Ask An Expert: Is Freshers' Flu Real Flu Or Something Else Entirely?!

The autumn bugs are doing the rounds right now.

Parents editor at HuffPost UK

Google searches for “freshers’ flu” have soared by 1,100% in the past week – a pattern seen every September for the past 10 years, with 2021 reaching an all-time peak.

But what actually is freshers’ flu? Is it influenza – or something else entirely? Why does it spread like, well, the plague? And can university students actually do anything to prevent it?

We asked Prof Ed Hutchinson, Professor of Molecular and Cellular Virology at the University of Glasgow, as well as Prof John Tregoning, Professor in Vaccine Immunology at Imperial College London, for their thoughts.

First up, what is freshers flu?

It’s highly unlikely to be actual flu (or influenza), suggest the experts.

“The word ‘flu’ can be used specifically to describe the disease caused by the influenza virus, but it can also be used more generally, to describe a wide range of nonspecific illnesses: stomach flu, man flu, etc,” Professor Ed Hutchinson explained.

“Freshers’ flu uses the word ‘flu’ in its general sense. In the northern hemisphere, influenza........

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