|
 |
Pharmacy |
|
|
Over
10,000 products currently online...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
Weathering flu season- are your children at risk?
Julia Hull
Flu season is rapidly approaching, from November to April,
bringing unpleasant symptoms for those who get the illness.
Throughout human history, the flu has been a disease that
simply had to be weathered by those afflicted. The coughs,
chills and aches were something one just lived through, or
not. Recently, we have an option of avoiding these symptoms,
and the illness they accompany, but many of us choose to do
the same thing our ancestors did; hope it doesn't strike us,
and lay up in bed with soup and tissues if it does.
Unfortunately, for some the illness doesn't end there after
a few days, but progresses into pneumonia or meningitis. Of
the one out of five that become ill every flu season,
114,000 wind up in the hospital with complications such as
pneumonia, and 20,000 people die. Some are at greater risk
than others, including young children, people over 65, and
those with weakened immune systems. Children and the elderly
who also have weakened immune systems or other conditions
such as asthma are at even greater risk. There are around
8 million children in high risk categories, and most are not
vaccinated against the flu annually.
Although most people who catch the flu won't develop
pneumonia or meningitis, children who do develop any
complications and have to be hospitalized may be exposed to
other diseases while they are at the hospital, so it is
always a good idea to vaccinate children even if they are
not in the high risk category. This year, for the first
time the CDC is urging parents of young children to have
their children immunized, especially children between 6 months
and 2 years of age, who are just as susceptible to complications
leading to hospitalization as the elderly. For children the
symptoms of the flu can even be different from the fatigue,
chills, fever and cough that adults are familiar with; children
may wheeze, have a "barking" cough that may be confused
with croup, and stomach upset.
The flu vaccine is developed every year to protect against the
most common current strains of the virus, and will protect an
individual within a week or two of receiving the vaccine.
Although there is no danger of the vaccine actually causing
the flu, the vaccination is only around 80-90% effective for
preventing the illness, but symptoms will be milder and fewer.
Because of this, families with a child under age 2 are also
encouraged to have the whole family vaccinated so the disease
isn't spread among family members. The only people who are
advised against getting the flu vaccine are those who are
severely allergic to eggs and egg products. If you are
pregnant, also, you should check with your doctor before
being vaccinated against the flu.
For children under 9 years old being vaccinated for the first
time, the vaccine is given in two doses a month apart, so
children should receive the first dose as soon as possible
to protect against an early flu. Healthy adults can wait until
November or even December to be vaccinated.
Infants under 6 months of age can't be vaccinated, but
are at the highest risk of complications, so it is especially
important that the families of infants be vaccinated to avoid
spreading the illness to the child.
Like many adults, most children don't like shots and
needles, but the flu vaccine is usually given with a very small
thin needle, and can be one of the gentlest shots, although
there may be some soreness around the point of injection for
a few days afterwards. Compared to the benefits, the pain
involved is minimal. There should be no shortage of the
vaccine this year, and many pharmacies and clinics give out
the vaccine for a very low price in October and November, so
check with your doctor or pharmacy, and have a healthy winter!
Julia Hull is the author of Risk Evaluation Services, Inc.'s
newsletters, which help people to identify and protect
themselves from risks in their lives. For online health and
safety risk information, news, and personalized risk
evaluation reports, or to sign up for a FREE risk newsletter
subscription, visit http://www.riskevaluationservices.com
or mailto: info@... for more information.
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
