Get Flu Shots, Say Health Workers ; Advise Less Panic About Avian Virus
By LINDA A. JOHNSON, The Associated Press
TRENTON – The flu season is starting slowly in New Jersey, but with more cases in neighboring states, doctors and other health workers are urging all Jersey residents – even those in good health – to get a flu shot soon.
They also say the public should be more concerned about avoiding a virus that kills about 36,000 Americans every year than the unlikely chance bird flu now circulating in parts of Asia and Europe will become transmissible among people and spread in this country.
New Jersey’s health commissioner, Dr. Fred Jacobs, said all the reports on avian flu have left many people confused, even panicked, including some of his physician friends.
“I tell my friends, ‘Don’t worry about it. Get the regular flu shot. That you need,’-” Jacobs said, adding that he hopes interest in bird flu will boost awareness of the need for flu shots. “Flu is a dangerous disease and I think people don’t give it enough respect because it happens every year.”
Jacobs said people have plenty of opportunity to get a shot before flu season peaks. Usually that’s in February, January or December.
“It’s very important that senior citizens, high-risk people, everyone get the flu shot,” Jacobs said.
Besides the elderly and people with serious health conditions, high-risk groups now include health care workers, nursing home residents, babies aged 6 months to 23 months, pregnant women and household contacts, and caregivers for infants and the sick or elderly.
At least several flu cases have been confirmed in New Jersey.
Saint Barnabas Medical Center in Livingston has confirmed two cases, said Jonathan Rothman, director of data management for Emergency Medical Associates, which manages emergency departments and tracks illnesses among ER patients at 17 central and northern New Jersey hospitals.
“We’re not really experiencing any widespread breakout of the flu, not yet,” Rothman said, adding that this year is on a par with recent ones but that flu and other respiratory problems increase as people are pushed indoors.
Already, there are reports of sporadic flu activity in half the states, including New York and Pennsylvania, said Dr. Lawrence Budnick, director of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey’s employee health service.
“So many New Jersey residents work in those states that it’s only a matter of time until we have activity” here, said Budnick.
Two of the university’s 8,000 employees have tested positive for the flu, and a quarter have already gotten flu shots – many more than last year, he said.
In Atlantic County, public health officer Patricia Diamond said her department has inoculated about 3,000 people already this year, about normal by this time, despite having to start vaccine clinics later than usual due to a distribution delay.
“We’re seeing mostly 65 and older,” she said, but about one- third of patients have been younger.
Experts note some people avoid getting a flu shot in the mistaken belief it can cause influenza. That’s impossible, because the shot is made from killed virus particles, according to Budnick.
The shot can cause localized soreness, plus muscle aches and even a mild fever as the immune system responds, however.
FluMist, a live but weakened vaccine given by nasal spray, can cause influenza, though, according to Jacobs, the health commissioner.
That vaccine is only recommended for healthy people aged 5 to 49, and is not for pregnant women.
(SIDEBAR, page A03)
7 tips to get you through flu season
Some ways to avoid getting or spreading the flu:
*-Get an influenza vaccine and urge household members to get one.
*-Wash your hands frequently, especially after shaking hands or touching doorknobs and objects touched by others.
*-Avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth, which can infect those areas with germs.
*-Avoid close contact with others (less than 6 feet), especially when one of you is sick.
*-Cover your mouth or nose with a tissue when sneezing or coughing.
*-If you get the flu, stay home from work or school to prevent spreading it, get extra rest, drink plenty of fluids and take a fever reducer. Do not give aspirin to children with a fever because that can result in kidney or liver damage; use acetaminophen or ibuprofen instead.
*-Don’t take leftover antibiotics if you think you have the flu. They can’t stop the flu, but can cause serious side effects and contribute to the growing problem of infectious diseases being resistant to antibiotics.
Sources: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, AP interviews