You might need two, to prevent this year’s flu
As you might imagine, most of my recent office visits start off with, “Hi Doc, how are you? What is your take on the flu?” My response has been, “You might need two, to prevent this year’s flu.”
What IS going on with the flu this season?
In addition to the “regular” influenza strains, responsible for up to 200,000 hospitalizations and up to 36,000 deaths a year in this country, physicians and public health officials are preparing for the resurgence of the highly contagious H1N1 strain or the virus formerly known as “the swine flu”.
H1N1 has spread quickly across the globe since it first arrived late last spring. Scientists have been studying this virus closely, looking to see who it tends to infect, how easily it is spread, who seems to get the sickest and how it responds to antiviral medications.
Who is most at risk?
Epidemiologic studies have shown that H1N1 tends to affect a different subset of the population than the “regular” flu. Some experts theorize that a similar strain may have circulated decades ago, offering some protection to our senior populations.
Public health officials now feel that the groups most at risk for serious complications of H1N1 include pregnant women, children and young adults who are 6 months to 24 years, adults who are 25 to 64 years old with chronic medical conditions and healthcare and emergency personnel.
So what steps can you take to stay healthy?
Cover your mouth and nose
To prevent the spread of thousands of viral particles, cover your mouth and nose with a tissue when you cough or sneeze. Don’t forget to throw away your tissue after you have used it.
Wash your hands
After you cover your mouth, be sure to wash your hands thoroughly with soap and water. Many viruses spread by contact and can live on door knobs, computer keyboards, ATM touch pads or on your clothes for hours.
Washing your hands often and not touching your eyes, nose or mouth will help prevent you from being infected. Using an alcohol-based hand sanitizer can also help kill viral particles. Consider carrying an alcohol based sanitizer with you and sending a small container for your kids to use at school.
Stay home!
If you’ve got it, keep it to yourself. If your have flu-like symptoms of fever, aches, cough or congestion, please stay home from school, work and soccer practice.
Most people who contract influenza will have mild symptoms and may not need to see their doctor, but can improve with rest, fluids and symptomatic care. Please call your doctor before coming in to the office to reduce the spread of germs to others.
What about medications?
Two prescription antiviral medications (Tamiflu and Relenza) appear to be effective in treating the more severe cases of H1N1. These medications may slow the reproduction of this virus in your body, helping you recover more quickly and reducing your contagiousness to others. They are most effective if started within the first two days of symptoms.
Not every patient will need an antiviral medication. Overuse of antiviral and antibiotic medications can result in resistant strains of germs. The “regular” flu strains have largely become resistant to antivirals.
What about the flu shot(s) and are they safe?
Because the H1N1 appeared so late in the spring, scientists were unable to add H1N1 coverage to this year’s flu vaccine. As a result, we will have two different flu vaccines this year, a “regular” flu vaccine and an H1N1 vaccine. The “regular” flu vaccine is arriving in doctor’s offices now and the H1N1 vaccine will likely be available in October.
Safety studies are now being conducted on the new H1N1 vaccine. The H1N1 vaccine is created in a similar fashion to our annual flu vaccine and we have no reason to believe that it will carry a different safety profile that the traditional flu vaccine.
Who should get the “regular” flu shot?
Individuals at highest risk from influenza-related complications include people with asthma and other chronic diseases of the lungs, heart or kidneys, people over 65, pregnant women, children between 6 months and 18 years and others who will be in contact with these high-risk groups.
Who should get the “H1N1” vaccine?
First priority for the H1N1 vaccine will include children between the ages of 6 months and 4 years, people who live with or care for children under 6 months of age, pregnant women, children 5 through 18 with chronic medical conditions and healthcare and emergency services personnel.
Will you need two?
If you are in the high risk groups for both the “regular” and H1N1 strains of influenza, you should consider getting both vaccines this season. Medical personnel will be working hard to distribute the “regular” vaccine in the months of September and October, so that they can then focus on distributing the H1N1 vaccine when it arrives in late October.
When my patients ask me about what I think about the flu, I recommend using common sense, staying home if you feel sick, washing your hands often and getting the appropriate vaccines if you are in a high risk group. This simple advice should help you and your family have a healthier season.
Dr. Dan Brennan is a board-certified pediatrician and Santa Barbara native who gives flu vaccine to his wife and two boys. His column can be found in the Daily Sound on alternating Fridays. Please contact him at 563-6211 or visit www.SBPediatrics.com.
Comment on this article
H1N1 vaccines are not safe - say No! : 9/4/2009
I sorry Dr. Dan, but I fear you are putting many people in danger. These vaccines contain poisonous mercury and squalene and have not been tested. See the following quote from the Daily Mall: http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2009/09/01/Swine-Flu-Shot-Linked-to-Killer-Nerve-Disease.aspx As mentioned in this article, the 1976 swine flu vaccine campaign caused more harm than good, and there are indications that the current campaign may end up being a devastating repeat or worse. At that time, one person died from the actual swine flu, while 25 people died from adverse reactions to the vaccine, and several hundred people developed crippling Guillain-Barré Syndrome. According to The Daily Mail, the British Health Protection Agency sent letters to 600 neurologists on July 29th, warning them to be on the lookout for cases of Guillain- Barré Syndrome once the swine flu vaccine campaign begins. Why the warning was not sent out to general practitioners, who will be administering the shot, seems an odd choice if public safety is indeed the main concern. This confidential correspondence between the British public health agency and neurologists in the U.K. is the first clue that all is probably not well with this fast-tracked pandemic vaccine. If you would like me to send them to you, I have hundreds of articles showing the dangers of these vaccines from other Doctors and people who experienced their side effect. Here is one: http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2009/07/04/Warning-Swine-Flu-Vaccine-Coming-Soon.aspx
Eric Brody
Safety of H1N1 vaccines : 9/4/2009
Dr. Dan- I'd like to reply to your reader's concerns. As I'm sure you are also aware, the doses of H1N1 vaccine to be licensed and distributed here in the United States do not contain adjuvants. Additonally, it is routine for the government to monitor any vaccine for adverse effects post-distribution as a matter of safety. Monitoring each flu vaccine for association with Guillain-Barré Syndrome has been routine since the 1976 campaign, even though no clear association in subsequent seasons has been proven. Further, monitoring for GBS is no government secret; the following is from the CDC's report on this matter (http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/vaccination/safety_planning.htm): "In 1976, a type of influenza vaccine was associated with Guillain-Barré Syndrome (GBS). Since then, influenza vaccines have not been clearly linked to GBS. However, if there is a risk of GBS from seasonal influenza vaccines, it would be no more than approximately 1 additional case per million persons vaccinated." Given that thousands of people die from seasonal flu, and H1N1 while no worse, may be no better, it seems that one's relative risk from the flu vs. the flu vaccines weigh in favor of vaccination. I too will be recommending both vaccines for my family and my patients at-risk. I hope your readers do the same.
Jerome Smith
Response to Jerome on Vaccine's safety : 9/4/2009
Sorry Jerome and Dr. Dan, but Eric is right. I've worked with the vaccines makers. Not only will vaccines in US will contain adjuvants call squalene, but most of the swine flu vaccines will also contain thimerosal (Mercury), although they will reportedly make a limited number of doses available that are thimerosal-free. The U.S. government has contracts with several drug companies to develop and produce swine flu vaccines. At least two of those companies, Novartis and GlaxoSmithKline, are using an adjuvant in their H1N1 vaccines. The adjuvant? Squalene. According to Meryl Nass, M.D., an authority on the anthrax vaccine, “A novel feature of the two H1N1 vaccines being developed by companies Novartis and GlaxoSmithKline is the addition of squalene-containing adjuvants to boost immunogenicity and dramatically reduce the amount of viral antigen needed. This translates to much faster production of desired vaccine quantities.”[v] Novartis’s proprietary squalene adjuvant for their H1N1 vaccine is MF59. Glaxo’s is ASO3. MF59 has yet to be approved by the FDA for use in any U.S. vaccine, despite its history of use in other countries. Per Dr. Nass, there are only three vaccines in existence using an approved squalene adjuvant. None of the three are approved for use in the U.S. Squalene: The Swine Flu Vaccine’s Dirty Little Secret Exposed http://blogs.mercola.com/sites/vitalvotes/archive/2009/07/17/squalene-the-swine-flu-vaccines-dirty-little-secret-exposed.aspx Sadly, the vaccines makers have no incentives to make the vaccines safe as they have been granted legal immunity and the government have chosen of all people, children and pregnant womens to be on the front line to get these vaccines. Interesting enough, many hospital workers will not take the vaccine. You can read more about it here: Legal Immunity Set for Swine Flu Vaccine Makers http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2009/08/20/legal-immunity-set-for-swine-flu-vaccine-makers.aspx Dr Albert Brewers
Dr. Albert Brewer
Yeah...so anyway... : 10/7/2009
Where can my child get one if the clinics are all out? Does that mean that they are out for the entire season?
SB Res
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