Got flu? If you’re on your way out the door, put down the Tylenol– researchers have found that pain relieving medications like ibuprofen and acetaminophen may make you more contagious. Alexa Tucker reports
Researchers have said that when pain-relieving medications reduce your fever, flu viruses have an easier time replicating, which puts everyone around you at a higher risk of catching your illness.
Research published in medical journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B. found that the use of over-the-counter medications may increase flu cases by five percent annually. We’ll do the math for you–influenza killed more than 80 people in 2012 according to the Office of National Statistics, so it stands to reason that without over-the-counter medications infecting more people, that number could be reduced by four or more.
We know how miserable it is to suffer through the flu though, so here’s our advice: if you’re going to pop a couple of Advil, stay home. Your coworkers, friends, and fellow tube riders will thank you for it. Besides, what a better excuse to relax on the couch? You could be saving a life, here, after all.
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