People should prepare for the more severe flu season

Last year’s flu season was very mild due to safety measures from the COVID-19 pandemic. However, with the relaxation of the pandemic protocol, it is expected that this season of influenza, RSV, and other respiratory viruses will likely return to normal or worsen than normal.

“I’m very worried,” said Dr. Michel Baron, senior medical director of infection prevention and management at UC Health last week. “It is believed that it will be the season for severe acute respiratory syndrome.”

According to Baron, RSV, a respiratory syncytial virus, is a seasonal “canary canary” indicator of respiratory infections.

“In November, we’ll see COVID again and probably a lot of flu. Last year was the mildest flu season we’ve ever had,” Baron said. “Respiratory syncytial virus is common in the fall with influenza. RSV is seen and influenza begins to be seen a few weeks later.”

Doctors are concerned that Colorado and the country have more cases of RSV than before, including two children admitted to the UCHealth Yampa Valley Medical Center in Steamboat Springs this summer.

Dr. Brian Harrington, Director of Public Health and Medical Care in Laut County, said summer hospitalization for RSV was rare and that RSV is a common respiratory virus associated with children under the age of two and is especially dangerous for premature babies. rice field. Doctors may inoculate selected high-risk or premature babies with the RSV vaccine.

“We saw a record number of RSV cases not only in Colorado, but throughout the United States,” Baron said. “It’s a little scary to think if we’re already looking at RSV. Usually we don’t see that much.”

Lauren Brian, a YVMC infection preventive doctor, said that looking at RSV cases with YVMC alone, there were two pediatric hospitalizations from July 1st to September 28th, compared to a zero-positive test for the same period in 2020. He said it consisted of seven positive tests, including.

From July 1st to September 28th, there were 1,101 positive RSV tests across the UC Health system, but three during that period last year.

“In children’s hospitals, the number of RSVs presented to the emergency department was high, and the child was hospitalized early. This was due to the increased awareness of COVID, which was the function of early RSV or the function of early testing for respiratory viruses. It could be, “says Roberta Smith. Director of Public Health, Routt County.

“The normal season for RSV is from November to April, but the typical season was interrupted during the COVID pandemic, which has led to an increase in RSV infections in spring and summer this year,” said the local. Dr. Ron Famiglietti, a longtime pediatrician, wrote: Recent health column About RSV published in Steamboat Pilot & Today.

Doctors say that flu vaccines are already in stock in clinics and pharmacies, and that locals are vaccinated against the flu at any convenient time. Both Baron and Harrington pointed out that scientific studies show that there is no benefit to waiting long until the flu season to get the annual flu vaccine. Influenza vaccination takes about two weeks for full development of antibodies and immunity.

“The bottom line is that anyone over the age of six months needs to get the flu vaccine,” Smith said. “This could prepare us for a more severe flu season, as we were not exposed to the respiratory virus because we were so protected from now on.”

According to Smith, the flu vaccine has been “trial and error” and has been in use since the late 1930s. It can be administered as needed with the same appointment as the COVID-19 vaccine and is tetravalent. That is, the vaccine stimulates an immune response against four strains of influenza.

“Vaccination is part of maintaining good health and is part of the preventive care routine that we all should receive from our healthcare providers,” said Smith, who said that influenza vaccines range from nasal drops to age-appropriate high doses. There are various options up to. No egg protein from age 65 and over.

“Vaccines are always helpful,” Harrington said, but the small sample size of patients with influenza cases during a pandemic makes it more difficult to predict the effectiveness of influenza vaccination this year.

According to Harrington, local doctors examined patients with upper respiratory tract infections in the summer, which is not a common time of the year in these cases.

According to Harrington, one of the golden rules is to stay home if you are ill.

“If you’re sick, don’t go to work, public meetings, or school. This is an important lesson we all learned through the pandemic,” says Harrington. “No matter what infection you have, it’s not good to expose others.”

To contact Suzie Romig, please call 970-871-4205 or send an email [email protected]..