Health officials: Flu vaccine available

Monday, January 28, 2008

By Jason E. Silvers

The Fort Scott Tribune

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Local health officials are reminding area residents that they have more than enough quantities of the influenza vaccine still available as the flu season continues.

"We have been administering flu shots since October," Bourbon County Public Health Nurse Alice Maffett said. "We still have plenty of the vaccine available that will carry people through until March."

According to a statement from the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, Kansas is now entering the peak of the flu season, and state health officials are reminding Kansans that they still have time to get vaccinated and that the vaccine is still available. Kansas Health and Environmental Laboratories have now confirmed the first laboratory positive influenza cases of the season in northwest and northeast Kansas, the statement said.

Seasonal flu activity is also increasing across the state. Additional reports of influenza-like illness in those regions, along with recent positive rapid tests throughout Kansas, has led KDHE to report flu activity to be at a "regional level." The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defines regional flu activity within a state as "increasing influenza-like illness in two or more regions, with recent confirmed activity," the KDHE statement said.

As yet, there have been no confirmed influenza cases in Bourbon County or Southeast Kansas, Maffett said.

Maffett said that in recent weeks, some local residents have periodically dropped by the Southeast Kansas Multi-County Health Department, 210 S. National Ave., to receive a dose of the flu vaccine. It is now a good time for people of all ages to get a flu shot to protect themselves from a possible flu outbreak in the region, she said.

"People are starting to remember and then they drift in," she said. "We're getting the occasional visitor. Children need to be reminded to get the vaccine too, and many of the elderly tend to forget. We have plenty of it here, so come on in," Maffett said.

Although influenza is typically confirmed earlier in the season, January through March is the peak time for flu in Kansas. According to the KDHE statement, State Epidemiologist Gail Hansen said that the flu vaccine is about 80 percent effective in preventing illness, and that the flu shot cannot cause a person to develop the flu.

"There is still time to get a flu shot and have it be of value in protecting you from the flu," Hansen said. "It only takes about two weeks for the shot to become effective. You can possibly still get influenza after having the vaccine, but the symptoms are usually less severe and complications less frequent."

KDHE and the CDC especially recommend that the following groups of people receive a flu shot each year: children between six months of age and 8 years of age, pregnant women, people 50 years of age and older, people with chronic medical conditions, residents of nursing homes or long-term care facilities, household contacts of people at high-risk of contracting the flu, household contacts of children under six months of age, and health care workers.

People who should not be vaccinated include people who have a severe allergy to chicken eggs, people who have had a severe reaction to the flu vaccination in the past, and infants who are less than six months old, the KDHE statement said.

For more information about seasonal flu, including flu symptoms and treatment, and a list of steps the public can take to avoid catching or spreading the virus, visit www.cdc.gov/flu on the Internet.