Think of me as the flu Ninja, sneaking into hospitals and catching people unaware. Oh, they know I\u2019m coming \u2013 I come every year \u2013 but my challenge is to spread myself around before they\u2019ve had their flu shot. Here\u2019s a typical day for me. We flu viruses are team players. My buddies and I enter the hospital on a woman\u2019s purse handle on which her three-year-old sneezed as she walked out the door. Just a few more millimetres and\u2026 yes! A bunch of us are onto her hand. Now, rub your eyes, rub your eyes! That\u2019s the easiest way for us to infect someone. We\u2019re stealthy, but we\u2019re also pretty easy to kill with soap or hand sanitizer. Phew. She passes by the Purell station.<\/p>\n
Our big chance comes when she stops for a coffee. As she hands over a toonie, five of us do our Ninja stuff, sneaking from the coin onto the cashier\u2019s hand and then onto the next customer\u2019s change. We\u2019ve got two to eight hours to live on a hard surface. My buddy\u2019s nervous about the flu vaccine campaign but I\u2019m feeling lucky today.<\/p>\n
OMG! We\u2019ve landed in, like, virus heaven \u2013 a young employee transfers my buddy and me from her coins to her straw as she sits down in the cafeteria with her friends. Wait for it, wait for it. Yes! She takes a sip and my buddy disappears inside her. Then she shares her drink with her friend. LOL. I\u2019m in! Gotta love food sharers.<\/p>\n
The bad news comes later when I hear that my buddy\u2019s host had already received the flu shot. He\u2019s done for. But not me. Two days to incubate and I\u2019ll be doing my Ninja stuff again before she even knows she\u2019s sick.<\/p>\n
Mr. Flu Virus<\/p>\n