It's cold and flu season and the misery is spreading.
"I'm coming down with a cold, it started yesterday, runny nose, congestion, plugged nostrils, post nasal drip, cough," said Marisela Williams.
Doctors offices and hospitals around the Valley are seeing a lot of those symptoms and worse.
"We started seeing an influx of patients probably two to three weeks ago, symptoms such as fever aches and pains, what we call myalgias, sore throat, coughing," said Dr. Justin Maxwell, a general practitioner with HealthCare Partners.
According to the Southern Nevada Health District there's a spike in influenza A right now.
It's the more mild stain but it still packs a punch and there's plenty of time for our area to get hit with a more severe strain.
We're a tourist town so we get people from all over the united states, so if all of our visitors are from state A and state A is having a huge flu epidemic then we are probably going to see it here," explained Dr. Dave Carrison, UMC Chief of Staff and Chairman of Emergency Medicine.
To avoid getting sick, doctors recommend getting the flu shot and washing your hands regularly with soap and water.
"The bottom line is good hygiene keeps the flu away," Dr. Dave Carrison, UMC Chief of Staff and Chairman of Emergency Medicine.
If your symptoms are especially severe and you develop a fever that won't go down see a doctor because the flu can be dangerous.
"It kills people every year absolutely, most of the people we see die from the flu are very young or very old but it can effect anyone because if that flu turns into more than just the flu, you end up with a pneumonia, it can be life threatening," explained Dr. Dave Carrison, UMC Chief of Staff and Chairman of Emergency Medicine.
