Local and national doctors gear up for serious flu season

The ad features a wolf in sheep’s clothing, and the flu suggests more than just the harmless inconvenience animals want their viewers to believe. Amid concerns that a tough season may lie ahead, medical experts are ringing the same bells about the severity of the flu.

“With the low flu prevalence last year, people have not built up immunity to provide some degree of protection against the flu virus,” said Dr. Orgvenga Obasanjo, director of the Rappahannock Community Health District. says. “It is quite possible that the number of cases of influenza is high and that of serious illness will increase.”

Local health districts cover Fredericksburg and Caroline, King George, Spotsylvania and Stafford counties. Like the rest of the state and the country, RAHD has seen a decline in flu cases over the past two years, largely because people took steps to avoid her COVID-19, another respiratory illness. did.

Wearing a mask, avoiding crowds, and being meticulous about hand washing are things Dr. M. Stephen Mandell Jr., senior medical director at Mary Washington Healthcare, has experienced in more than 30 years of practice. created a situation that was not

“I’ve never gone two seasons without getting a serious flu,” he said. “There will be a higher risk of the population seeing it this year than last year.”

Mundell, Obasanjo, and other medical experts joined a panel in Washington to discuss what could be a serious flu season, and they all made the same recommendations.

“Vaccinate, vaccinate, vaccinate,” Mandel said.

new data A survey released last week by the National Infectious Diseases Foundation showed that less than half (49%) of American adults plan to be vaccinated. In addition, more than 1 in 5 of her people at high risk for complications said she would not get the flu vaccine.

“It’s a dangerous risk,” said Patsy Stinchfield, who moderated an NFID panel in the capital last week. She is a registered nurse with 44 years of experience. She said, “The flu is more than just a cold. In fact, the words ‘just’ and ‘flu’ shouldn’t be in the same sentence. ”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Influenza Burden But keep in mind that it can vary greatly from season to season, and flu doesn’t need to be reported to your local health department, so it’s difficult to measure.

Estimates are collected from medical visits. The CDC estimates that between 2010 and his 2020, more than 14 million people get the flu each year, 710,000 are hospitalized, and 12,000 to 52,000 die. I’m here.

It has some of the same symptoms as COVID-19. Fever and chills, cough, sore throat, body aches, fatigue and gastrointestinal problems.

Exposure to the flu usually causes symptoms to develop sooner than COVID, which can take up to 14 days to develop. People with weakened immune systems and underlying problems such as heart, lungs, or weight are more prone to both conditions, medical officials say.

However, there are some key differences between influenza and COVID-19. While COVID is hitting older people harder and causing more deaths, “when it comes to flu, the most severe consequences are seen in the very young and the very old,” said the local health district. spokesperson Alison Balmes-John said.

2018 study A study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed that children under the age of 18 are more than twice as likely to get the flu than adults over the age of 65. Known as the “aggression rate,” he is 9.3% for those under the age of 17. 8.8% among those aged 18-64. 3.9% for those aged 65 and over.

“Children are more likely to contribute to passing things on,” Mandel said, adding that older adults are more likely to catch the flu while hugging their grandchildren and then develop more serious illnesses. He added that there is

Virginia has had one flu-related death this year. Her children under the age of 5 in the central part of the state, including Richmond and surrounding areas.

“This tragic death is a reminder that influenza can be a very serious illness, especially in the very young, the elderly and those with chronic medical problems. For people it is even more so.” August.

Pregnant women are also at increased risk of flu, said Dr. Scott Walker, OB/GYN of HCA Healthcare’s Pratt Medical Group.

While simply being pregnant tends to affect a woman’s immune system, a more serious concern is that the flu can develop into pneumonia. , when you get the flu, you can have a higher rate of what Walker calls “breathing problems.”

“It restricts their breathing in the first place, and when you add pneumonia to that, it can be very worrying,” Walker said.

At the NFID panel, Dr. Tamika Auguste, OB/GYN at Medstar Washington Hospital Center, noted that influenza vaccination coverage among pregnant women nationwide has fallen from 58% to 50% in recent years.

“This is not the trend we want,” she said.

Walker believes that people who were concerned about the COVID-19 vaccine don’t have the same problem with the flu shot. Because vaccines have been around for half a century and studies have shown they are safe for future mothers and babies.

“There will always be people who don’t get the flu shot, who don’t believe it, who don’t want it,” Walker said. “But I think the majority are still following recommendations for getting the flu vaccine.”

The CDC recommends getting the flu vaccine for everyone 6 months of age and older. There are high-dose vaccines intended to provide extra protection for people over the age of 65.

For pregnant women, flu vaccination offers a two-to-one benefit because antibodies are passed on to the fetus, Dr. Auguste said.

As for twofers, health care experts recommend that people who have not received a COVID-19 bivalent booster that protects against the new Omicron strain of the virus should receive the vaccine at the same time as their annual flu shot.

“Roll up both sleeves and get vaccinated against both,” said Dr. William Schaffner, medical director of the National Infectious Diseases Foundation. “If you choose not to do so, remember to get a second dose of the vaccine. A deferred vaccine is one that unfortunately you didn’t get.”

According to the CDC, receiving both vaccines may cause patients to experience temporary discomfort in their respective arms, but there is no evidence that the COVID vaccine interferes with flu or other vaccinations.

At last week’s NFID press conference, panel members did what they preached and got both vaccines. One held up a COVID-19 vaccination record in one hand and held up a sign that said, “I will fight the flu for my family.”

Dr. Jeb Takeman, a retired pediatrician from Kentucky, used a different image. His goal was “to face the flu.”

He spoke of his healthy 29-year-old son, Brent, with no chronic health conditions, when he developed flu complications in November 2019. His father said his “classic flu symptoms” of sore throat, cough and fever had turned into trouble breathing. .

Brent Teichman’s cause of death was listed as multilobar pneumonia, meaning that both lung lobes were involved, but his father recognized the first culprit.

“Having worked as a pediatrician for over 30 years, I know when I see the flu: ‘There is a hole in our hearts that will never heal.'”

Getting a flu shot was on Brent’s to-do list that fall, but he didn’t make it. I asked to get a flu shot.

“As we all know, it’s not just the flu. It can take the lives of healthy young people and it actually took my son,” Takeman said as people around him wiped their eyes. He said, “For everyone who is hesitant to get a vaccine, do it for everyone who loves you and don’t let them walk the path that we and so many other families in America have taken.” Please be so.”