For the average healthy adult, the flu can be disruptive — long days of sore throat, fever and coughing cause people to miss school and work, and also just feel miserable. But for very young children, older adults and people with certain health conditions, seasonal flu can lead to serious complications, a hospital stay or even death — tens of thousands of people die of seasonal flu each year in the U.S.
To cut down on flu hospitalizations and deaths, people who catch the flu should do their best not to pass the infection to others. But how long is someone with the flu contagious?
