If you’re seeing a lot of people sick at work or school, there’s good reason for it. Flu cases are spiking, allergies are acting up and viruses are on the rise.

It’s that time of year when dust, pollen and germs invade our respiratory systems.

“Perfect storm of different things,” Dr. Timothy Hendrix, medical director of Centra Care said. “Allergies, flu starting to show up, also the upper respiratory viruses kids are sharing in school and bringing them home.”

And with similar symptoms it may be hard to differentiate what is to blame - the flu, allergies or asthma.

“An upper respiratory virus will cause mild to moderately severe symptoms – a runny nose, a cough, sniffles, sneeze and some body aches and low grade fever,” Hendrix said. “That will pass in about a week’s time. If it’s allergies, you’ll typically get more itchiness. You’ll get itchy nose, itchy eyes.”

Regardless, those symptoms are driving more patients to seek medical help. Centra Care reports that the number of flu, asthma and allergy cases are doubling throughout Central Florida this month.

“We saw this surge of flu cases coming in mostly on the aast side of town and it seemed like most of them were university students,” Hendrix said.

Other areas seeing a spike include Oviedo, Winter Park, Waterford and Lake Buena Vista. But there could be some relief with all of the heavy rain this week washing away those pesky allergens. Yet, doctors warn that it’s only a temporary fix.

“It’s just gonna make it worse,” Hendrix said. “Because what will happen after that is more grass grows.”

So to combat the flu virus and protect against pollen, medical experts advise getting the flu vaccine and proper allergy suppressants. They say that while they are seeing a spike in the number of cases, this is a typical pattern they see every year and add that the months with the most cases occur in December and January.