With families gathering for the holiday season, this is the time of year that influenza is spread and begins to reach its peak.

Becky Wolfe, a maternal child health nurse for public health at the Greene County Medical Center, says the peak months of getting the virus are quickly approaching.

“As we roll closer and closer to the holidays, we get around our relatives and friends more.  We get more social and that’s when we see the increase in influenza is into December, January and February” says Wolfe.

She urges people to get the vaccine, especially if you are in one of the key categories of young children, older adults and people with chronic health problems like heart or lung disease or diabetes.

Flu mist is another option to getting a vaccine and has proven just as effective as the injections, especially for children.

“We don’t want to have to give them a poke if we don’t have to and the studies have come out lately, just in the last year or two, that the flu mist is actually a very effective vaccine” says Wolfe.

Besides getting a flu vaccination, Wolfe has other suggestions in preventing you from getting the virus.

“Make sure you’re taking good care of yourself, eating well, getting plenty of rest and the old adage of washing your hands a lot because that decreases the germ count on your hands and you don’t pass it off onto other people.”