Flu peak may be coming

Health officials: It's not too late to get protective shot

By Bill Scanlon, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Thursday, February 14, 2008

When you bare your arm for a flu shot, and still get sick, well, that just doesn't seem fair.

People who got the shot are still coming down with the bug because the strains included in the vaccine are an imperfect match with the type of flu seen here.

And if you've escaped so far, don't get too complacent; what could be the highest peak of the flu season has yet to hit.

In the past two weeks, the number of people hospitalized with the flu and the number showing up in metro-area doctors' offices with flu-like symptoms, has spiked sharply - hospitalizations going up by a third and flu symptoms at doctors' offices doubling.

Health officials continue to implore people to get a flu shot. They insist that the four-day flu you might suffer even if you get the shot likely would have been an eight-day flu without it.

"It's still not too late to get a flu shot," Margaret Huffman, influenza services manager for the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, said Tuesday.

"If I hadn't already gotten a shot, I definitely would get the vaccine now."

Each year, Northern Hemisphere epidemiologists keep close track of the flu strains spreading in the Southern Hemisphere to decide what strains to put in the season's vaccine.

Inevitably, the strains "drift" over time, the genetic footprint changing.

'Drift' larger than usual

So, the dead viruses put into the vaccine are rarely dead-on copies of the strain that will appear in the Northern Hemisphere.

This year, the "drift" was larger than usual, Huffman said, though there wasn't the kind of striking change that would render the vaccine worthless and raise the specter of a seasonlong pandemic.

"The match is not as head-on as it has been in most previous years," Huffman said. "But it still offers moderate protection."

This flu season first peaked in late December at a higher level than that of all of last season. And cases are shooting up again, possibly on their way to a second peak that could go even higher.

The flu affects people in different ways, largely based on the stength of a person's immune system. The elderly are most at risk, as are young children, pregnant women and people with certain chronic conditions.

Colorado seniors do a great job getting the flu shots, but a lot of younger people don't feel much urgency, Huffman said.

She reminds people to wash their hands frequently, avoid putting their hands in contact with their eyes or mouth, and to block any sneezes with a sleeve or tissue, not with a bare hand.

scanlon@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-2897

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* For information on flu shots go to immunizecolorado.com.