Home » News » Health
September 30. 2012 11:46PM
Time for flu shots; first New Hampshire case reported
CONCORD — The state Department of Public Health warns that we’re slowly but inexorably trekking toward influenza season.
Already the first case of the flu has been confirmed by the agency’s public health lab. Its arrival was termed “slightly earlier than usual.”
“You kind of think of it as running from October to May,” Deputy State Epidemiologist Dr. Jodie Dionne-Odom said of flu season.
It’s time for flu shots. Even if you had one last year, a new shot is advised because this year’s flu is not the same as last year’s flu.
“The virus itself has the ability to mutate very easily,” Dionne-Odom said. “The flu we have one winter is almost always different a year later.”
Experts from the federal Centers for Disease Control work with agencies in other countries to decide just what types of flu are the biggest threat each year. For the 2012-13 season, the recipe includes the A/California, A/Victoria and B/Wisconsin viruses.
The date of the first diagnosis can sometimes provide a clue as to how bad a flu season is ahead.
“When we had the pandemic influenza in 2009, we were seeing cases in July. That was very unusual,” Dionne-Odom said.
In 2009, cases of flu, as measured by reported reasons for visits to doctors’ offices, peaked late in the year.
Cases of the flu typically peak in mid-February. But health officials say the best way to control an outbreak is through widespread inoculation. The official guidelines recommend an annual flu shot for children 6 months to 19 years, pregnant women and people older than 50.
Immunization shots use killed viruses, and there is no risk of catching the flu from a shot.
The inoculations come in different forms. There is the traditional intramuscular shot, usually given in the upper arm, which is recommended for anyone who gets a flu shot.
People 2 to 49 years old who are not pregnant can receive a dose by nasal spray. There is also a version given under the skin, which carries a higher risk of infection at the point of administration.
According to public health officials, the only people who should not get a shot are people who have had a severe allergic reaction to a prior vaccine and who went to the emergency room, those with a severe egg allergy or people with certain illnesses.
In every flu season, many people fear that some sort of animal-related flu will take hold, such as swine flu or one of the strains that moves to humans from birds.
However, Dionne-Odom said that is not expected to be a problem this year.
“It does not appear that there is a brand-new swine flu coming out this year,” she said. “The flu varieties this year are similar in variety (to what) we had last year.”
But the flu varies considerably from year to year because the virus mutates as the flu season sweeps from the northern to southern hemisphere, she said. That’s why the annual shot is recommended.
People with the flu can infect others from a period roughly 24 hours before the first symptoms appear to a day after the fever breaks. The virus can also be spread by people who themselves never come down with the disease, usually due to a strong immune system.
The biggest risk of flu is in people with a compromised immune system, the elderly, babies, people on steroids and people with lung disease, public health officials said.
“The immunization takes two weeks to have its effect,” Dionne-Odom said. “Get it now before it’s too late.”
wsmith@unionleader.com
Already the first case of the flu has been confirmed by the agency’s public health lab. Its arrival was termed “slightly earlier than usual.”
“You kind of think of it as running from October to May,” Deputy State Epidemiologist Dr. Jodie Dionne-Odom said of flu season.
It’s time for flu shots. Even if you had one last year, a new shot is advised because this year’s flu is not the same as last year’s flu.
“The virus itself has the ability to mutate very easily,” Dionne-Odom said. “The flu we have one winter is almost always different a year later.”
Experts from the federal Centers for Disease Control work with agencies in other countries to decide just what types of flu are the biggest threat each year. For the 2012-13 season, the recipe includes the A/California, A/Victoria and B/Wisconsin viruses.
The date of the first diagnosis can sometimes provide a clue as to how bad a flu season is ahead.
“When we had the pandemic influenza in 2009, we were seeing cases in July. That was very unusual,” Dionne-Odom said.
In 2009, cases of flu, as measured by reported reasons for visits to doctors’ offices, peaked late in the year.
Cases of the flu typically peak in mid-February. But health officials say the best way to control an outbreak is through widespread inoculation. The official guidelines recommend an annual flu shot for children 6 months to 19 years, pregnant women and people older than 50.
Immunization shots use killed viruses, and there is no risk of catching the flu from a shot.
The inoculations come in different forms. There is the traditional intramuscular shot, usually given in the upper arm, which is recommended for anyone who gets a flu shot.
People 2 to 49 years old who are not pregnant can receive a dose by nasal spray. There is also a version given under the skin, which carries a higher risk of infection at the point of administration.
According to public health officials, the only people who should not get a shot are people who have had a severe allergic reaction to a prior vaccine and who went to the emergency room, those with a severe egg allergy or people with certain illnesses.
In every flu season, many people fear that some sort of animal-related flu will take hold, such as swine flu or one of the strains that moves to humans from birds.
However, Dionne-Odom said that is not expected to be a problem this year.
“It does not appear that there is a brand-new swine flu coming out this year,” she said. “The flu varieties this year are similar in variety (to what) we had last year.”
But the flu varies considerably from year to year because the virus mutates as the flu season sweeps from the northern to southern hemisphere, she said. That’s why the annual shot is recommended.
People with the flu can infect others from a period roughly 24 hours before the first symptoms appear to a day after the fever breaks. The virus can also be spread by people who themselves never come down with the disease, usually due to a strong immune system.
The biggest risk of flu is in people with a compromised immune system, the elderly, babies, people on steroids and people with lung disease, public health officials said.
“The immunization takes two weeks to have its effect,” Dionne-Odom said. “Get it now before it’s too late.”
wsmith@unionleader.com
