Chances are that you or someone you know has been chained to the bed recently with fever, fatigue, sore throat and muscle aches…The public should be concerned, says Gregory Poland, professor of medicine and infectious disease at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. "A decade ago, when we had widespread circulation (of the seasonal flu), we had 70,000 deaths in the U.S.," says Poland, who directs Mayo's Vaccine Research Group. "We have this cultural thing in the U.S. about, 'Oh, it's just the flu.' I was telling a group yesterday, imagine in October I said, 'We expect a virus to be circulating in the U.S. and it will kill 30- or 40,000 Americans.' Can you imagine the panic that would ensue?"

USA Today by Melanie Eversley and Elizabeth Weise

Tags: Dr. Gregory Poland, flu season, Infectious Diseases, Research, USA Today, Vaccine Research Group