The numbers behind this winter's influenza epidemic can look really scary.
It's sickened thousands and killed at least 27 in Minnesota alone, including a 14-year old St. Louis Park high schooler who was first hospitalized on Christmas Day. To top it off, the flu strains being passed around this year are spreading even further and faster than in most years. All together, it can make you worry that the next person to sneeze on you at the grocery store could give you the bug.
It's the kind of worry that leaves you asking questions. How contagious is influenza? What can you do to steel yourself against the virus? How does a flu shot or an immune-boosting substance even work?
To answer all your queries, Patch has asked a team of experts to weigh in:
- Dr. Jane Kilian, a general practicioner at Roseville's Entira Family Clinic
- Michael Egan, a specialist in traditional Chinese medicine and owner of Performance Acupuncture in Minneapolis
- Christine Austin-Roehler, M.S., an Emergency Preparedness and Health Promotion Coordinator for Wright County Public Health. She is the agency Pubic Information Officer for public health emergencies and has worked with public health for more than 20 years.
- Catherine Main, a public health nurse for Wright County Human Services Public Health Department. Her primary role is disease prevention and control, currently focusing on prevention and control of influenza, tuberculosis and pertussis (whooping cough).
They will be on hand this week to share their expertise, so ask away!
(Note: The experts may not weigh in until late Tuesday morning. Post your questions and they will get to them as soon as they can.)
No one in our family has ever received a flu shot. Nor will they. In fact we stopped getting vaccinations for anything years ago. The risks are not worth the perceived benefits. Most of those that die from the flu are old people with compromised immune systems. Getting the flu, for most people, is probably better than getting the vaccine. http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2012/09/18/flu-shot-increases-flu-illness.aspx
The flu shot is not perfect; the influenza virus is particularly prone to mutating, so each year we get a different strain of the flu (which is why you need to be vaccinated every year and why in some years we get it wrong and produce a vaccine against the wrong strain; a vaccine against one strain will not work against another strain), and some people who have had the vaccine will have incomplete immunity and will still get sick. However, those who had the vaccine and get sick will, in general, get less sick than those who have not had the vaccine. It is important to remember: INFLUENZA IS A DANGEROUS ILLNESS WHICH CAN BE DEADLY, EVEN FOR OTHERWISE YOUNG, HEALTHY INDIVIDUALS. People do not, as a rule, die from influenza, but they do die from complications of influenza, including bacterial infections. If you get sick again soon after apparently recovering from the flu, you need to see a doctor ASAP because you could have a deadly bacterial infection. Of course hand hygiene is crucial to preventing the spread of flu, as is using tissues, covering coughs and sneezes and avoiding people who are sick. However, not getting the flu shot is just plain foolhardy, and no, the shot is definitely NOT more dangerous than the disease itself.
Flu vaccines have been in use since 1945.
Christine with Wright County Public Health
http://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/viruses/change.htm
Michael *Chinese herbal materia medica, Dan Bensky&Andrew Gamble, 1986 eastland press
I'll take my chances. You should know by now, if the government advocates for it, I'm probably against it. :o)
Christine with Wright County Public Health
Here are some foods that boost immunity: Mushrooms (reishi or ling zhi): increase the production of cytokines that may help fight off infection. Ginger, fresh ( sheng jiang): contain sesquiterpenes that may fight viruses and build immunity. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23295981 Aged garlic: boosts immunity and can help fight colds and flu http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22280901 Astragalus (huang qi): In Chinese medicine this herbs "tonifies qi" and may help in immunity http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22695229
So it's not easily treatable in a hospital?
Flu symptoms include: •A 100oF or higher fever or feeling feverish (not everyone with the flu has a fever) •A cough and/or sore throat •A runny or stuffy nose •Headaches and/or body aches •Chills •Fatigue What are the symptoms of the flu? http://www.flu.gov/symptoms-treatment/symptoms/index.html#
http://www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly/
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