Unique Flu Season Demands Heightened Response

Unfortunately, the 2009 flu season is presenting us with a double whammy.

We’re barely entering the time when the annual seasonal flu begins to strike its victims, and already the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports there are 26 states with widespread influenza.  Almost all the flu that’s being reported is the 2009 H1N1 virus.

We have two flu outbreaks to concern ourselves with this year – the regular, old-fashioned, garden variety seasonal one, and H1N1, which has been causing considerable concern in the health community since it first appeared early this year.

H1N1 was initially called the “swine flu” (and still is by some).  It was first seen in pigs through a reassortment of flu virus strains from pigs, birds and humans.

Any novel flu strain such as H1N1 is viewed with trepidation by the public health community because of the specter of 1918 global outbreak of the so-called “Spanish Flu,” which took the lives of between 20 million and 40 million individuals globally.

H1N1 seems to spread aggressively in close quarters – with schools being at the epicenter last spring and colleges bearing the brunt of the epidemic thus far in the fall.  It has not, however, mutated into a more severe or deadly virus as the year has progressed, as was feared by some health officials several months ago.

Very similarly to the 1918 flu, though, it is those who are younger who seem to be most susceptible to H1N1, less so than the elderly who usually are more predisposed to the flu.

As we head into the winter months and as the risk of flu increases, we have to be concerned about both the seasonal strain and H1N1, because getting one will not protect you from getting the other.

With the large number of vulnerable persons out there for whom H1N1 can turn quite deadly, as can the seasonal flu, it is extremely important this year that we take steps not only to protect ourselves, but to protect those who are at the greatest risk.  Many thousand of lives have been saved over the past 30-40 years because of the widespread availability of annual flu immunizations.

This year’s seasonal flu vaccine is already available.  Any day now the first shipments of the H1N1 vaccine will be arriving, and the first shipments will be made available to those whom health officials see as the most at risk:
–    Those who live with or care for children under 6 months old.
–    Health care and emergency service personnel.
–    Persons between 6 months and 24 years old.
–    Those 25 through 64 who have chronic health disorders or compromised immune systems.
–    Pregnant women.

Additional supplies will then go to everyone else, and there is not expected to be any shortage of supply.

Here in New York, the state health commissioner has mandated that health care workers in hospitals, clinics and home care receive the seasonal flu vaccine, and he has said that he will make the same mandate for H1N1 as soon as shots are available.

At Village Care, we have taken the extra step of urging all our employees, no matter where they work in our care networks, to receive both of the flu shots through our employee health division.

I believe it is the most effective way that we can protect the thousands of vulnerable individuals we serve in our AIDS and senior programs – people who rely on us for care every day.  They deserve our assurance that we’re doing everything we can to prevent the spread of flu to them.

Everyone should keep that in mind – your immunization not only protects you, it helps protect your family and loved ones, your friends and coworkers and anyone else you might come in contact with during the course of the day.
    There are other things that the CDC recommends:
–    People should stay home if they get sick, and limit contact with others.
–    If you get sick at work, go home as soon as possible.
–    Cover your nose and mouth with a tissue when you cough or sneeze and throw the used tissue in the trash.
–    Wash your hands with soap and water often, and use an alcohol-based hand rub at other times.
–    Avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth, as this spreads germs.

We all hope and pray that this upcoming flu season will be a mild one.  Because of the risks inherent in the existence of two separate strains circulating, one way of helping reduce the chances of a severe outbreak is for people to be immunized, unless there is a medical reason that would be overriding, such as an allergy to eggs.

I urge you to take the advice of public health officials and get your flu shots, for your own sake, and for your loved ones.