The air is crisp, leaves are changing colors and football is back on television: all signs that fall has arrived. Another thing sure to follow the change in season is the arrival of influenza, the seasonal flu.
Flu season can begin as early as October, which is why public health officials are encouraging everyone 6 months and older to get vaccinated soon.
“Protection doesn’t kick in until two weeks after you get vaccinated, so don’t wait until flu is widely circulating before you get your shot,” said Dr. Alan Melnick, Clark County Public Health director and county health officer.
In the past couple of years, local flu activity has picked up in late November and early December. Local flu activity has been highest in late December and January, though it can peak as late as March and April, as it did a few years ago, according to county flu data.
Prevention
In addition to flu shots, Clark County Public Health says these everyday practices can reduce your chance of catching or spreading the flu:
• Cough or sneeze into your arm or cover your nose and mouth with a tissue.
• Wash your hands often with soap and water.
• If you are sick, stay home and limit your contact with others.
• Avoid close contact with sick people.
• Avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth.
To get a flu shot
• Call your health care provider or pharmacy.
• Find vaccination sites at http://vaccine.healthmap.org.
If you don’t have health insurance, low-cost flu shots are available at:
• Sea Mar Community Health Centers, 360-852-9070.
• The Free Clinic of Southwest Washington, 360-313-1390.
This flu season, vaccine manufacturers estimate they will provide between 171 million to 179 million doses of the flu shot in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Traditional flu vaccines protect against three different strains of the flu: two influenza A viruses (an H1N1 and an H3N2) and an influenza B virus. In addition, quadrivalent vaccines made to protect against four flu strains also are available. The quadrivalent vaccines protect against a second influenza B virus.
The vaccines are put together earlier in the year — around February — and are based on the strains that are circulating in other parts of the world at that time, Melnick said. So far, CDC data suggest this year’s vaccines are a good match to the viruses currently circulating, he said.
“So that’s really good news,” Melnick said.
That wasn’t the case last year. The 2014-15 flu vaccine was only 19 percent effective, meaning it reduced a person’s risk of needing medical care for flu illness by 19 percent, according to the CDC.
The problem, Melnick said, is flu viruses can mutate over time. That’s why a flu shot is needed each year, he said.
And even if the vaccine isn’t a perfect match, it’s still the best way for a person to protect himself or herself from the flu, Melnick said.
“Nothing is 100 percent,” he said, “but it does reduce your risk.”
Flu symptoms typically include fever, cough, sore throat, runny or stuffy nose, headaches, body aches, chills and fatigue.
Young children, pregnant women, people 65 and older, and people with asthma, diabetes, heart disease and other long-term conditions are at greatest risk of complications from the flu.
Even those who are typically healthy should get vaccinated, Melnick said.
“By you getting the flu vaccine, and the world of herd immunity, you help protect the most vulnerable,” he said.
Last year, Clark County had 550 lab-confirmed influenza cases and seven outbreaks in long-term care facilities. The flu isn’t a notifiable condition, and not everyone who is sick seeks medical care, so those case numbers represent only a fraction of the people sickened.
Clark County also reported five influenza-associated deaths during the 2014-15 flu season.
