Cowles Clinic Urges Community to Vaccinate Children for Influenza
November 09, 2007 • Christopher Bassett MD
Originally printed in Lake Oconee News, 11/9/07
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Flu season is here again, and it’s time to consider having your children vaccinated to protect them from infection. Although we have flu season every year, there are many misconceptions about what the flu is and why your children should be vaccinated against it.
Flu, or influenza, is a virus that affects everyone, but it’s especially dangerous to the very young and very old. Every year, an estimated 1 in 5 children in the United States gets the flu. Most cases occur in late winter, around February. About 35,000 Americans die every year from flu, with most of those being people over 65 years of age. However, an average of 100 children die each year in the US from flu. Many of those children already have heart of lung problems, and almost all are unimmunized against flu.
Flu causes fever, sneezing, coughing, congestion, headaches, poor appetite, fatigue, and body aches and pains. These symptoms may last as long as a couple weeks in children. Some children with influenza may have mild vomiting or diarrhea, but you may be surprised to learn that influenza does not usually cause these problems. We commonly call that “stomach fluâ€, but that’s really a slang term and has nothing to do with a true “flu†infection.
The flu is very contagious, and kids can get it from droplets in the air after a sick person sneezes or coughs, or from touching contaminated surfaces (like doorknobs or shopping carts) then touching their eyes, nose or mouth. Predictably, flu infections can run rampant in daycares and schools, resulting in lots of costly school and work abscences. Sometimes schools even have to temporarily shut down due to flu epidemics.
The good news is that effective yearly flu vaccines are readily available. The vaccine has to be repeated every year, because the flu virus is not the same every year. The vaccine is custom designed every fall to cover the specific flu virus that is most likely show up that winter. We recommend a flu vaccination yearly for every child from 6 months to 5 years of age, due to their vulnerability to infection. Older children should also get the flu shot if they have any heart or lung problems (especially asthma), or any other serious long term diseases, like sickle cell disease or diabetes.
The best news of all is that the flu vaccine does not have to be given as a painful shot. Our pediatric practice at Cowles Clinic offers Flumist, which isn’t a shot at all – it’s a gentle mist that is simply sprayed into each side of your child’s nose. There are no needles involved, so there is no fear or pain for the child, no bleeding, and no danger of needle stick injuries. Flumist is about 92% effective – just as effective as the regular flu shot. It doesn’t contain any thimerisol or mercury, and serious side effects are rare. It’s available to healthy children and adults from 2 years to 49 years of age. Kids younger than 2 years, or children under 5 with the heart of lung problems mentioned above should not get this nasal spray, but rather should have the regular shot.
Because Flumist is so convenient, painless and safe, we commonly use this shot-free intranasal flu vaccine when doing “flu vaccine drives†at area schools. We’re proud to say that the schools we’ve immunized have had no serious flu outbreaks since we started these programs. Our goal is to help prevent the spread of influenza in our community, and to keep our schools open and full of healthy students. Talk to your doctor, or give our office a call if you’d like to protect your family from this year’s influenza season.