Dr. John Tucker of Smoky Mountain Urgent Care in Robbinsville recently confirmed that the flu virus is already active in Graham County.
In fact, he saw the first influenza cases of the season in early September, indicating the earliest start of the flu season that Tucker has seen in his long career.
Unfortunately, a long flu season is often a severe flu season, a phenomenon recently experienced in Australia. The continent just suffered a particularly severe flu season, which might foretell a repeat of the record-breaking 2017-18 season in the U.S.
“Sometimes Australia is predictive and sometimes it’s not, but the best move is to get the vaccine right now,” said Dr. Daniel B. Jernigan, director of the influenza division of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “2017-18 was just a horrible season. It was just a tremendous amount of disease.”
The longest flu season in many years, the 2017-18 season broke records, with 900,000 Americans hospitalized. Nearly 80,000 Americans died after contracting the flu that season and 180 of those victims were children. The previous modern-day record for flu deaths was 56,000.
With confirmed cases of flu in our county, the time to vaccinate is now. The CDC normally recommends flu vaccination in October, so that immunity will be strongest during the height of flu season. Getting the shot by the end of October is ideal, but being vaccinated at any time during flu season can prove helpful.
The CDC recommends that “everyone six months of age and older should get a flu vaccine every season. The flu vaccine can reduce flu illnesses, doctors’ visits, and missed work and school due to flu, as well as prevent flu-related hospitalizations. The vaccine is proven to be life-saving in children.”
According to Graham County Department of Public Health Director Beth Booth, “The flu shot reduces the severity of symptoms and can protect you from catching the flu, but it’s not a 100 percent guarantee, as the flu shot is a projection of the coming flu season. However, the shot lessens the severity.
“The vaccine is strongly recommended for anyone on chemo, for children, the elderly, and anyone with a compromised immune system, such as COPD or other lung disease.”
No vaccine is 100 percent effective, but this year’s flu shot is predicted to protect against three of the four strains of flu, with an overall effectiveness of 50-60 percent.
While the vaccine is the most effective means of avoiding the flu, the CDC also recommends washing hands thoroughly and often, using hand-sanitizer, avoiding touching eyes, nose, and mouth as much as possible, and avoiding crowds in order to avoid contracting the virus. No over-the-counter flu-preventative has been proven effective.
As the Mayo Clinic advises, “Getting an influenza vaccine – though not 100 percent effective – is the best way to prevent the misery of the flu and its complications.”