CDC's National Influenza Campaign: Flu Activity Still High

Flu activity is still high across the country and CDC wants to make sure people know the importance of getting vaccinated and caring for yourself and loved ones who are sick. CDC recommends “take 3 actions” to fight the flu – get vaccinated, take every day preventative actions to stop the spread of germs (avoid sick people, stay home when you’re sick, cover your nose and mouth and wash your hands), and take antiviral drugs if your doctor prescribes them.

·         CDC recommends a yearly flu vaccine as the first and most important step in protecting against flu.

·         U.S. flu season continues; influenza-like-illness has fallen in the East and risen sharply in the West.

·         The timing of flu is very unpredictable and can vary from season to season. Flu activity most commonly peaks in the United States in January or February. However, seasonal flu activity can begin as early as October and continue to occur as late as May.

·         Symptoms of the flu may include fever, cough, sore throat, runny nose, body aches, headaches, and fatigue.

·         For information on weekly flu activity, please visit http://www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly/fluactivitysurv.htm

·         People seeking vaccination may need to call more than one provider to locate vaccine at this time. The flu vaccine finder at http://flushot.healthmap.org/ may be helpful.

·         Antiviral treatment can avert serious outcomes and should begin as quickly as possible in high risk persons, including people 65 and older, young children, pregnant women, and people with certain underlying conditions like asthma, heart disease, diabetes and neurological disorders.

·         While antiviral drugs work best when given within 48 hours of symptom onset, observational studies have shown that giving antivirals 48 or more hours after symptom onset can still prevent serious flu-related outcomes.

-- From CDC Message to Readers About 2012-2013 Flu

Flu Vaccine or Fired

As hospital healthcare professionals, we stand at the frontline of patient care of very sick patients.  Our patients include those with cancer struggling with an infection, patients on the ventilator with sepsis and the list goes on.  Where does personal liberty end and responsibility to our patients begin? Eight employees were just fired from Indiana University Health Goshen Hospital in Goshen, Indiana for refusing the flu vaccine.

“As a hospital and health system, our top priority is and should be patient safety, and we know that hospitalized people with compromised immune systems are at a greater risk for illness and death from the flu,” explained hospital spokeswoman Melanie McDonald to the Elkhart Truth. “The flu has the highest death rate of any vaccine preventable disease, and it would be irresponsible from our perspective for health care providers to ignore that.”

Amen and amen.

First do no harm reminds the health care providers that they must consider the possible harm that any intervention might do. It is invoked when debating the use of an intervention that carries an obvious risk of harm but a less certain chance of benefit.

What about the harm of possibly transmitting the flu virus to a patient?  Yes, there is an argument that the flu vaccine doesn't always cover every strand of flu of the current year, but even in my case this year I was the one in my home that did NOT get the flu.  My husband and son were not vaccinated and they tested positive for Influenza A.  I know it's not always effective, but this year the going percentage I am hearing is 60% effective.  That is significant.

Among those who do have symptoms when they get flu, they may be shedding the virus up to 24 hours before the onset of symptoms.

American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) became the latest organization to issue a policy promoting mandatory immunization against influenza for health care workers, with exemptions for health reasons. In July and August, the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) toughened its policy on flu vaccination for health care workers by removing an exemption for religious reasons and specifying that annual vaccination should be a condition of employment in health care settings and/or a requirement to receive professional privileges. The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America adopted a similar policy. In November 2009, the National Patient Safety Foundation had voiced its support for mandatory vaccination of health care workers.

My stance?  If you refuse the flu vaccine and work in a hospital, find another job.  You are putting your patients at risk.  Egg allergy?  Read this.

Flu Arrives Early This Year: Just in Time for the Holidays!

Ever seen the flu map?  It is pretty neat.  So is Google's Flu Trends.  Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee and Texas are seeing the most flu activity, the level of influenza activity in Georgia is picking up, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Flu season typically peaks in January; however this year the flu is making an earlier start thus logically giving the possibility of an earlier peak.  I am hoping my flu shot will keep this nasty virus away!

I love what this doctor says:

“This year’s vaccine appears to be right on target with the circulating virus,” said Dr. William Schaffner, chair of preventive medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tenn. “Treat it as a holiday gift to yourself and everyone around you. Don’t be a Grinch by spreading the flu.”

The CDC Director says:

“We’re seeing the beginning of the uptick start at least a month before we’d generally see it,” said the CDC director, Dr. Thomas Frieden. “It looks like it’s shaping up to be a bad flu season.”

And last a great article:  12 Flu Myths Debunked

the h1n1 vaccine is almost here

According to CNN, it looks like the H1N1 vaccine is almost here!  Yippee!  Seriously though, I have seen personally a sharp rise in flu admissions to the hospitals I work for and find it quite scary my current patient is a lady in her second trimester with possible H1N1.  It's not that I am personally scared of H1N1.  I've personally never had the flu, I don't believe... there's one time where I may have had the flu but it's sketchy.  College life, you know. But, the very young and the very old at risk.  Seems to me the obese have a worse case as well.

Here's a chart that I've been following to follow outbreaks.  I hope you find it useful.