Fend Off the Flu

by Molly M. Ginty

An eight–year–old boy in St. Paul, Minnesota.

A 16–year–old girl in Williamson County, Texas.

An 85–year–old businessman in Toledo, Ohio.

Last year, all three died of flu complications — a fate that can be avoided by getting a flu shot.

November marks the start of influenza season and the arrival of the flu virus that sends 200,000 Americans to the hospital and kills 36,000 each year.

"To stay healthy, adults and children should both get vaccinated now," says Dr. Katherine Poehling, an assistant professor of medicine at Wake Forest University.

Affecting 5 to 20 percent of us each winter, the flu virus can be tough to fend off without vaccination, as it’s transmitted via droplets released whenever an infected person coughs, speaks, or even breathes. A single sneeze from a stranger is all it takes for the virus to enter your body and attack your nose, throat, airways, and lungs, triggering congestion, chills, coughing, headache, fatigue, fever, muscle aches, and digestive problems that can include loss of appetite, diarrhea, and vomiting.

Bed rest and fluid intake are usually enough to vanquish such symptoms. Chicken soup or other hot drinks can help relieve congestion. Over–the–counter pain relievers can ease headaches and muscle aches. Prescription antiviral drugs such as Tamiflu or Relenza, taken within two days of symptoms’ appearance, can diminish the flu’s length by two days.

For some people, however, these remedies may not be enough. Pregnant women, children under five, adults over 50, health care workers, people in regular contact with children, and people with chronic diseases such as asthma, diabetes, or heart disease are especially likely to develop secondary flu complications such as bronchitis or pneumonia.

Because flu complications can kill, authorities suggest that everyone in these high-risk groups get vaccinated in the late fall so their immune systems have time to develop antibodies that will protect them when influenza season peaks from December through March. They can either get the annual shot or FluMist, vaccine in the form of a nasal spray.

"If possible, you should get vaccinated even if you’re not in a high-risk group," says Dr. William Schaffner, chair of the department of preventive medicine at Vanderbilt University. "Neither shots nor FluMist are recommended for babies under 6 months, on whom they have not been thoroughly tested. FluMist shouldn’t be used by pregnant women or people with compromised immunity because it contains live but weakened viruses," he said. "Otherwise, these vaccines are safe. The virus in the shot is not active. It’s a piece of the virus, dead and broken up, so you can’t get infected from it. That you can is just an urban myth."

Vaccines are your best bet for fending off the flu. Shots can be 90 percent effective, and FluMist can be 60 percent so. Good health habits can also boost your odds. In addition to getting vaccinated, you should be careful during flu season to eat well, sleep soundly, and get regular exercise, which strengthens your immune system. To prevent the spread of germs, use hand sanitizer and wash your hands frequently, scrubbing with soap for at least 15 seconds. Shunning crowds and minimizing travel can also help. Last year, a Harvard study found that the holiday airline travel season that begins at Thanksgiving each year may be the central event that determines how rapidly the flu spreads.

How could flying give you the flu? Because influenza, like a seasoned traveler, gets around. Lurking in different forms in different parts of the globe, the flu comes in three basic strains with many subtypes: A (responsible for large pandemics), B (triggering smaller outbreaks), and C (which is less common, less mutable, and more mild). When you’re infected by one subtype, your immune system develops antibodies that will fight that particular strain in the future. But travelers come into contact with different brands of flu, which is why researchers work to develop new flu vaccines each year.

In 1918, an A–strain "Spanish flu" swept the planet and claimed 20 million lives. Scientists theorize that if a flu pandemic as severe were to strike again, it would kill 62 million people — 90 percent of them in developing countries where poor nutrition means that many people don’t get the vitamin A and zinc necessary for healthy immune function. Like the avian flu viruses now circulating in Asia, the 1918 virus was a bird flu that jumped directly from birds to humans and was especially resistant to treatment.

Last year, scientists from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention discovered that recent flu strains have developed mutations that make them more difficult for our bodies to fend off. Researchers analyzed 7,000 flu virus samples from around the globe and found that 12.3 percent of samples collected in 2004 were resistant to older flu drugs, compared to 0.4 percent that were drug–resistant in 1994.

The good news is that flu viruses worldwide can still be stopped with newer drugs such as Tamiflu and Relenza, which the U.S. government is stockpiling. We now have medical interventions not available a century ago, such as ventilators that help flu victims breathe and antibiotics that treat pneumonia. "Scientists have even developed a vaccine for bird flu," says Schaffner, "and they’re stocking up on it to help contain a possible outbreak."

Molly M. Ginty lives in New York. Her work has appeared in Ms., Marie Claire, Redbook, and Women’s eNews.

Article published in Lutheran Woman Today, November 2007