Bad Flu Season Overshadows Other Winter Miseries

"Dr. Beth Zeeman says she can spot a case of influenza from 20 paces. It's not like a common cold."

"'People think they've had the flu when they've had colds,' Zeeman, an emergency room specialist at MetroWest Medical Center in Framingham, Mass., tells Shots. 'People use the word 'flu' for everything. But having influenza is really a different thing. It hits you like a ton of bricks.'"

"Joachim Santos, a carpenter from Brazil in a nearby examining room, says he's never been as sick in all his 57 years. "I worry that it's going to get more serious and I could die," he says."