A no-nonsense approach to swine flu

In times of medical uncertainty or potential epidemic conditions there are always fair amounts of misinformation and uninformed speculation that leads to fear and mistaken judgment. If you have heard that the swine flu vaccination is being produced in China or that the vaccine will give you meningitis or cause your children to have autism you may be in danger of making an important decision without knowing the facts.

My advice is to base your health care decisions on information from a doctor that you trust or go to the Center of Disease Control Web site at www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/vaccination/public and read the advice that the real experts in the field have for you.

I will attempt to summarize some of the most up-to-date research to help you make a good decision.

First, what is 2009 H1N1, (swine flu)? This is a new virus to most of us. That means that most of us have no existing immunity to the virus. Because of this, a larger percentage of us will contract the flu when exposed to the virus. When most of us have immunity to a virus very few actually become infected when exposed.

Since the virus needs to pass from person to person that makes it hard for the infection to spread. That's called "herd immunity."

When nearly everybody is at risk for an infection, the infection has no problem finding its way from one person to another and the illness spreads to many people very rapidly.

The illness caused by the swine flu is not much different in severity than that of our yearly seasonal flu and great majority of people who contract swine flu will have a relatively mild illness.

The flu does however weaken your resistance and immunity to other infectious diseases, and that is the problem. With so many people sick at the same time, more serious problems such as bronchitis and pneumonia are also passed on much more readily. Those problems combined with the flu can be much more serious. I don't mean to down play the potential of the flu. The yearly seasonal flu in this country is responsible for approximately 36,000 deaths and 200,000 hospitalizations with 20,000 of those in children younger than 5.

That figure may well be much worse depending on the extent of the swine flu penetration this year.

What can we do to protect ourselves from the consequences of the flu? First, don't let anybody dissuade you from getting all the protection you can. Your chances of serious adverse reactions to the flu shot are 1 in 100,000. If you are part of the immune herd, you not only protect yourself from potentially serious illness but help keep the infection from spreading to others in the community.

There are some people in the community who are in a high-risk group and should definitely receive the protection of immunization. They are:

People 65 years and older

children younger than 5 years old

pregnant women, and

people of any age with serious chronic medical conditions such as

asthma, diabetes, suppressed immune systems, heart disease, kidney

disease, neurocognitive and neuromuscular disorders and pregnancy.

Next take commonsense precautions. If you are sick, stay home and keep your children home. If you are sick and don't have the swine flu your illness lowers your immune defenses and makes it easier to not only get the flu but a more serious level of the flu. Stay home.

This virus spreads mainly through the air on a cough or a sneeze. It is very much less likely to spread by touch but can if you contact the virus and touch your mouth and nose. Take basic precautions against getting infections.

These include:

Cover your nose and mouth with a tissue when you cough or sneeze.

Throw the tissue in the trash after you use it.

Wash your hands often with soap and water, especially after you cough or sneeze. Alcohol-based hand cleaners are also effective.

Avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth. Germs spread this way.

Try to avoid close contact with sick people.

If you are sick with flu-like illness, CDC recommends that you stay home for at least 24 hours after your fever is gone except to get medical care or for other necessities. (Your fever should be gone without the use of a fever-reducing medicine.) Keep away from others as much as possible to keep from making others sick.

How do you know if you have the flu and need medical help? Here are some symptoms to look for:

In children, emergency warning signs that need urgent medical

attention include:

Fast breathing or trouble breathing

Bluish or gray skin color

Not drinking enough fluids

Severe or persistent vomiting

Not waking up or not interacting

Being so irritable that the child does not want to be held

Flu-like symptoms improve but then return with fever and worse cough

In adults, emergency warning signs that need urgent medical attention

include:

Difficulty breathing or shortness of breath

Pain or pressure in the chest or abdomen

Sudden dizziness

Confusion

Severe or persistent vomiting

Flu-like symptoms improve but then return with fever and worse cough

How to you tell if you have the swine flu and not just the seasonal flu. That takes some special testing and in the bottom line makes very little difference. Both kinds of flu can make you sick, set you up for more serious illnesses and spread infection to others. The best course is to see to your defense by getting your immunizations, practicing good hygiene, stay home with mild symptoms and see your doctor with more serious symptoms. Lets all work together to see that this influenza season passes us by and leaves our community happy and healthy.

David H. Johnson is Douglas County public health officer.