Winter Viruses and How to Beat Them
Production Details
Every winter millions of us come down with colds, flu and stomach problems caused by viruses like Norovirus, the highly contagious vomiting bug which has swept the country this year. It’s closed hundreds of hospital wards and infected well over a million people. Flu figures are higher than last year and climbing, and we’ve seen high cases of a little known but extremely nasty respiratory virus called RSV which affects babies and young children. So why does winter makes us ill? And what can we do to protect ourselves against these normally routine illnesses that have the potential to turn lethal and cost the economy billions of pounds every year?
Professor Alice Roberts and Dr Michael Mosley report from a pop up studio close to many of London’s leading hospitals and medical research institutions on the latest virus outbreaks across the country. With the help of leading virologists, they’ll be finding out what viruses do to our bodies , explaining what viruses are – there’s scientific debate about whether they’re even living organisms – examining how they spread and advising what we can do to stay fit and healthy for the rest of the winter.
