This Year"s Flu Season Is A Doozy: Safeguard Your self

In accordance to a CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report yesterday, the flu has hit more difficult in this 2013-2014 season than in the previous. Portion of the problem is that not as many men and women have gotten flu vaccinations as final yr. The situation is specifically undesirable for a group that you wouldn’t generally count on: Younger adults. Hospitalization – and death – rates for grownups between the ages of 18 and 64 are considerably increased than in the previous. The great news is that the flu shot is pretty successful, and because the flu season ain’t more than however, there is even now time to get vaccinated.

The CDC says the purpose this 12 months is worse than other folks is twofold. One particular is the reduction in flu vaccinations for younger adults and young children. Says the CDC’s director Thomas Frieden, “by November, only a third of 18 to 64 12 months olds had been vaccinated. That’s one particular of the motives we’re seeing a considerably greater proportion of hospitalizations and deaths between 18 to 64 12 months olds than we usually see.”

Courtesy CDC

And youthful youngsters are not as protected as they have been last 12 months either. Right now, the vaccination rate for kids was all around 50%, but last 12 months, by the finish of the season, it was 80%. Hopefully the variety this 12 months will expand. There have been 50 pediatric deaths presently this season.

The other reason that this year’s pandemic is far more dramatic than previous ones is that young and middle-aged grownups may not have been previously exposed to the strains floating close to this year. So interestingly, it is older men and women, says the CDC, who might really be in greater shape, considering that they are much more probably to have residual immunity from past afflictions with the very same flu strains that are prevalent this yr.

The vast bulk of the circumstances this yr are due to the H1N1 virus, also recognized as “swine flu,” which induced the 2009 pandemic. Thankfully, according to the new report by the CDC, really handful of of samples examined have been resistant to frequent antiviral medication.

The very good information is that for individuals who have gotten vaccinated, the flu shot seems to be functioning reasonably effectively. In accordance to Ann Schuchat the director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Conditions. vaccine effectiveness prices “range from 52 percent for folks 65 and older to 67 % for kids six months to 17 many years of age.”

The flu shot also seems to decrease the chance of folks possessing to seek out health care care due to the flu. “We identified that flu vaccine decreased the risk of obtaining to go to the medical doctor for lab-confirmed influenza illness by an estimated 61 % across all ages,” stated Schuchat.

The experts also strongly urge physicians to be liberal with antiviral medicines for any person “presenting” with flu-like symptoms. Frieden’s message to doctors: “If they are quite sick, do not wait for a check. Really do not not deal with if the test is damaging. If you think clinically it may possibly be flu, deal with for flu promptly. Regrettably, we’re seeing that only a little proportion of people who are severely sick and have flu are taken care of for flu promptly. And that can make a variation.”

Finally, the CDC stresses that it is not as well late to get a shot, given that we even now have another month to go. Says Schuchat, “I want to remind you all that there’s even now a lot of influenza circulating. So if you haven’t been vaccinated nevertheless, it’s not also late for you to advantage from receiving vaccinated.” And Frieden’s message is even more blunt: “influenza can make anybody quite sick extremely quickly, and it can destroy. Vaccine is the single-most essential issue you can do to defend yourself.”

The CDC’s very best ideas for safety: 

• Get the flu shot


• Keep away from sick men and women (and if you are sick, restrict your make contact with with other people)


• Wait till your fever is gone for 24 hrs before going back to function or school


• Stay away from touching your eyes and nose, as this is what can spread the virus


• Wash hands with soap usually (or use sanitizer, if you can’t wash your hands)


• Clean and disinfect surfaces that may carry the virus


• If you do get the flu, antiviral medicines can shorten the duration of the illness, specifically when commenced inside of two days of symptom onset. 

For much more info, see the CDC’s internet site on safeguarding by yourself from the flu: http://www.cdc.gov/flu/defend/stopping.htm

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This Year"s Flu Season Is A Doozy: Safeguard Your self