Most people have frying pans coated with Teflon so nothing sticks.

But can inhaling fumes from Teflon make you sick?

There is now talk of a Teflon flu, but is it real?

Can cooking with a nonstick pan make you sick? Across social media, people are throwing out their nonstick cookware, worried it will give them what's being called Teflon flu.

Getting rid of the Teflon.

Stop cooking on Teflon.

But is it real?

America's Poison Centers says there's been a spike in cases with 267 reports of Teflon flu just last year. Experts say Teflon flu is transmitted when you scrape the bottom of nonstick cookware, releasing harmful chemicals that are inhaled into the body.

It's not an infectious disease like influenza.

It's really a reaction or a respiratory illness caused by exposure to these, what are called forever chemicals.

The big one being PTFE or polytetrafluoroethylene.

And it causes a respiratory syndrome that's similar to kind of getting when you get sick and get the flu. Jasmine Banks says she recovered from Teflon flu. "I had a fever, I had a sore throat, I was just exhausted." How long did it last? "Two weeks." And then when we stopped using the pans within 24 hours, we were significantly better.

Once you start damaging the nonstick coating, that's gonna get you sick. Creamier Food Safety CEO Donnie Yu showed our Victoria Recano how to cook safely with Teflon. "My kids really like eggs.

So basically what I do is put it on a low heat and then I'll add a little bit of butter.

Don't wait too long to start cooking your eggs.

The issue happens when you just have a pan sitting there in high heat." He says never let the pan heat above 500 degrees and don't use metal cooking utensils. "The only safe spatula you can use would be the rubber.

It's not gonna scrape any of the nonstick coating off of the pan." "What's the best way to clean a Teflon pan?" "So you can use this side, this is safe.

Okay, it's not gonna cause any type of damage.

This is a side you don't wanna use, so this is gonna scrape the metal coating." Experts say if your Teflon pans have scratches or dings, you should throw them out.

And if you're worried about Teflon making you sick, you can use nonstick alternatives including ceramic cookware or a cast iron skillet.