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Although influenza is no longer the unchecked grim reaper of years past (in 1918 it killed half a million Americans and twenty to forty million folks worldwide), it continues to present a very real danger even in these more modern times. According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), millions of people in the United States (about 10% to 20% of U.S. residents) will get the flu each year. Influenza also costs Americans $10 billion annually in lost wages and medical expenses. Worst of all, every year about 36,000 people in the United States die from it, and 114,000 have to be admitted to the hospital because of it. The flu is not just a week of feeling lousy and missing work; it is a disease that can and does kill. The 2009 outbreak of H1N1 (swine) flu brought home even to those who didn't normally ponder such matters the danger posed by contagions dismissively regarded in other years as mere seasonal flu, maladies that are thought of as wholly unpleasant but not life threatening. In 2009, people became more aware of the sniffles and sneezes around them. Also, unlike in other years, more folks were actively looking for ways to avoid catching the flu — including by unconventional means, such as those referenced in the following message: In addition to the good advice about washing one's hands frequently and avoiding the company of those who are obviously under the weather, those looking to sidestep being felled by the flu are subject to toutings of a variety of folk remedies, each of which is presented as a surefire and deadly preventive. The missive quoted above about onions absorbing the virus is one such offering. There's no medical magic to placing peeled or cut onions around the home: they don't act as sponges that soak up whatever viruses or other nasty microbes are in their immediate vicinity. However, the belief that they would act in this fashion predates the 2009 flu outbreak by at least 100 years. Long-standing superstition asserts that keeping raw onions in the house (either cut or whole; different folks swear by different methods) will draw illness-causing germs from the air, thereby rendering the home free of contamination. The following print references gathered by folklorists Iona Opie and Moira Tatum showcase that belief: Even older print sightings exist, however. One of the earliest we've located (from 1900) calls the practice an old custom, which means even at that early date, the belief's origins were lost in the mists of time: Some people insist plates of sliced raw onion should be left at various points around the home; others avow that whole onions must be hung on strings affixed to the domicile's ceilings, some further asserting the bulbs must be hung in front of doorways to better filter incoming contamination. As to what sorts of contamination the onion is purported to overcome, at various times it has been said to kill flu virus, diphtheria, smallpox, the cold virus, and even whatever nastiness a rotting corpse might be venting into the air, especially one that reached that condition via infectious disease of any description. Onions are also, according to lore, to be placed in any sickroom no matter how that room's occupant came to require bedrest. While this folk belief is indeed an old one, there's precious little reason to place any store in it. No scientific studies back it, and common sense rules it out: cold and flu viruses are spread by contact, not by their nasty microbes floating loosely in the air where the almighty onion can supposedly seek out and destroy them. As the Wall Street Journal noted in 2009 of such claims: Furthermore, for those who believe in folk claims, superstition also asserts that it is unlucky to keep cut onions around, as demonstrated in these additional examples gathered by Opie and Tatum: Onions — cut, peeled, or otherwise — aren't going to secure your living space from the flu virus, either 2009's swine version or any other year's contagion. Instead, if you want to stay healthy, wash your hands and avoid being around sick people. Mind you, if you choose to place a few onions around your home, the only downside would be that your nearest and dearest will regard you as somewhat eccentric.
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