Flu Season Ramping Up, So Get Vaccinated

TUESDAY, Oct. 23, 2018 (HealthDay News) — With flu season imminent, U.S. health officers urge everybody 6 months and older to get a flu shot.

Already, one unvaccinated baby in Florida has died from flu, the officers warned.

Not many instances have been reported to date, so it is too quickly to know if this 12 months’s strains will likely be as extreme as final season’s, stated Lynnette Brammer, of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“The states which have reported to us have minimal influenza exercise,” stated Brammer, head of the CDC’s home influenza surveillance. “The viruses we’re seeing are a blended bag. We have H1N1 and H3N2 influenza A strains, and two influenza B strains have been detected.”

Flu seasons aren’t predictable, which is why you should not skip your annual flu shot, added one other infectious-disease knowledgeable, Dr. Lisa Maragakis.

The delicate flu season within the Southern Hemisphere, which is simply winding down, supplies clues to what this 12 months’s flu season would possibly appear like, defined Maragakis, senior director of an infection prevention at Johns Hopkins Health System in Baltimore.

“It’s cautiously good news that it might be a milder season than we saw last year — so fingers crossed,” stated Maragakis.

Still, even when exercise general is low, folks nonetheless get influenza, Brammer stated. “And influenza can have really tragic consequences. Even people that are healthy and young can get influenza and it can, in rare cases, lead to death,” she added.

Last 12 months, 80,000 folks within the United States died from flu — a report excessive, Brammer stated. The deaths included 183 kids, most of whom had been unvaccinated.

Because final 12 months’s vaccine wasn’t an excellent match to the predominant H3N2 virus, the vaccine has been tweaked, Brammer stated.

This 12 months’s four-strain vaccine consists of H1N1 and H3N2 plus the 2 influenza B strains. The three-strain vaccine has only one B pressure, Brammer stated.

Who is most in danger?

It’s crucial that moms of kids beneath 6 months get vaccinated, as a result of their infants cannot, Brammer stated.

Others at highest threat for flu problems, significantly pneumonia, are younger kids, older folks and people with continual medical circumstances, she stated.