The United States, China and Europe are battling to be the first to find a cure, bringing a nationalist element to a worldwide crisis.

Even if initial safety tests go well, “you’re talking about a year to a year and a half” before any vaccine could be ready for widespread use, according to Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

Until there’s a vaccine, wash your hands everyone!

It’s not too late to get your flu shot!

Comparing the dangerous effects of three diseases with the minimal side effects of their corresponding vaccines.

According to Friday’s Weekly Influenza Surveillance report from CDC, Alabama, Alaska, California, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Mexico, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas were all experiencing widespread flu activity in the week ending in Nov. 23.

Influenza and pertussis – or whooping cough – are serious infections that can be fatal for babies, especially for those who are too young to be vaccinated directly.

Resistance to vaccines is not new. Starting with the first vaccine developed in the late 1700s/early 1800s for smallpox through current times, people have resisted vaccines. “What we are looking at today is not new,” said Paul A. Offit, MD, director of the Vaccine Education Center and attending physician in the Division of Infectious Diseases at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. “It is historic, but the good news is that I think there is a path forward.”