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Comic: Influenza

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It's Fall and with the cooler weather coming in, it's time to look at one of the many menaces to public health: the flu!

Panel 1: Image: Rebecca, a woman with pale skin, glasses and dark hair in a ponytail, walks through a forest with a beverage Rebecca: Ah, Fall. What a great time of year. Time for fall foliage, hot apple cider, and-
Panel 2: Image: Rebecca sneezes, dropping her drink as an enlarged cartoon version of the Influenza virus appears Rebecca: Achoo! Influenza: Me!
Panel 3: Image: Rebecca looks at Flu, glaring as it preens back at her. Text: Yeah, you too, I guess. Though, I doubt anyone looks forward to seeing you.
Page 1, Panel 4: Image: Flu looks at a calendar that is on the month of october with a cat that says “hang in there” Narration: Ah, yes. Flu season. The time of year when Influenza, more commonly referred to as the flu, is the most prevalent (1). Flu: “Wow, time to clock in overtime already?”
Page 1, Panel 5: Narration: In North America, flu season tends to run from October to May. The cold weather creates conditions that help the virus thrive. Image: Flu, looking at a thermometer with alarm as it reaches the temperature of 60 degrees fahrenheit Flu: No, my cold weather!
Panel 6: Narration: And a thriving flu means a lot of sick and miserable people (or worse) Image: A man with brown skin is shown wrapped in a blanket on his sofa with an ice pack on his head and a thermometer in his mouth. Next to him are a stack of tissues.
Panel 7: Narration: So what is influenza? Influenza is a RNA virus that is classified into four types: A, B, C, D. Each type infects different species (2) Image: A variety of species that type A influenza infects are shown: Pigs, birds ,cats, whales and humans.
Panel 8: Narration: A and B tend to be responsible for flu season, though type C can also cause disease in humans Image: There are two subpanels: with their own narration Panel A: Text: type a example: the swine flu outbreak of 2009 was caused by a type A flu virus . Below is the image of a pig (2). Type b example: yamagata potentially eradicated during the covid-19 mitigation measures (4) Below is the image of a doctor with dark skin shouting “we got one!”
Panel 9 Narration: Within flu types, there are a variety of strains which even have their own subtypes. Some strains are more deadly than others. The mortality of one type of bird flu is high in humans (5). Image: A chicken is shown looking rather nervous
Panel 10: Narration: This variety and flu’s ability to mutate and shift, help make it more dangerous. So how do you best protect yourself from the flu? Image: Rebecca and the flu talk Flu: staying out of the cold? Rebecca: no? Flu: having more orange juice Rebecca: Tasty but no
Panel 11: Narration: No, I’m talking about the flu vaccine Image: An image of the flu vaccine is shown. On the vial, a cartoon version of the flu is crossed out
Panel 12: Image: Rebecca sits at a desk and talks Rebecca: The flu vaccine is remarkable when you think about it. Because multiple strains of flu are in circulation at once, the vaccine has to account for that.
Panel 13: Narration: Twice a year, experts from around the world gather and select the strains included in this year’s vaccine (6). Image: a parody of the “who wants to be a millionaire” logo is shown but the text says “who wants to be the next pandemic”
Panel 14: Narration: It’s an international effort to track and share all this flu data: over 138 national influenza centers take part in WHO flu tracking (6). Image: A wanted sign for the flu is shown with the text “report all sightings to the national flu center”
Panel 14: Image: Rebecca, back at desk, is interrupted by the flu virus Flu: Excuse me!
Panel 15: Image: The flu is dressed up in a disguise of glasses and a mustache. Flu: I’ve heard you can still get the flu even if you get the vaccine so why bother?
Panel 16: Narration: Well, yes you can still get the flu even if you got the vaccine given the variety of strains, but it lowers the risk substantially of getting flu, so it’s still worth getting (7) Image: A stunt man stands in front of a car and a dangerous course with the grim reaper lurking in the background looking skeptical Stuntman: since seatbelts don’t stop all car accidents, I do all my stunts without them!
Panel 17: Image: The flu, now in a different disguise speaks Flu: but the vaccine contains a bunch of chemicals Rebecca: I mean everything has chemicals. Chemicals are a part of nature. Image pt 2: H2o= water is shown along with a strawberry and the chemical formula for the smell of strawberries
Panel 18: Flu, in a new disguise, wearing an eyepath: what about the side effects? I heard they’re way worse for flu! Someone even told me they got the flu from the vaccine Rebecca: you can’t catch flu from the vaccine: the shot contains only dead virus. And most folks don’t experience side effects (7) Image: a petri dish of dead cartoon flu virus is shown
Panel 19: Rebecca and the flu, now wearing a disguise of a top hat and a monocle are talking Flu: But I won’t get sick because I’m healthy and my friend said- Rebecca: okay wait a second
Panel 20: Narration: Look, it’s entirely fine to have questions or be concerned, and the best person to ask about specific questions related to your health is your primary care provider Image: a Black woman with her hair in two buns sits at a stall that sais “flu advice, the doctor is in” Doctor: Look, the office budget for family medicine is thin, okay?
Panel 21: Narration: They can best give you advice about your specific concerns. Image: The doctor speaks to the audience. Doctor: Scared of needles? Let’s talk about the nasal vaccine. Allergies? Let’s look at guidance.
Panel 22: Narration: If you don’t have a PCP you can also check medical organization’s guidance. Image: a list of organizations is shown along with the outline of a hospital. The organizations are “the american academy of family physicians, the american academy of pediatrics, the american college of obstetricians and gynecologists and many more”
Panel 23: Narration: Either option is more likely to be accurate than a social media algorithm Image: a robot with a stethoscope looks shocked Robot: but my web MD degree
Panel 24: Narration: there are other things we can do to prevent the spread of flu along with getting vaccinated (8) Image: a bar of soap, a face mask and a spray bottle are shown next to the following tips: wash your hands with soap and water, wearing a mask and/or covering your coughs and sneezes, clean frequently touched surfaces and critically, stay home if you feel sick
Panel 25: Narration: Protecting our communities from flu is a team effort Image: the flu stands across from a football player with short hair and pale skin
Panel 26: Narration: and if we all work to mitigate it. Image: the football player punts the flu who screams Flu: Wait a second!
Panel 27: Narration: we can help humans-not flu- to have a winning season Image: the flu is shot through the field goal

Works Cited:

  1. Flu Season. CDC. September 26, 2025. Accessed October 9, 2025. https://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/season.html
  2. Segaloff HE, Katz MA. Influenza. In: Boulton ML, Wallace RB. eds. Maxcy-Rosenau-Last Public Health & Preventive Medicine, 16e. McGraw Hill; 2022. Accessed October 09, 2025. https://accessmedicine.mhmedical.com/content.aspx?bookid=3078&sectionid=257464293
  3. Baker RE, Mahmud AS, Miller IF, et al. Infectious disease in an era of global change. Nat Rev Microbiol. 2022;20(4):193-205. doi:10.1038/s41579-021-00639-z
  4. Barr, I.G., Subbarao, K. Implications of the apparent extinction of B/Yamagata-lineage human influenza viruses. npj Vaccines 9, 219 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41541-024-01010-y
  5. Lewis T. First Human Bird Flu Death in U.S. Reported—How Worried Should We Be? Scientific American. Accessed October 9, 2025. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/first-human-bird-flu-death-in-u-s-reported-how-worried-should-we-be/
  6. What goes into making our seasonal flu jab? - Expert Q+A. Science Media Center. May 2, 2025. Accessed October 9, 2025. https://www.sciencemediacentre.co.nz/2025/05/02/what-goes-into-making-our-seasonal-flu-jab-expert-qa/
  7. 5 myths about the flu vaccine. World Health Organization. Accessed October 9, 2025. https://www.who.int/news-room/spotlight/influenza-are-we-ready/5-myths-about-the-flu-vaccine
  8. Healthy Habits to Prevent Flu. CDC. September 3, 2025. Accessed October 9, 2025. https://www.cdc.gov/flu/prevention/actions-prevent-flu.html
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