I'm Joe Gradyton and I'm Terry Grady. Welcome to this podcast of the People's Pharmacy.

You can find previous podcasts and more information on a range of health topics at people's pharmacy.com.

Humans and animals have been living together for thousands of years.

How do these interactions benefit our health?

This is the people's pharmacy with Texas. These interactions benefit our health.

This is the People's Pharmacy with Terry and Joe Grayden. Dogs have an amazing sense of smell. During the pandemic, some airports in Europe use dogs to screen passengers with COVID.

In some health care settings, dogs detect bladder cancer, lung cancer, or

C-DIF infections.

Service dogs can alert people to episodes of low blood sugar

or an impending epileptic seizure.

They can also help calm people having a panic attack.

How do animals improve your life?

Our lines are open for your stories. Coming up on the

people's pharmacy, the healing power of pets. In the People's Pharmacy Health Headlines, flu season usually fades by mid-March,

but this year, influenza is on an upswing. We should have been prepared since a similar

pattern occurred in Australia in 2003. Our summer is their winter, and last year their flu season lasted six months instead of the usual three.

If we follow the same pattern, we might expect the flu season to finish here around the end of April. At this time, different parts of the country

have very different rates of infection, with the West Coast and the Northeast doing relatively

well. Many states in the Midwest, especially Ohio, Nebraska, Michigan, and

North Dakota still report high levels of influenza-like illness. The CDC reports that a higher percent of flu tests were

positive last week for both A and B-influenza. The agency reminds patients

that prescription antiviral drugs can shorten the duration of flu illness,

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