself and others from the flu...
1. Cover your mouth when you cough or sneeze.
2. Wash your hands before eating and
3. Get immunised. That’s a really important one.
I’m being immunised at my school today so I’d better get going.
Bye.
nhsinform.scot/childflu