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Influenza activity remains low, but after a particularly severe flu season last year and the 100th anniversary of the Spanish flu pandemic this year, many health professionals and organizations are pushing patients to get vaccinated.
Diane McGowan relives the story of her son Martin "every year".
Whenever she hears another child dying of the flu, it breaks her heart again.
"(I wonder) why, what happened, why were not they vaccinated, who did not we have access to?
McGowan and his family started the MARTIN Foundation against the virus – it means everyone can get their flu shot now – in memory of his son after he died of the flu in 2005. Through this foundation, they work to provide information on misconceptions about the virus and the virus. importance of getting vaccinated.
And after a particularly severe flu season last year, as well as the 100th anniversary of the Spanish flu pandemic this year, many health professionals and organizations are also stressing its importance.
Martin was not vaccinated and it was the first time he had caught the flu.
He was 15 years old and was healthy and active. He was not feeling well on the morning of February 8, 2005, but he was not going to miss the tryouts for the high school baseball team that night. He was exhausted when he returned home and complained of having a sore leg. During the night, his condition deteriorated.
McGowan took him to the emergency department of a hospital near their home in Nazareth, County of Northampton. The doctors evaluated him, gave him intravenous solutions and had him tested for the flu. The results were positive.
The virus quickly spread through this rigorous activity and began to attack his muscles, McGowan explained to a room filled with health professionals at a training session held Wednesday by the Bucks County Immunization Coalition. Martin has developed a dangerous leg condition, such as in patients who experience trauma such as car accidents.
The doctors operated on an emergency but he died less than 24 hours after the onset of his first symptoms.
"I thought, if only I had known that I was taking the ultimate risk of not protecting my children from this unobtrusive killer," McGowan said. "Why did not one of you slap me and tell me:" Hey, do you know your children are at risk of dying of the flu? " # 39; I did not know.
Last year, the flu season recorded record hospitalization rates and deaths reaching epidemic proportions, according to the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention. The season was long, the vaccination rates lower and the vaccine less effective because the virus mutated after the start of manufacturing.
More than 80,000 people died, including nearly 180 children. Since the beginning of the national reports in 2004, only the swine flu pandemic in 2009 has been worsened, with nearly double the number of dead children.
This year, the CDC recommends that all children 6 months of age and older be vaccinated against influenza, and health professionals and organizations strive to do so.
Even the Pennsylvania Licensed Beverage Association encourages taverns and restaurants in the state to ensure that employees get vaccinated.
"No tavern owner or restaurant wants to see their employees at home sick or even worse at the hospital," said Chuck Moran, executive director of the association. "You certainly do not want them to work while being in bad weather, and lack of staff can have a negative impact on business. There is simply too much risk of spreading the flu to other staff members or clients. "
Dr. Jeffrey Jahre, Senior Vice President of Medical and Academic Affairs and Head Emeritus of Infectious Diseases within the St. Luke University Health Network, said that efforts were partly at the foundation of the 39 last year and the fact that vaccine stocks were available early and in larger quantities. this year.
Until now, St. Luke's has found that only one case of influenza in an outpatient center in New Jersey, Jahre said, but the overall activity of influenza in the state is still weak, according to data from the New Jersey Department of Health.
Pennsylvania data was not available at the time of publication, but Jahre said that there was not much activity here. Some other states, however, have seen some cases.
"It's not unusual for cases to begin to disperse and that's what we're seeing," he said.
Now, before the start of flu activity and / or before the end of October, it's time to get vaccinated, according to the CDC. It takes about two weeks for the body to develop immunity.
The flu season officially began on October 1, but Jahre said it usually peaks between December and February. There's no way to know how severe the flu season is – many factors can affect it – but prevention is the best option, Jahre said.
"It's very, very difficult to convince people to take preventive measures for something they have never known," said Jahre.
He hopes more people will get the vaccine after last year.
"Every preventable death is a tragedy and our experience was … was that more than half of the people who eventually died of flu did not have the vaccine," he said. "The worst tragedies we've had last year, many involving young people, are people who have not been vaccinated."
Dr. John Russel, director of the family medicine residency program at Abington Hospital – Jefferson Health and clinical professor at Jefferson University, however, has many misconceptions about the flu and the vaccine.
Russel, a self-proclaimed "vaccine nerd," said that one of the main goals is that people can get the flu through the vaccine. It can cause pain, he said, but the vaccine against tetanus, diphtheria and whooping cough, or Tdap, does the same.
"Does anyone think they have tetanus?" He asked when forming the coalition for immunization on Wednesday. "No. But everyone thinks that if they feel a little sick, they have the flu.
Jahre said some people do not realize that the flu shot changes every year. Researchers have been working on a universal vaccine, he said, but it is still far away.
"So, get the vaccine every year," he said.
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