You could say that the Philadelphia Eagles have a sick team but in this case not in a good way. Eagles offensive tackle Lane Johnson told the The Philadelphia Inquirer that four to five of his teammates have been battling either the flu or flu-like illness. This includes Pro Bowl defensive tackle Jalen Carter who missed practice on Wednesday as a result but returned on Thursday. Now, the big question is how many of the Eagles players will be fully ready to play on Sunday, which incidentally is when the Eagles will be doing something kind of important for them. They will take on the Kansas City Chiefs in New Orleans for Super Bowl LIX.
Well, the answer does depend on whether each of the players have had the flu or not. A number of other pathogens such as adenoviruses and respiratory syncytial viruses can cause flu-like illnesses. The only way to tell if you really have the flu is to get tested. That’s when you check a sample of fluid from your nose or throat for either particular proteins found on the surface of flu viruses (antigen tests) or genetic material from influenzas viruses (molecular tests.)
Those who were actually infected with an influenza A or B virus have likely gone through at least part of the following typical timeline for the flu:
- Incubation period: This is the time from exposure to the virus to right before the person becomes contagious. This on average lasts for two days, but can range from one to four days. During this time, the virus enters a person’s respiratory tract cells and then hijacks the machinery of the cells to make many, many, many copies of itself.
- Infectious period: After all these copies of the virus are made, they eventually burst out of the respiratory tract cells, which then commences the infectious period. That’s when the person is contagious, able to transmit the virus to others. This infectious period can last for up to a week.
- Symptomatic period: This is when the person has symptoms of the flu and overlaps with the infectious period. Common symptoms include fevers, coughing, sore throats, body aches, chills, fatigue and feeling run down. The symptomatic period tends to last from three to seven days.
- Recovery period: This is when the person is no longer contagious and no longer has as severe symptoms. However, some symptoms may persist. For example, the person may not have the same level of energy, which would be relevant for the Super Bowl. The recovery period could extend for as long as a week so that the person doesn’t quite feel right until two weeks after the beginning of symptoms.
Now, there are cases where flu symptoms are so severe that the person must be hospitalized. In fact, the flu could even get to the point of being life-threatening. This is much more likely in people with weaker immune systems like young children, adults over 65 years of age and those with chronic medical conditions. Last I checked none of the Eagles are young children or over the age of 65. But that doesn’t mean that young healthy adults are completely immune to bad flu outcomes.
So having the flu is not like having the common cold. Even if you don’t get sick to the point of getting hospitalized, it can hit you like a Khalil Mack truck. Therefore, it is possible that the flu virus could end up playing a pivotal role in Super Bowl LIX.
With the U.S. right now smack in the middle of flu season, both the Eagles and Chiefs would be wise to take appropriate precautions. Some members of the Eagles organization have been wearing face masks, and not the kind normally found in front of football helmets.
