Elderly should avoid flu at all costs this season
“It was the worst 24 hours of my life,” my 76-year-old friend intoned in a bleak text message. “Now my wife has it.”
Earlier in the week, he had canceled a lunch date with my husband. His text revealed that he had been ill for 10 days and was only now beginning to again feel human. His symptoms — fever, cough/ sore throat/stuffy nose, body aches, headache and fatigue — were all those of influenza.
Within that same week, my son called.
“Mom, tell me if you think I’m a hypochondriac or if I have meningitis.”
Immediately, I, the former emergency doc, felt my heartbeat quicken.
“What are your symptoms?” I asked.
“Terrible muscle aches and headache. Haven’t been able to get out of bed for a week,” he mournfully whispered over the phone.
I relaxed hearing neither of the classic meningitis signs of stiff neck nor worst headache of his life.
“Flu” I told him. “It’s epidemic.”
This year has had a particularly bad flu season. Texas Department of State Health Services statistics show almost 9,000 verified cases. Harris County rates are high, and Galveston’s are among the highest in the state. This year’s season is tracking with 2014/15, in which more than 36 million people were thought to have become ill from flu; 56,000 Americans died.
Most people know that
influenza can be prevented by getting the vaccine. The disease is particularly severe in the elderly. Yet only about two-thirds of whites and Asians age 65 and older are vaccinated; and that percentage drops to just about half of blacks and Hispanics.
Some lesser-known facts about flu include:
• Flu virus can be spread up to a week before symptoms start.
• What kills elders, who account for three-fourths of all deaths, is not flu but superimposed pneumonia.
• Tamiflu, the medication that limits symptoms, is best started in the first 48 hours of the illness.
• The rapid flu test is positive in only about 60 percent of confirmed cases.
• Vaccines, including the newest, Fluad, are 40 percent to 50 percent effective among older adults.
• This year, there are not one but four different strains of virus circulating; most are H3N2, an especially nasty bug.
What are the take-home messages from these facts?
• Wash your hands often during flu season.
• Get a flu vaccine annually in the fall.
• Don’t assume that you don’t have flu if you already had it or if you have a negative rapid test.
• Be up to date on your pneumococcal vaccinations.
• Get to your doctor or call the doctor’s office as early as possible after symptoms start to get on Tamiflu.
• Last but not least, stay clear of those with symptoms, if at all possible. If you must be near, wash your hands after every encounter.
Personally, I can only say I send you my heartfelt sadness if you have already suffered. And if you have not, I wish for you a healthy 2018.