Chicagoans are likely grabbing gloves, hats and chapstick as winter takes root in Chicago.

But you may want to add hand sanitizer, a mask and vitamin C to your list of essentials as health officials are expecting flu season to be longer and worse than usual this year.

“It’s looking to be a pretty rough one,” said Dr. Emily Landon, the University of Chicago’s top infectious disease expert.

There are several reasons why. One is that the US, in the northern hemisphere, typically crafts its flu vaccine using strains that are common in the south hemisphere, since that region’s winters take place during our summers.

“We often sort of use what happens in the southern hemisphere to give us an idea about what’s going to be happening in our flu season the next year,” Landon explained, adding tha

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