What is flu?<\/p>\n
Influenza is a highly contagious virus infection affecting the respiratory system. There is the more usual Seasonal Flu against which a vaccine is now available and the Novel H1N1 or Swine Flu against which a vaccine will be available<\/p>\n
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Symptoms begin after an incubation period of one to four days and include:<\/p>\n
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Symptoms often continue for about a week unless there are complications, in which case new symptoms may commence in the second week.<\/p>\n
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Flu viruses are transmitted by coughing and sneezing.\u00a0 Droplets expelled from the mouth and nose can circulate in the atmosphere and reach the respiratory passages of other people.\u00a0 Transmission may also occur through skin contact, particularly through shaking hands as the viruses are even transmitted to the hands when covering the nose and mouth when coughing and sneezing.\u00a0 Since the virus can live for a short period on the skin, frequent washing of the hands is an important preventative measure.<\/p>\n
There are three main types of influenza virus, called A, B, and C, although it is usually the type A virus that causes the worst epidemics.\u00a0 Type C is mild to the extent that it is indistinguishable from a common cold.\u00a0 Type A flu is usually more debilitating than type B. The H1N1 is a Type A as are most seasonal Flu\u2019s against which there is a vaccine.<\/p>\n
Secondary infection with bacterial organisms such as Streptococcus pneumoniae, Haemophilus influenzae and Staphylococcus aureus can often cause middle ear infections and pneumonia.\u00a0 In vulnerable people death from haemorrhage within the lungs or septicaemia may usually occur.<\/p>\n
Living the life of a hermit would protect you, although being out of social contact for any length of time would reduce immunity to very low levels.\u00a0 In practice, keeping clear of people who are coughing and sneezing, and washing hands thoroughly can help. Use of alcohol hand rubs is also very valuable. Where available though immunisation offers the best chance.<\/p>\n
For typical symptoms, the influenza sufferer should rest in bed in a warm well-ventilated room.\u00a0 Painkillers such as Paracetamol and Aspirin (not for children under 12) can relieve aches and pains and reduce fever.\u00a0 Plenty of fluids prevent dehydration and steam inhalations can have a soothing effect on the lungs.\u00a0 Anyone in the \u2018at risk\u2019 categories should contact their doctor as soon as symptoms develop also anyone else who develops complication should do likewise.\u00a0 Anti viral drugs\u00a0 e.g Tamiflu are effective if given in the first 48 hour but are usually reserved for severe cases or those in risk groups<\/p>\n
Immunisation against influenza is effective and safe.\u00a0 The World Health Organisation recommends the vaccine strains by predicting those viruses most likely to cause outbreaks in any given year.\u00a0 UK studies show the vaccine reduces complications, cuts hospital admissions by up to 60% and mortality by about 40%, compared with matched controls.<\/p>\n
The vaccine causes the body to produce antibodies against the virus.\u00a0 This means that when the body is exposed to the live influenza virus, it is able to defend itself.\u00a0 The antibodies neutralise the attacking virus.\u00a0 You cannot catch influenza from Influvac as it only contains pieces of the virus and not the whole live virus.<\/p>\n
Your body takes 10-21 days to produce antibodies after vaccination. The incubation period for influenza is a few days so if you are exposed to influenza immediately before and after the vaccination you could still develop the illness.\u00a0 The vaccine will not protect you against the common cold, even though some of the symptoms are the similar to influenza.\u00a0 Influenza viruses change all of the time, so different vaccines are made every year.\u00a0 To stay protected against influenza you need to be re-vaccinated every year before the winter season.<\/p>\n
No. The seasonal flu vaccine will only protect against the strains included in the vaccine itself. However there is a risk of getting two strains of flu together which could be more serious and protection from seasonal flu could in those circumstance be very valuable.<\/p>\n
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In previous years we recommended the vaccine for risk groups e.g. elderly, asthmatics, diabetics. This year there is a far greater case for health people getting the seasonal vaccine, (and pandemic vaccine when available). It remains though a personal choice.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
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How many injections are required?<\/h4>\n
For the seasonal flu only one vaccine is required. For the pandemic flu 2 will be needed as most of us have little or no natural immunity. For, and on behalf of Employment Health Advisers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
INFORMATION ON FLU VACCINE What is flu? Influenza is a highly contagious virus infection affecting the respiratory system. There is the more usual Seasonal Flu against which a vaccine is now available and the Novel H1N1 or Swine Flu against which a vaccine will be available What are the symptoms? Symptoms begin after<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2753,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/classesmedical.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/flu-survey-website-390x285.jpg?fit=390%2C285&ssl=1","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7aNpw-Io","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2800,"url":"https:\/\/classesmedical.ie\/walken\/","url_meta":{"origin":2752,"position":0},"title":"Sleep in…..Stay Healthy","date":"September 4, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"It\u2019s no surprise that getting a good night\u2019s sleep helps us avoid getting sick. Still, you might be surprised at just how much difference it makes. A new study finds that people who don\u2019t get enough rest are four times more likely to come down with colds than those who\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/classesmedical.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/shutterstock_167147642.jpg?fit=640%2C425&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2775,"url":"https:\/\/classesmedical.ie\/2775\/","url_meta":{"origin":2752,"position":1},"title":"Sports Injuries","date":"September 3, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"What Are Sports Injuries? The term sports injury, in the broadest sense, refers to the kinds of injuries that most commonly occur during sports or exercise. Some sports injuries result from accidents; others are due to poor training practices, improper equipment, lack of conditioning, or insufficient warm-up and stretching.Although virtually\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Sports Injuries"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/classesmedical.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/runners.jpg?fit=600%2C397&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/classesmedical.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2752"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/classesmedical.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/classesmedical.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/classesmedical.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/classesmedical.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2752"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/classesmedical.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2752\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/classesmedical.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2753"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/classesmedical.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2752"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/classesmedical.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2752"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/classesmedical.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2752"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}