The season's most common illness and preventative steps you can take

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Abigail Battjes, D.O., is a doctor of family medicine with Saint Joseph Medical Group.

ABC57’s Jordan Tolbert asked Battjes when she typically sees the most people getting sick.

“Usually, we see it more after Christmas, but we're seeing this spike a little bit earlier this year, so we're right in that range. Then, we'll see this influenza A level probably continue to increase through January, and then hopefully start to dwindle down in February is what we hope for,” said Battjes.

The most common sickness she’s seeing right now is Influenza A. Battjes says she’s also seeing cases of COVID and upper respiratory symptoms as well, but there’s a rapid increase in influenza A in the area.

“So, Influenza A, obviously, is a virus that we that we do give vaccines for every year, but obviously the vaccines have certain strands in it, and this year's vaccine did have two strands of influenza A in it as well that were given,” said Battjes.

Here’s what you should look out for, symptom-wise:

“So, high fever, cough, congestion is one of the symptoms. Also, some of the symptoms people are presenting with are some GI symptoms initially, like they're saying they have some diarrhea or vomiting, and then in the next day or so, develop those upper respiratory symptoms, which means cough, congestion, body aches is another good one,” said Battjes.

There are tests you can buy and do at home.

Battjes says you should go to the doctor if you’re not getting better.

ABC57 asked Battjes how things like stress around the holidays, cold weather, and travel might contribute to more people getting sick around this time of year.

“So, we see that stress levels, especially around the holidays, increase your cortisol levels, which then decreases your immune response. Cold weather pushes everyone inside, right? So, when we get pushed inside, into inside areas, things spread. We cough on each other. We don't do our good hand sanitation. We're all close to each other,” said Battjes. “So, travel, obviously, you're traveling around a bunch of people you don't know. People may be asymptomatic, which means not having any symptoms, but yet, may be carriers, and that's how things spread a little bit more quickly during this time of year.”

Battjes says the best prevention is the vaccine. She also says to wash and sanitize your hands.

If you are sick, Battjes says to stay home.

“I know it's hard to miss out on events. We all missed out on a ton of events in COVID, and I know we're trying to make up for that last time. But if you're sick, stay home, and that really, really helps decrease the spread,” said Battjes.