What You Should Know about The Flu

'Tis the season to cough and sneeze. And before long, entire communities will be affected by influenza ("the flu"), one of the most miserable of the season's ailments.

What is Influenza?

• Cause. A respiratory virus that infects the nose, throat, and lungs causes the flu.
• Symptoms. Common symptoms are fever, cough, sore throat, body aches, headache, and fatigue. In children, vomiting and diarrhea are also common.
• Spread. It is extremely contagious, and is spread by droplets from an infected person's nose or saliva when they cough or sneeze. You can get the illness by touching something they have touched and then touching your eyes, nose, or mouth. Obviously, infection by touch is a major way kids spread the flu in daycares and schools--in addition to being directly sneezed or coughed on.

What are the complications from influenza?

• Besides being a horrible illness that will leave you feeling wrung-out for weeks, complications such as pneumonia, ear infections, and hospitalizations are common.
• Children less than 2 years of age have the highest risk of complications and hospitalizations.

How do you treat influenza?

• Supportive. For the most part, treatment is supportive: fluids, rest, anti-fever medications, and the passage of good old time.
• Antivirals. Antiviral medications are available and have been shown to shorten the course and decrease the severity of the illness. However, to be effective, these meds need to be started within 48 hours of starting with symptoms. And the antiviral meds have a number of unpleasant side effects. My son got the H1N1 illness back in 2009 and, after researching these antiviral medicines, my husband and I decided not to give the medication to our child, but to instead just let the illness run its course.

How do you prevent getting the flu?

• The vaccine. Influenza vaccination is the best way. (Hibernating in the house through flu season is not an option for most of us.)

What is the influenza vaccination?

• A vaccine given yearly. You need to get the new "edition" of the virus every year because the virus strains change over time and immunity from the vaccine wanes over the year.
• The vaccine contains versions of 3 influenza viruses that, through research on the current flu bug in the field, have been identified as the ones most likely to be circulating during this year's flu season. The 2010 and 2011 vaccines also contain protection against the H1N1 strain that caused the Swine flu pandemic in 2009.
• The vaccine is generally given in the fall to ensure that most people are vaccinated by the time the influenza bug hits their area in earnest. It can, however, be given all through flu season--with the caution that the immune system needs about 2 weeks to generate a protective defense.
• It is given via intranasal spray or by an intramuscular injection (shot). 
• Almost all children with an egg allergy can get the influenza vaccination safely; in the past, this was not thought to be the case. Talk to your child's pediatrician if your child is allergic to eggs.
• The vaccine does NOT cause the flu. The Mayo Clinic demonstrated this in a very rigorous experiment several years back. You will always find someone, however, who will tell you how they got the flu shot, and how then, the very next day, they came down with the flu. This is not what happened to them. Such people may simply have the bad luck to already be coming down with the flu or another illness.
• Typical side effects from the vaccine may include low-grade fever and fatigue within 48-72 hours after getting the vaccine. A sore arm for a day or 2 is the biggest complaint among those who get the shot.

Who should get vaccinated?

• The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that any child 6 months or older get the vaccine.
• All household members and caregivers of any child less than 6 months old (and so cannot get the vaccine)
• High-risk children--those with chronic medical conditions that include such things as asthma, diabetes, heart disease, immune conditions, or neurologic disorders.
• All household members and caregivers of these high-risk children.
• Pregnant women are at increased risk of complications if they get sick with influenza. Vaccination is the best prevention.
• Health care professionals--quite a few of whom still stubbornly refuse to get the vaccine, believe it or not!

Certainly, most children will get the flu and are miserable for a week or so, but then they do fine. The best way, however, to keep this illness from spreading to those at risk of more serious complications is to reduce illness in general by vaccinating all children. The number of school days and parent workdays lost to influenza is huge, too. Prevention is so much easier on everyone, including you!