All types of flu have similar symptoms. Although the flu and common
cold have similar symptoms, the flu tends to be more severe. Flu
symptoms include a fever, body aches, tiredness, and cough. Your health
care provider can give you a test to determine whether or not you have
the flu.
What are the symptoms of the flu?
Flu symptoms include:
- A 100 degrees F 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
- Nausea, vomiting, and/or diarrhea (most common in children)
Make sure you get a shot this year
According to the CDC few than 1/2 Americans get a flu shot.
The CDC suggests that senior citizens get a second type of vaccine
against pneumoccoccus, a bacteria that can cause pneumonia and
hospitalizes 50,000 Americans each year.
Those 65 and older can get a one-time vaccination with the
combination pneumococcal vaccine Prevnar 13. Seniors should also get a
second one-time vaccination with another polysaccharid vaccine that
protects against 23 strains of pneumococcus.
The shots should be taken 6 months apart.
Flu Vaccine May Not Be Good Match For This Year's Strain
This year a mutated strain of influenza will be less effective
against the virulent strain. In September, health officials detected the
changes in the most prevalent flu strain so far in the U.S., the
virulent H3N2, after the vaccine for this year already went into
production. The CDC continues to recommend flu vaccine as the single
best way to protect yourself against the flu. The current vaccine will
give some protection against the flu.
Tamiflu Information
Tamiflue is an antiviral drug that is recommended by the US Center
for Disease Control and the only drug approved by the FDA for flu
treatment. To be effective it should be taken at the first appearance of
flu symptoms. Contact your physician if symptoms occur and children,
older Americans and those in poor health should be particularly
concerned. Side effects of taking Tamiflu can be nausea and vomiting.
From the New York Times, September 3, 2014
A Better Flu Shot
By JUDITH GRAHAM
For the past four years, doctors’ offices, medical clinics and
pharmacies have offered older adults high-dose versions of the annual
flu vaccine. The hope was that this alternative would better protect
seniors, but scientific evidence proving its effectiveness has been
lacking.
Now a study, published recently in the New England Journal of
Medicine, finds that Fluzone High-Dose does indeed prevent influenza in
older adults, reducing cases of the flu by 24% compared with the
standard version.
But some experts warn that it remains difficult to assess the
effectiveness of flu vaccines generally in older patients. Fluzone
High-Dose contains four times the amount of antigen (an agent that
stimulates the immune system) found in other flu shots. Previous
research had indicated this boost produced a greater antibody response
in recipients — significant because the immune response becomes less
robust with age.
The cost of the high-dose vaccine is $28.65 a dose (2014 cost), and Medicare covers one shot a year without a co-payment.
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