Residents in southern Manitoba should be getting a mailer this week highlighting flu shot clinics that start later this month.

Dr. Shelley Buchan with Southern Health-Santé Sud says public clinics start October 19th and run for three weeks. Following that, anyone wanting to get their influenza vaccination can still do so through their family physician, pharmacist or through a public health clinic.

According to Dr. Buchan, you can get the flu any time of the year. But she says influenza circulates most often in fall and winter.

"Especially around Christmas and January/ February, that's where typically we see the most circulation of the virus occurring," notes Dr. Buchan.

She says the flu spreads by respiratory droplets when infected people cough or sneeze. Good sleep and good nutrition are two ways to stay healthy. While washing your hands and staying home if you are sick are ways of ensuring the flu doesn't spread.

"We recommend that people, everyone from the age of six months and older to participate in the influenza vaccination program," notes Dr. Buchan. "Because the more people that are vaccinated, the less virus is actually going to be circulating there in the community."

Furthermore, she says by reducing the amount of people that get sick, we can protect those who do not do well when infected. The high risk groups include the very young, elderly and those battling a chronic disease.

Dr. Buchan says influenza typically starts with a fever and headache. After muscle aches and pains set in, a person usually feels quite ill to the point of needing to stay in bed.

"There's lots of other viruses that are circulating out there, especially in the winter months," says Dr. Buchan. "Not all viral illnesses are influenza but typically influenza tends to be more severe than the common cold."

This year's flu shot will have four strains, one more than what is normal. The two Influenza A strains are H1N1 and H3N2. H3N2 was the primary strain circulating last year. The two Influenza B strains are Victoria and Yamagata. Dr. Buchan says the World Health Organization will look at what was circulating the previous six months when deciding which strain to culture into the vaccines being prepared. In North America, that decision was made back in spring. She adds there is a different vaccine for the northern hemisphere, compared to the southern hemisphere because there tends to be different viruses circulating in different parts of the world.

For those debating whether or not to get the flu shot, Dr. Buchan says it is important because not everybody that is sick, experiences symptoms.

"If they are living in homes that have elderly people or people with chronic disease or infants, we do recommend that they do get vaccinated because it's a possibility that they could have a very low grade infection but they could still pass it on to people who would end up having much more severe consequences because of that," warns Dr. Buchan.