- What is seasonal influenza?
- Facts about the flu.
Seasonal influenza, often called the flu, is a serious, infectious respiratory illness that is caused by the influenza virus. It is NOT the upset stomach commonly referred to as the “stomach flu.”
Seasonal flu outbreaks usually occur from Fall to early Spring.
This year, there is also the pandemic H1N1 strain. Symptoms of both types of influenza are similar. People who become infected typically suffer from one or more of the following symptoms:
- Sudden fever (38 - 40 degrees Celsius; usual duration three to four days)
- Chills
- Headache
- Muscle aches
- Sore throat
- Cough or congestion
- Feeling tired and weak (may last two to three weeks or more)
- Runny nose
It usually takes one to three days to develop flu after you’ve been exposed to it. You can spread the flu 24 hours before showing any symptoms, and up to five days after symptoms begin in adults and seven days in young children.
Who should be immunized?
The H1N1 flu vaccine is recommended for and is free to all British Columbians. read more
For the seasonal flu, vaccine is provided free of charge to the following groups:
- People 65 years of age and over
- Caregivers of those over the age of 65
- Children and adults with chronic health conditions and their household contacts
- Health care workers
- Emergency responders
- Healthy children aged 6-23 months
- Household contacts and caregivers of infants aged 0 - 23 months
- Pregnant women in their 3rd trimester
- Residents of nursing homes and other chronic care facilities
- People providing services or care in potential high risk outbreak settings (for example, child care centres and cruise ships)
- People who work with poultry and swine
- Employees and inmates at BC correctional facilities
- Volunteers for the 2010 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games
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- Why get the seasonal flu shot?
- If you’re a healthy, working-age adult, a flu shot will give you 80% protection from the influenza virus during seasons when there is a good match with circulating strains, and 50% protection when there is a mis-match.
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You will also help to protect the frail elderly or people with chronic illnesses who could be hospitalized or die if they get the flu from you.
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- Does a seasonal flu shot really work?
- Flu immunization is 80% effective in preventing the flu in healthy, working-age adults and children during years when there is a good match with circulating strains.
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- Why should seniors get the seasonal flu shot?
- Research indicates that people aged 65 to 84 years of age who receive the flu vaccine are less likely to develop cardiac and cerebrovascular disease, and have a lower risk of contracting pneumonia than their unimmunized peers. In fact, the death rate from all causes dropped by 48 to 50 per cent for all immunized seniors. (New England Journal of Medicine, April 2003, Volume 348, Number 14). Seniors should get their flu shot as early in the flu season as possible.
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- Why should I get a seasonal flu shot every year?
- It's important to get a new flu shot every year because different flu strains circulate each season.
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- Can children develop complications from seasonal flu?
- Children aged 6 months to 18 years who have been treated for long periods with ASA may have increased risk of developing Reye Syndrome after contracting influenza. Healthy children aged 6 months to 23 months are at increased risk of influenza-associated hospitalization compared with healthy older children and young adults.
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- How safe is the seasonal flu vaccine?
- The flu vaccine is very safe.
- It cannot cause influenza because it does not contain a live virus.
- You may experience a sore arm following a flu shot, but this discomfort should fade away within two days.
- Only 1 in 1,000 people experience any other side effects from a flu vaccination (0.1 per cent). The most common negative side effect people report is feeling achy and tired for a day or two following the immunization. This means their bodies are developing antibodies to the flu.
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- Who should NOT be immunized?
- You should not get a flu shot if you:
- Have severe allergies to eggs or components of the vaccine.
- Have had an allergic reaction to flu vaccine before.
- Developed Guillian-Barre Syndrome within six to eight weeks of a previous influenza immunization. (Canadian Immunization Guide 2002).
- Are very sick (with a fever).
- Are a child under 6 months of age.
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- How do I treat a cold?
- The common cold cause by any one of 200 viruses. The symptoms of a cold include runny nose, red eyes, sneezing, sore throat, mild cough, headache, general body aches and mild fatigue lasting two to seven days. There is a gradual one or two-day onset. As a cold progresses, mucus may thicken. This is the stage just before a cold dries up. A cold usually lasts about one or two weeks.
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Colds occur throughout the year but are most common in late winter and early spring. The average child has six colds a year; adults have fewer.
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See the following web page for cold vs. flu symptoms:
- http://www.healthlinkbc.ca/healthfiles/hfile12b.stm#E46E7
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