Take Your Best Shot at Preventing and Fighting the Flu
Flu season is here, but the troublesome virus may not be a health threat if you take steps to protect yourself.
The best protection?
"The best way to guard against the flu is to get vaccinated, which helps to protect you, your loved ones, and your community," says Dr. Jeanne Santoli, deputy director of the Immunization Services Division at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
A record 100 million-plus doses are being distributed nationwide this year, which is welcome news after a manufacturing problem last year left many people scrambling for the vaccine.
The increase in available vaccine reflects an expansion of flu-vaccine recommendations to targeted groups.
"For the 2006 flu season, the CDC recommendations have added on children ages 24 to 59 months, which also extends to household contacts of the children, and their caregivers outside the home," explains Dr. Santoli.
The American Heart Association (AHA), the American College of Cardiology (ACC), and the American Lung Association, among other organizations, endorse flu shots. In fact, the AHA and ACC are asking heart physicians to do something they may not normally do - give flu shots to their patients, who are more likely to die from influenza than patients with any other chronic condition.
Getting a flu shot each as early as possible, before the flu season is in full swing, is especially important for individuals in a high-risk group. They include: children aged six months to 59 months of age; pregnant women; persons 50 and older; persons of any age with certain chronic medical conditions such as asthma, congestive heart failure, diabetes, or HIV; and persons who live in nursing homes and other long-term care facilities.
"It's also important to prevent the spread of infection from otherwise healthy, younger persons to those who are at high risk,” says Dr. Wendy A. Keitel, at the Influenza Research Center at Baylor College of Medicine.
“People who live with or who provide care for high-risk individuals - including health-care providers - should also be vaccinated to reduce the chance that they get infected and spread the infection to others," she says.
"The optimal time to get your flu shot is in October or November, before the flu season typically begins. That way, you have the greatest chance of protection, since it takes two weeks for the vaccine to become fully effective," notes Dr. Santoli.
However, flu season usually does not peak until January, so getting vaccinated later is better than not at all. The flu season typically runs from November through April, but can start earlier and last longer.
Even if you get the flu, you should still get a shot, says Dr. Keitel. "Some epidemics are caused by more than one type of influenza virus. Having caught the flu early in the season would not protect you from getting infected by a different type of virus, but it should protect you from getting infected by the same virus later in the epidemic.”
Each year, the flu vaccine is designed to include three of the most likely strains predicted to strike that season. Vaccination is kind of like giving a mug shot of a suspect - such as the flu - to your body, so it can be on alert should it see the virus in question, adds Dr. Santoli.
The flu vaccine does not contain the live active virus, but dead parts of the virus that the body recognizes as foreign bodies, which causes the immune system to produce antibodies to fight it when encountering the virus for real.
For the needle-shy, there is also a nasal spray flu vaccine called FluMist® that replaces the poke with a sniff. Available since 2003, it is only recommended for healthy, non-pregnant people ages five to 49. It differs from the flu shot in that it contains weakened, live flu viruses instead of dead ones.
Every year, about 5 percent to 20 percent of the US population is stricken with the flu, leading to more than 200,000 hospitalizations and about 36,000 deaths.
The seasonal flu is not the same as bird flu or pandemic flu, which have been international public health concerns recently. There is no vaccine to prevent either of these diseases, says Dr. Santoli.
The good news is that no bird-flu cases with the deadly H5N1 strain have been reported in North America yet, although health officials are concerned that the virus could mutate, making human-to-human transmission much easier.
The CDC also suggests you take the following steps to help ward off the flu:
- Avoid close contact with people who are infected.
- Wash your hands often to help protect you from germs. Studies suggest that flu viruses can live on surfaces for two to eight hours.
- Avoid touching your eyes, nose, or mouth. Germs are often spread when a person touches something that is contaminated with germs and then touches his or her eyes, nose, or mouth.
- Ask your physician about antiviral medications, which are not a substitute for the flu shot, but they do add another level of protection.
- If possible, stay home from work, school, and errands when you are sick, so you will be less likely to pass on the virus.
Always consult your physician for more information.
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Influenza (or flu) is a highly contagious viral respiratory tract infection.
An estimated 5 percent to 20 percent of the population in the US contract influenza each year. Influenza is characterized by the abrupt onset of fever, muscle aches, sore throat, and a nonproductive cough.
Influenza can make people of any age ill. Although most people are ill with influenza for only a few days, some have a much more serious illness and may need to be hospitalized. Influenza can also lead to pneumonia and death.
Influenza viruses are divided into three types, designated as A, B, and C.
Influenza types A and B are responsible for epidemics of respiratory illness that occur almost every winter and are often associated with increased rates for hospitalization and death. Efforts to control the impact of influenza are focused on types A and B.
Influenza type C usually causes either a very mild respiratory illness or no symptoms at all. It does not cause epidemics and does not have the severe public health impact that influenza types A and B do.
Influenza viruses continually mutate or change, which enables the virus to evade the immune system of its host. This makes people susceptible to influenza infection throughout their lives.
A person infected with influenza virus develops antibody against that virus. The virus mutates or changes. The "older" antibody no longer recognizes the "newer" virus. Reinfection occurs.
The older antibody can, however, provide partial protection against reinfection.
Although each flu season is different, approximately 5 percent to 20 percent of the population will get the flu each year. Approximately 36,000 of those who get the flu will die from it or from complications.
The influenza virus is generally passed from person to person by airborne transmission (i.e., sneezing or coughing). But the virus can also live for a short time on objects - such as doorknobs, pens, pencils, keyboards, telephone receivers, and eating or drinking utensils.
Therefore, it may also be spread by touching something that has been handled by someone infected with the virus and then touching your own mouth, nose, or eyes.
The following are the most common symptoms of the flu:
- high fever
- headache
- clear nose
- sneezing at times
- cough, often becoming severe
- severe aches and pains
- fatigue for several weeks
- sometimes a sore throat
- extreme exhaustion
Fever and body aches usually last for three to five days, but cough and fatigue may last for two weeks or more.
Although nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea may accompany the flu, these gastrointestinal symptoms are rarely prominent.
"Stomach flu" is an incorrect term sometimes used to describe gastrointestinal illnesses caused by other microorganisms.
The symptoms of the flu may resemble other medical conditions. Always consult your physician for a diagnosis. |