Don’t mess up — get a flu shot this winter

OK, I admit it, I messed up.

One thing I learned this month is I should have had a flu shot late last year. I didn’t, and as a result I picked up influenza Type A less than a week into the new year.

I was told by my doctor to stay home for a week to keep my colleagues from getting ill, and at home I had to wear a face mask so I wouldn’t pass it on to my lovely wife Catherine.

I was not alone in my suffering. Into the first week of 2018, I was among some 9,500 flu cases reported in Beijing, an increase of over 20 percent week-to-week, according to data released by the city’s health commission.

The version I had, Type A, plus the less-severe Type B, are the most prevalent. Wang Quanyi, with Beijing’s Center for Disease Prevention and Control, told Xinhua News Agency that several strains of Type A have been making their rounds across the city. He said the lack of significant rainfall since late October and the wide daily temperature range had contributed to their spread in Beijing.

Fortunately, my doctor was able to prescribe the antiviral medication Tamiflu, which eases the effects of the flu, because it was caught early enough for the pills to do some good. However, in other parts of the world, including the United States, Tamiflu is in short supply, if available at all. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that all US states except Hawaii, the District of Columbia and Guam have severe outbreaks, increasing demand for the pills.

So those in Beijing with the flu — such as myself — are probably better off than, say, Californians right now.

But still, I really messed up when I didn’t get a flu shot.

The World Health Organization, working with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the US, said that up to 650,000 deaths a year are associated with seasonal flu. Most deaths are among people older than 75 and those in the world’s poorest regions.

Dr Peter Salama, executive director of WHO’s Health Emergencies Program, has called on all countries, rich and poor, large and small, to work together to control influenza outbreaks.