"Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex. It takes a touch of genius --- and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction. "
Albert Einstein

There are enough bad bugs in our world to go around. There is really no need to share any with other people, nor is there a good reason to accept bug donations from anyone else.

Some would argue that a flu virus is not a "bug," and they would be correct. For the sake of clarity of purpose here, however, let’s just call the virus a "bug" even though it truly is a hunk of chemical, a huge molecule known as RNA (ribonucleic acid).

To help instruct those not already familiar with how a virus works to infect other organisms, humans being one of those, the process is almost magical in its mechanisms.

First, a virus particle must enter a cell of the body by one means or another. A typical portal of entry is a "wet" cell, for example, an epithelial cell of the nose, the mouth, the throat, or the lung, or perhaps a liquid-bathed cell in the eye. There are more such cells, but those listed are vulnerable to entrance by viruses.

Once inside a cell, the tiny virus particle, a hunk of RNA, takes over and causes the infected cell to make more viruses. Finally they break out of the cell to invade more cells, repeating the process over and over. If the virus is a flu virus, guess what - you will quickly know that you have a bad case of the flu.

Before a virus can penetrate through a cell wall, it has to dodge assault and destruction by protective elements (antibodies and activated white blood cells) that exist primarily in blood and lymph systems of the body. One can refer to that protective process as the body’s immune system at work. We’ll examine that situation a little more later in this article.

It is useful to consider how it might be that a virus could get to such an entry doorway, a vulnerable and virus-hospitable cell.

Hold your two hands out in front of your face. Count those fingers. They are the ten things that can transport the most "bugs" from where they were to right where you want least to deposit them. Scratch that itch on the end of your nose and then take a deep breath. If viruses were on your fingers before scratching that itch, you probably just put a bunch of virus "bugs" onto those wet nose tissues. Maybe that deep breath you took as your itch was relieved brought the bugs deep into your lungs.

Another way that viruses enjoy traveling to virus-vulnerable cells is by flying there, call it "air travel," the modern way to go places. Well, maybe not so modern. The viruses have enjoyed flying for as long as we critters have breathed, coughed, and sneezed. Understand that viruses are big as molecules go, but are teeny-tiny relative to such things as breathed, coughed, and sneezed droplets. Figuratively speaking, viruses grab onto those droplets and fly around with them wherever the droplets go. If they go into your body when you breathe or when you walk into them, they head for the kinds of "wet" cells they like to call home.

If you have protected those cells with a big enough immune army dedicated to destroying a particular disease-causing virus, there is a good likelihood that whatever virus it was that was trying to do bad things to you will itself be vanquished before it can do you much or any harm. That immunity can be yours in one of two ways. You can have been infected by the invading virus earlier, recovered from its effects, and have thus built up immunity to it, or you can intentionally receive an already killed virus or one that was weakened so as to provide you with good immunity.

So, this brings us to the point of what Einstein said. To paraphrase him,  he spoke on the need for us to "Keep it simple, stupid!"

1. Stay away from people who are suffering from the flu. That means to be aware of the presence of flu in others such that you may avoid having them breathe, cough, or sneeze at you. It also means that you should be wary of handling items that have been handled by the flu carrier, particularly items into which they have been breathing, coughing, sneezing, and the like.
2. As a corollary to the advice just presented above in item 1, try to keep out of closed areas in which numbers of people are gathered. You do not know which, if any of them, are carrying the flu bug, with or without themselves having flu symptoms. Ask yourself why it is that whole classrooms full of schoolchildren suddenly are out of school and at home with the flu.
3. Wash your two hands frequently and thoroughly. Encourage those around you to do the same thing. If the flu bugs are not on your fingers, you won’t be transferring them to your vulnerable "wet" cells.
4. In between hand washings, keep your hands away from your face.
5. And – if you want to jazz things up a little, bleach solution and antiseptic solutions (such as Lysol or other alcohol solutions) can help you clean various surfaces of virus contamination. Faucet handles, doorknobs, and the like are good places to start with this.
6. If your physician suggests it, get a flu shot to fast-start your immune system into a protection mode. Flu bugs change from year to year, so last year's flu shot won't be likely to help you this year.
7. Some people may even want to wear virus-resistant face masks, but that is probably pushing things more than necessary if you use the "KISS" principle and follow the advice in the first 6 suggestions, above.

Thanks, Dr. Einstein, and to think that we never knew you were a flu virus expert.