THE FLU SHOT: FRIEND OR FOE?

Ronald D. Weiss, MD,

Medical Director, The Doctor is In, 6701 Bergenline Avenue

201-758-9100

www.ilovemydoctor.org

Well, the flu season is upon us again and at The Doctor is In, our pediatrics and internal medicine departments are busy answering patients questions concerning the safety and efficacy of the flu vaccine.  As usual, we are recommending that we all be vaccinated to protect us against the influenza virus which causes a serious illness doctors call influenza, and lay people call “the flu.”  

Why is it so important to be vaccinated? Well, consider this: most of us think of HIV as a serious infection and I’m sure that if a vaccine were invented to protect us from HIV, almost everyone would want one. HIV kills an estimated 25,000 Americans every year. Did you know that influenza kills 36,000 Americans every year?

1) What is the difference between symptoms of the common cold and flu?

I tell people that both the common cold and flu can have a range of symptoms such as malaise, fevers, body aches, sore throat, nasal, sinus and chest congestion, headaches, as well as gastrointestinal symptoms of nausea and vomiting, diarrhea and abdominal cramps. However, whereas the common cold usually has a limited number of these symptoms, a person who is sickened by the flu usually has a constellation of these symptoms and the symptoms are dramatically more severe and almost always marked by very high fevers, between 102.5 and 105 degrees Fahrenheit. Whereas the fever from a cold may last a few days, the high fever of the flu can last a week or more!

2) One of my friends has said to me that she developed cold symptoms from getting the flu shot. Is this possible?  

A widely held misconception is that it is possible to develop cold and flu symptoms from the flu shot itself. The flu shot contains only a “killed virus,” meaning that there is no live infectious material in the vaccine, and therefore it is impossible to get sick from it. Cold symptoms that develop immediately after getting the flu shot are due to a coincidental and simultaneous cold virus infection.

3) What are my options to protect myself from the flu?

The flu vaccine is available in both injection and nasal spray form, and it takes 3-4 weeks from the time of administration for it to offer full protection against flu. If you are allergic to eggs, you can not receive the flu vaccine in any form because the vaccine material is actually grown inside eggs. Other than getting the flu shot, other effective ways to avoid contracting flu include making sure to wash your hands, especially after shaking hands or touching surfaces commonly touched by the public, including elevator buttons, door knobs and pulls, and remember to keep your hands away from your face to avoid introducing the viral particles into the mucus membranes. Remember that getting a full night’s sleep, eating a vegetable based diet replete with antioxidants and low in protein and saturated fats, as well as adhering to a regular aerobic exercise program all significantly boost the immune system’s ability to fight of the flu as well as other cold viruses.

4) Who should get the flu vaccine? 

All children older than 6 months and all adults. Although anyone at any age can contract the flu, the very young and the aged have the worst outcomes.

5) What about mercury?

Many of the flu shots are manufactured with a mercury-containing preservative called thimerosol. Thimerosol has been in the news the past few years because there have been accusations that thimerosol might be associated with the development of autism in children, though studies have consistently shown this not to be true. If you are still concerned, you may ask for a preservative-free flu shot, or the nasal spray flu vaccine, which does not contain thimerosol.

6) What is bird flu?

The bird flu, also known as H5N1, is an extremely virulent strain of flu virus that has devastated poultry farms around the world and has crossed over into humans, where it often has a fatal outcome; so far 70 people in Asia are known to have died from the bird flu. Scientists are concerned that the H5N1 strain could combine with the human strain of flu virus and rapidly spread throughout the world, creating a pandemic similar to the devastating 1918 influenza epidemic, which killed an estimated 50-100 million people, and unlike the usual flu virus, many of the victims were vigorous young and middle aged adults. In fact, scientists recently came upon the frozen remains of Alaskan villagers who died in the epidemic; The tissues were well preserved by the Alaskan permafrost and allowed the scientists to isolate and study the virus. They found that the DNA sequences of the virulent 1918 virus were very similar to the bird flu. Our federal government is in the process of developing a vaccine which could be used in a bird flu pandemic, because the current flu vaccine would be of no use against this virulent strain.