After Hurricane Season? 

Flu Shot Season!

by Michael Barnaby

As surely as hurricane season makes its annual appearance, so does flu shot season, to be followed just a surely by influenza itself, spreading its misery, costing the economy billions, and killing thousands of Americans.

Pandemics, or epidemics of worldwide proportion, occurred four times in the twentieth century – 1918, 1957, 1968 and 1977.  Of these, the Hong Kong Flu killed 34,000 Americans during the 1968 – 69 flu season.  But the deadliest epidemic in recorded history occurred with the 1918 Spanish Flu outbreak, which killed at least 550,000 people in the United States and up to 50 million worldwide.

An estimated 10% to 20% of the American population contracts the flu every year; in Lee County this amounts to a potential 100,000 cases, making very clear the need for an annual vaccination.  Annual, because the flu virus changes, or mutates, from year to year.  Based on surveillance conducted by the National Influenza Centers at over a hundred sites worldwide and reported to the World Health Organization (WHO), different viral strains are chosen to be included in each year’s upcoming vaccine.  (For those technically inclined, this year’s trivalent vaccine virus strains are A/New Caledonia/20/99/H1N1, A/Wisconsin/67/2005/H3N2, and B/Malaysia/2506/2004.

Influenza, or flu, is a highly contagious viral infection of the nose, throat and lungs.  Spread easily from person to person when an infected person coughs or sneezes, flu ranks as one of the most severe illnesses of the winter season, capable of leading to hospitalization and even death, particularly among the elderly.  Yet a simple vaccination can prevent from 50% to 60% of all  hospitalizations and 80% of influenza-related complications and deaths among the elderly.  And Medicare Part B pays for the shot (and also for pneumonia shots, offered wherever the health department gives flu immunizations).

Typically, the flu is characterized by the abrupt onset of high fever, chills, dry cough, headache, and muscle and joint pain.  Unlike other common respiratory infections, however, the flu can cause extreme fatigue that can last from several days to even weeks.  Getting a flu shot year after year may seem an inconvenience, but could possibly save your life, particularly if you’re in a category listed in the accompanying table, "Who Should Get A Flu Shot."

Flu season arrives a little later in Florida than many areas in the nation, since the flu generally starts in Asia and travels east, hitting California and working its way across the continent before entering Florida on a large scale.  So in case you procrastinate, December and January are still good months to get a protective shot.

The Visiting Nurses Association will be manning nearly two hundred temporary clinic locations countywide, including many in neighborhood civic centers and manufactured home communities.  Maxim Healthcare expects to administer over fifty five thousand shots through clinics set up at supermarkets and pharmacies throughout our area.  The Lee County Health Department will focus on high risk populations – those at increased risk for serious consequences from the flu, such as skilled nursing, assisted living, and adult daycare facilities.  After these populations are served, the clinic at  3920 Michigan Avenue in Fort Myers opens to the general public for flu shots. 

• People 50 years of age and older
• Children aged 6 – 59 months of age and their siblings
• Household contacts and out-of-home caregivers of children 0 to 59 months of age should be vaccinated annually to prevent these contacts from infecting young children with influenza.
• Children 6 months – 18 years of age with chronic illness
• Anyone who wishes to reduce their chance of catching influenza, particularly those who provide essential community services
• People with chronic disorders of the lungs or heart
• People less able to fight infections because of a disease they are born with
• Those with Human Immunodeficiency Virus Disease (HIV)
• Patients under long-term treatment with steroids
• People being treated for cancer with x-rays or drugs
• People who have required regular medical follow-up or hospitalization during the preceding year because of chronic diseases, including diabetes mellitus, kidney diseases and blood cell diseases such as sickle cell anemia
• Pregnant women
• Residents of nursing homes and other long-term care facilities
• Health care workers and others in contact with people in high-risk groups
• Children  who are receiving long-term aspirin therapy and might be at risk for developing Reye’s Syndrome after influenza