INFLUENZA BREAK-OUT: Flu Season typically runs from October to April. But so far Epidemiologists in 36 states have reported widespread influenza activity to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Louisiana is one of those states with a high rate of influenza. Dr. Joseph Bocchini is Professor and Chairman of Pediatrics and Director of the Clinical Virology Laboratory at LSU-Health Sciences Center in Shreveport, LA. He explains how the timing of the flu season varies and what risks it poses to public health. "The timing of the flu season varies every year; but we will see outbreaks every year and can cause a significant amount of illness leading to hospitalization and death.
And there is no way to predict the upcoming severity of the next influenza season." Influenza primarily causes respiratory symptoms and differs from a cold said Dr Bocchini,"in many cases the flu can be more severe, which means it can have a higher fever, muscle aches, chills. So you can potentially separate the symptoms from a common cold, but it's true that there are a number of patients who have a milder case that may be indistinguishable from a cold, but they still have influenza." As far as being protected from the flu, there are different vaccines to consider.
Vaccines currently available have both types of influenza-A in them, and a form of the B-type. This vaccine is the Trivalent vaccine and there is a vaccine that adds an extra B-type influenza strain which is called a Quadrivalent vaccine.
To learn more about influenza and how to prevent illness, go to: CDC.gov and search Influenza.
