It’s the Christmas holidays and I don’t know if it’s the weather – warm to cold, cold to warm – or because we are all out there bumping into each other and spreading the germs around but the seasonal “bug” has struck! Many people, including myself, are experiencing colds and flu-like symptoms. It has various forms from head cold, to chest cold to stomach flu. Sadly it often strikes during Christmas. Even if you had a flu shot.
My grandma would say we have the “epizootic.” Now I’m not talking about Epizootic Hemorrhagic Disease, a real disease, as found in white-tailed deer. Grandma used the southern slang term for any kind of undefined illness. I’m not sure how this term came to be applied to humans. It is common in the south and since our ancestors in Southern Ohio came through the Carolinas, West Virginia and Kentucky they brought this southern “diagnosis” with them.
How many of you have had a Christmas marred by the “epizootic?” I can remember years when a box of tissues would have been the best gift of all. Also years when Christmas dinner made a repeat appearance and not as leftovers!
I hope your household has been spared this year. Cough into your sleeve, wash your hands often and don’t shake hands with anybody. Elbow bumps all around!
This brings back more than one memory of holiday illnesses. Kids coming down with the croup, fevers, upset stomachs, etc. Not a good time to get the bug!
I was just asking my daughter at Kent State if she got a flu shot this year. And she told me, “Too late! I’ve already had the flu this fall.” But hopefully that means she won’t be getting the epizootic over the holidays.