Achoo! Is the flu coming to your neighborhood?

Image by Walt Stoneburner.

I know that when my son moves to the next room at his school, he will get a cold. New room = new people, new toys and new germs. We accept the cold with as much grace as we can, wipe his nose gently and wait a few days for it to be over. Germs strengthen his immunity. Germs are shared constantly. Germs are good.

But that is a cold. What I tend to worry about more is the flu. My hazy flu memories from childhood involve me laying in my parent's bed (because their bed always made me feel better) not moving much and trying to keep down toast. (Thanks for taking care of me, Mom!)

That is why I am intrigued by Kleenex building a flu prediction tool for public use this fall. Instead of other sites which let us know where the flu is (too little, too late), it will try to predict where it is going. Nice idea, if it works. I am sure that my son will get the flu at some point, but the more I can postpone it, the happier we'll all be.