Editor’s Note: We first ran this post last year, but due to its timeliness we’re running it again today. We encourage Fletcher Allen employees and the general public to receive the flu vaccination to protect themselves and others.
Christopher Grace, MD, is Director of Infectious Disease at Fletcher Allen.
Influenza is a contagious disease. It can spread easily, transmitted by coughing and sneezing and contact with influenza-contaminated surfaces. During the winter flu season, it is almost impossible to avoid coming in contact with people who have the flu – at work, school, shopping, movie theaters, you name it.
Every winter, hundreds of thousands of people get sick with influenza. They have fevers, muscle aches, cough, and sore throats and generally feel miserable often for a week or two. Some only get mildly ill. Some become ill enough to require hospitalization. Most recover. But some will die.
If you get the flu, not only will you get sick, but you can spread it to your family, friends and co-workers. They may miss school and work and then spread it to others. Some may get seriously ill.
The illness and contagion of flu can all be prevented by a simple influenza vaccination. All individuals older than six months of age should be vaccinated. The only exception to this is people who have a life-threatening allergy to eggs.
The flu vaccination can be given in two ways:
- The standard “flu shot”
- Intra-nasal spray (no shot) if you are healthy, not pregnant and between 2 and 50 years of age.
In either form, the vaccine is safe and effective. You cannot get the flu from the flu vaccine. Since the flu bug changes every year, it is important you get vaccinated every year. Since the flu season in Vermont revs up in December, it is best to get vaccinated in the fall so you will be well protected.
Protect yourself, your family, friends and co-workers. Get vaccinated.
For more information about flu safety, visit www.FletcherAllen.org.
Christopher Grace, MD, is Director of Infectious Disease at Fletcher Allen and a Professor at the University of Vermont College of Medicine.
12/4/12 update – From our director of Infectious Disease, Christopher Grace, MD: Influenza is an acute onset viral infection characterized by fever, cough, muscle pain, sore throat, extreme fatigue, headache and poor appetite. It causes illness in about 5-20% of US population yearly or about 15,000,000 – 60,000,000 people each year. Most of the people who get influenza will be ill for 1-2 weeks, will miss days or more from work and may transmit this communicable illness their family friends and co-workers. On average over 200,000 people are hospitalized yearly because of influenza pneumonia, influenza worsening their underlying lung and heart disease or sickened by secondary bacterial pneumonia. There is an estimated 30,000 deaths attributed to influenza yearly; between 1976 and 2006, estimates of yearly influenza-related deaths in the United States ranged from a low of about 3,000 to a high of about 49,000 people. The very young and old, pregnant women, those with underlying heart and lung disease, those with immune system disorders or diabetes are at greater risks for complications, hospitalization and death from influenza.
The best defense we have to prevent this illness is vaccination. Studies on vaccine efficacy have shown people who were vaccinated had fewer days of illness, fewer days of work lost, fewer health care provider visits, reduced use of prescription antibiotics and over-the-counter medications and a reduction in hospitalization and deaths especially in the elderly and those with chronic medical conditions. Hundreds of millions of Americans have safely received seasonal flu vaccines. The most common side effects are soreness, redness, tenderness or swelling where the flu shot was given.
Mercury based preservatives (thimerosol) are used in multi-dose influenza vaccine vials. Three leading federal agencies (Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention, Food and Drug Administration and the National Institutes of health) have reviewed the published research on thimerosal and found it to be a safe product to use in vaccines. Three independent organizations (The National Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Medicine, Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, and the American Academy of Pediatrics) reviewed the published research and have also found thimerosal to be safe in vaccines. If you remain concerned you can request a thimerosol free influenza vaccine.
My family and I get a flu vaccine every year, as do all the infectious disease specialists and their families at Fletcher Allen. The vaccine is safe and improves our chances of not getting influenza this winter.
I would encourage all interested parties to review the data summarized by the Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention at the following link: http://www.cdc.gov/flu/professionals/index.htm