Docs: Flu season isn’t over yet

Posted

This is part two in a series. You can read part one here

The New York State Department of Health reported last week that reported cases of the flu decreased by 3 percent, but as baseball legend Yogi Berra said, “It ain’t over till it’s over.” Medical professionals caution that the flu continues to be a threat that must be taken seriously, and that protecting oneself from contracting it is of the utmost importance.


How you get the flu
Blame the “droplets.” Doctors say that when someone with the flu coughs or sneezes, he or she leaves viral particles behind. “These droplets are viable from one hour to a day,” said Dr. Barbara Keber, a family physician in Oyster Bay for 36 years, the chairwoman of family medicine at Glen Cove Hospital and the vice chairwoman for family medicine at Northwell Health.

Keber described this flu season as a “disastrous” one. She suggests the liberal use of anti-bacterial sprays and frequent hand-washing with anti-bacterial soap or gel-based hand sanitizers.
But how can you protect yourself from catching the flu when infected people cough or sneeze droplets into the air? “It’s most important that people get the flu vaccine,” Keber said. But those who have been immunized can still catch the flu. Their symptoms are often mild, leading them to believe, incorrectly, that they have a different illness. “I’ve seen a number of patients who had the vaccine get a low-grade fever and the chills,” Keber said. “They aren’t recognizing this as the flu.”
The reason why people who have had the vaccine can still get the flu is simple, she explained: There have been mutations since the vaccine was developed. “A person who had the flu had one strain,” she said, “and can still get the flu again with a different strain.”

Have the symptoms? Stay home
The flu comes with serious symptoms. “I see people with high fevers up to 103 degrees, body aches, coughing, sneezing, diarrhea, and sometimes vomiting,” Keber said — and those who have chronic illnesses can suffer even more. “People with heart disease, kidney failure, diabetes, lung disease, asthma and emphysema have a high risk for complications with the flu,” she added. “And children under 5, people over 65 and pregnant women are more susceptible to complications as well.” Those who develop pneumonia due to the flu can even suffer respiratory heart failure.
The vaccine is beneficial to everyone. “The severity of the flu is much less, as is the duration or development of additional complications, for those who have had the vaccine,” Keber said.

Should you take Tamiflu?
If it is taken within 48 hours of the onset of the flu, the drug Tamiflu, and its generic version, has been found to lessen the severity of symptoms and shorten the recovery time. It can also be taken for up to six weeks to help keep someone who has been exposed to the flu from getting it.
Oyster Bay pediatrician Greg Gulbransen cautions, however, that people with chronic illnesses, those over 65 and children under 5 should not take Tamiflu. “People do complain about the side effects,” he said, including claims of hallucinations. “But some people do beg for it.”
Keber warns that if you don’t have the flu, you might not want to take Tamiflu. “It can cause side effects like nausea and upper G.I. upsets,” she said. “But if you’ve been near someone that has the flu, you might want to. For those that have the flu, it stops them from being contagious after three days of taking Tamiflu. People with the flu are no longer contagious after 24 to 48 hours without a fever.”

Tracking the flu
The state Health Department has released weekly influenza surveillance reports online. Northwell Health has also created what it calls a “flu dashboard” to gather statistics on flu patients admitted to its 17 hospitals, which include Glen Cove Hospital, and its emergency rooms. The data include patients’ ages, genders and zip codes. With this information Northwell is aware of which hospitals see the higher rates of the flu.
“This gives us more updated information,” Keber said. “It’s very helpful for us to know this information day to day. For example, a lab will share its data, which will tell us what type of flu it is [and] how many cases they have.”
If more cases are found in a particular hospital, Northwell can localize its vaccines, Keber said.

Flu in the schools
School district officials are being extra careful to avoid a student-borne epidemic. Some are sending advice home to parents. The Oyster Bay-East Norwich School District provided parents with a detailed directive from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on the school’s website. It includes ways to protect children from getting the flu.
“The district tracks the number of cases based on parents notifying the school of their child’s illness,” said Superintendent Dr. Laura Seinfeld. “Follow-up with families is done by school nurses so that the appropriate precautions can be taken to keep students safe.”
Dr. Maria L. Rianna, the Glen Cove City School District superintendent, said that the district traditionally takes precautions when students aren’t feeling well in school. With the flu, it has gone a step further. “We’ve tried to enhance our awareness as we see the impact of the current flu season,” Rianna said. “Our custodial staff and teaching staff are wiping things down throughout the day.”
The precautions, she added, were intended to ensure that those without the flu remained healthy. “We want everyone to be able to learn,” she said.
The Locust Valley School District has not seen an increase in the number of flu cases and in some schools it has seen a decrease. Even so, precautions are being taken. There are more hand sanitizers at its schools, and students are encouraged to wash their hands frequently.
“As is typically the case, reported cases of the flu are distributed throughout our schools,” said Superintendent Dr. Anna Hunderfund.
The North Shore School District has been working to avoid an outbreak of the flu too. “With regard to the flu epidemic, as always, we encourage our students to engage in frequent hand washing to avoid passing along any germs,” said Superintendent Dr. Peter Giarrizzo, “and are encouraging all of our families to follow the advice of their health care providers regarding the treatment of any flu symptoms”

Alyssa Seidman and Zach Gottehrer-Cohen contributed to this story.