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.
|
