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'Tis The Season For Cold And Flu Both bring wintertime suffering, but how different is the common cold from influenza, scientifically speaking? Ira Flatow talks with cold and flu experts about how these viruses are transmitted, how best to dodge them, and why hand sanitizer may not be of much help.

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'Tis The Season For Cold And Flu

Heard on Talk of the Nation

'Tis The Season For Cold And Flu

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Both bring wintertime suffering, but how different is the common cold from influenza, scientifically speaking? Ira Flatow talks with cold and flu experts about how these viruses are transmitted, how best to dodge them, and why hand sanitizer may not be of much help.

Guests:

Peter Palese, professor and chair of microbiology, professor medicine, infectious diseases, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY

J. Owen Hendley, professor of pediatrics, division of infectious diseases: pediatric, University of Virginia School of Medicine, Charlottesville, VA