Fighting the Flu: A battle you can win

12:01 AM, Jan 11, 2013   |    comments
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CLEVELAND -- Everywhere you look it seems like someone, somewhere is coming down with the flu. 

At the Rocky River Urgent Care, Dr. Justin Smith is seeing patients around the clock.

"We're easily seeing anywhere from about 3 to7 cases a day.  Multiply that out, that's a lot of people in the course of a week," said Dr. Smith. 

But before those people ended up in the doctor's office, they were out walking around sick with the rest of us. 

Dr. Smith says the flu germ is capable of living on surfaces for up to 8 hours. 

"People think it has to be a nasty sneeze or a cough but it could actually be just talking, singing it doesn't take much," said Afif Ghannoum, who added, "the other thing people don't realize is those germs can hang in the air for hours."

Ghannoum is one of the people behind Halo, a new oral antiseptic that coats the throat, first trapping then killing germs that enter through the nose and mouth.

One application of Halo works for up to 6 hours.

Doctors suggest getting a flu vaccine, washing your hands frequently and avoiding contact with sick people.


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