What's Your Flu I.Q.?

Do you know the facts about flu? A lot of what many believe about the flu is just a myth, and that can be a dangerous thing since influenza kills about 36,000 Americans every year - more than twice the number who die from AIDS.

Dr. Holly Phillips visited The Saturday Early Show to help debunk the myths and give us some solid advice about what to do if you really do get the flu.

There are lots of people who think of the flu - influenza - as just a kind of bad cold. According to Dr. Phillips, "The flu is much worse than the sniffles or a regular cold. I know it's the flu when my patients come in saying 'I feel l like I just got run over by a truck.' It lasts longer - sometimes two weeks or more.

"It also comes with a high fever, chills and body aches. For some, the elderly or those with other medical issues for instance, it can be life threatening: 36,000 Americans die from it every year."

Here is the Saturday Early Show influenza quiz. The correct answers, along with Dr. Phillips' explanations, are on page 2.

1. Let's review some myths about the flu. The flu vaccine can give you the flu - true or false?

2. Antibiotics can fight the flu. Is this true?

3. There are effective treatments for the flu - true or false?

4. The "stomach flu" is a form of influenza - true or false?

5. If you get the flu, you can't get it again in that flu season. True or false?

6. This year's flu shot won't help protect you next year. Is it true?

7. Here's one your grandma may have told you - and she was pretty smart: Exposure to cold weather can cause the flu. What do you say?

Here are the answers to the flu quiz:

Question 1: It's FALSE. The flu shot can't cause the flu. It's made from small parts of the flu virus that are not alive. Some people experience "flu-like" side effects from the shot, like achiness and mild fever, but those should resolve in 24 hours. And remember, the flu shot doesn't protect you from getting a regular cold. Often people will get a cold shortly after having the flu shot, and think the two are related. They aren't.

Question 2: FALSE - another myth. Antibiotics only fight bacteria. For instance, strep throat is a bacteria, but the flu is a virus. Antibiotics can't help with the flu at all. Also, nowadays doctors try to be extra careful not to over-prescribe antibiotics because that creates the "superbugs" we've all been hearing so much about recently.

Question 3: TRUE. But when it comes to treating the flu, timing is everything. If you can get to the doctor quickly - within 48 hours of contracting the flu - there are anti-viral medications that can help. Drugs like Tamiflu and Relenza. They won't cure the flu, but they can cut the amount of time you're sick and make you less contaigious to others.

Question 4: FALSE. This is another myth. The stomach flu is not caused by the influenza virus, but rather by a regular virus that affects the stomach and intestinal tract. It tends to last 24-to-48 hours and has symptoms of diarrhea, vomiting, and feeling generally lousy. But the good news is it goes away on it's own.

Question 5: FALSE. Many people assume that once they've had the flu, they're protected from it for the rest of that same flu season. Not so, because the flu does NOT come from a single virus - there are usually two in circulation, and you could be hit twice. So even if you have the flu, you should get vaccinated: that'll protect you from the type you didn't get.

Question 6: Unfortunately, that's TRUE. The flu is a "smart" virus ... it is constantly changing, with new strains coming out every season. So last winter's flu shot can't protect you from this winter's flu.

Question 7: Sorry granny, it's FALSE. No matter what grandma told you, being cold can't cause a cold or the flu. That being said, we are more likely to contract flu or cold viruses in the winter because we stay indoors, with the windows closed, trapped in with other people who cough and sneeze, and so forth - and that's the perfect environment for viruses to spread.