3 ms·
> remember reading awhile back about a study that showed people with the flu are generally more social while the virus is spreading. Am I an idiot or is this
by whimsicalism 3y ago
> remember reading awhile back about a study that showed people with the flu are generally more social while the virus is spreading.
Am I an idiot or is this clearly non-causal?
- dylan604 3y agodoes seem weird as the flu usually makes me sore and not want to move at all.
- tmccrary55 3y agoYou're probably still contagious for a while after the symptoms weaken. But thinking about it, you're also probably in a good mood at the same time. So yeah, of course you're going to be more sociable.
- someuser2345 3y agoI assume the poster meant that the infected are more social before they start having symptoms
- jacobn 3y agoYou're probably contagious before symptom onset.
- sp332 3y agoTo clarify, the the claim is that individuals are more sociable when they are infected with the flu virus. These results show that there is an immediate active behavioral response to infection before the expected onset of symptoms or sickness behavior. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20816312/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20816312/
- gruez 3y agoI did a quick skim and the main problems with the study are: 1. no placebo, so it's unclear whether it was actually due to the flu virus or some unrelated factor. The study admits this might be an issue, but casually dismisses it with "We looked for this, and found no such effects." 2. the "flu virus" in question is actually a vaccine. Needless to say there's a big difference between getting a flu shot and an actual flu.