Check out one industrious mom’s attempt to keep her child flu-free. While the message here applies to seasonal influenza, there’s still too little H1N1 vaccine available to make it relevant to swine flu. Most folks can’t currently protect their kids from H1N1 simply by getting vaccinated right now! For the time being, we’ll have to trust in preventive measures like hand washing, getting plenty of rest, eating well, and staying home if we get sick.
Posts Tagged ‘H1N1’
Influenza Moon Landing …
Friday, November 13th, 2009Do the “Dracula” Just Like Dr. Sears
Thursday, November 5th, 2009
Dr. Bob Sears shows a few friends the "Dracula sneeze."
Wherever you turn these days, you’re likely to run into a runny nose – or someone else’s sneeze. Seasonal flu shots are available, but H1N1 vaccine is still scarce and we’ve got no vaccine at all for the common cold. How’s a family to stay healthy?
Pediatrician Bob Sears, M.D., of the renowned Sears medical family, says he’s noticed families focusing on preventive measures to keep illness at bay. And when they do get sick, they’re embracing more natural remedies. “Americans are getting tired of just popping a pill and turning to pharmaceuticals to fix things,” says the co-author of the Sears Parenting Library series. Here are a few things Dr. Sears recommends:
- Wash those hands. We just can’t say this enough. Teach kids to wash their hands several times a day at school, especially before eating, and after using the bathroom or doing a big group project. Younger kids can sing the ABCs while they wash as a way to measure the 20-30 seconds it takes to do it right.
- Master the “Dracula sneeze.” And teach the kids, too. If you’ve got to ahhh-choo it, your elbow is the place to do it.
- Humidify. Dry air dries out the sinuses, so consider buying a humidity gauge at your local hardware store to monitor the level in your home. You want to keep humidity at around 40%, and you might need to use a humidifier to do this.
- Cut down on sugar. This will help keep your immune system strong. “Spread out the sugar,” Sears suggests. “Make that Halloween candy last.” At his house, the rule is just one treat a day. If you keep the candy out of sight, they might eventually even forget about it, he says.
- Eat a breakfast with antioxidants. Put blueberries or other berries – fresh or dried – on your child’s cereal. Or just let the kids graze on berries any time. “That would be a great snack idea,” Sears says.
- Keep up your exercise routine. That’s especially true for moms and dads. “Stress and lack of exercise definitely will lower your immune system,” Sears says.
- Supplement up. Sears recommends that families consider supplementing their healthy diets with extra vitamin C and D, and zinc.
- Go natural. Dr. Sears is big on Echinacea this time of year, and has also been promoting a product called Sinupret. This natural herbal blend is designed it keep the sinuses healthy and boost the immune system, and Sears says he tends to recommended it for anyone with sinus trouble. “It’s been a good way to keep my patients’ sinuses healthy,” he explains. (They’ve sent us a sample. We’re checking it out.)
None of these measures is guaranteed to keep your family from falling victim to this year’s cold and flu season, but they can help. And good habits like these are worth keeping all year.
Who’s Being Hurt By H1N1 …
Wednesday, November 4th, 2009There were 1,088 people hospitalized or killed in California by H1N1 flu between April 23 and Aug. 11, and a report out in today’s issue of JAMA sheds some light on who they were:
- Their median age was 27 – much younger than is common with seasonal flu.
- 68% of them had risk factors (underlying health conditions) for influenza complications.
- More than half were obese.
- Those most likely to be hospitalized were infants.
- Those most likely to die (18%-20%) were age 50 or older, and the most common causes of death were viral pneumonia and acute respiratory distress syndrome.
One More Study On Mercury In Vaccines
Monday, November 2nd, 2009
Even as the new H1N1 vaccine has revived fears about vaccine safety, one more study was released last week showing that use of the mercury-based preservative thimerosal in shots does not translate into elevated mercury levels in children’s blood.
Amid heated debate over whether or not thimerosal – used to prevent cross-contamination in vaccines packaged in multi-dose vials – is linked with autism, its use in childhood vaccines was reduced or eliminated in the U.S. in 2001. But it is still used in some forms of seasonal flu vaccine, including the new vaccine against H1N1. The pandemic flu has proven especially dangerous to children, who are on the priority list to receive the vaccine.
In their study, supported by the National Institutes of Health and reported in the Journal of Pediatrics, researchers from the Rochester General Health System in New York found that the blood levels of mercury in even premature and low-birthweight infants were exceedingly low after vaccination. They tested the blood of 72 newborn infants in Argentina (where vaccines are purchased through the World Health Organization, which has categorically rejected the notion that thimerosal is unsafe) both before and after vaccination. Their blood levels of mercury rose very slightly, and then returned to pre-vaccination levels within 10 days.
Previous studies by the same researchers involving full-term newborns and 2- and 6-month-old babies showed similar results. Even so, parents who want their children to receive thimerosal-free flu shots can choose the inhaled version of the vaccine, or shots packaged in single-dose vials, neither of which contain the preservative.
Depressed Pregnant Women Could Face Greater Flu Risk
Thursday, October 29th, 2009
Women who are pregnant and have significant symptoms of depression could be at greater risk of complications from the flu, an Ohio State University study released yesterday suggests. Researchers had 22 pregnant women complete questionnaires about their depressive symptoms, then took blood samples after the women had received flu shots. They found the women with the most severe symptoms of depression had double the response to the vaccine as those who weren’t depressed.
The researchers suggest that their responses might also be more severe to an actual influenza infection, and that these women might be more susceptible to complications. The study appears online and is scheduled for eventual print publication in Brain, Behavior and Immunity.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has recommended for several years that pregnant women get vaccinated against seasonal flu, but only about 12-13% actually do. And pregnant women have been more vulnerable to the H1N1 flu circulating since April, accounting for 6% of all deaths in the U.S. from the virus even though they make up just 1% of the population.
Flu News: H1N1 Declared a National Emergency, Vaccine Supplies Delayed
Monday, October 26th, 2009
While concern over the H1N1 pandemic flu floods the media, the vaccine supply is coming in at a relative trickle. Over the weekend, President Barack Obama declared the H1N1 pandemic a national emergency. And this morning Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius made the rounds on network news programs to try and reassure the public that vaccine is on the way.
There’s no need to panic about the emergency proclamation, which Obama signed Friday night and the White House released Saturday. It’s just meant to help health institutions more easily get waivers of federal rules so that they can cope with the large numbers of patients expected as H1N1 spreads. For instance, hospitals could set up additional emergency rooms.
Meanwhile the most reliable thing we can do to keep from becoming one of those H1N1 patients – getting vaccinated – is proving tough. There are now about 16.5 million doses of vaccine available, millions below what is needed, according to news reports. But Sebelius said those numbers are continuing to increase, and urged people looking for an H1N1 flu shot to keep trying.
The vaccine delays are being blamed on delays in the manufacturing process, including the fact that vaccine is growing more slowly in egg-based cultures than manufacturers had expected. On Friday, the number of confirmed deaths due to H1N1 topped 1,000, and Sebelius continued to stress the importance of vaccination – especially for pregnant women and children.
Learn more about H1N1 from the Department of Health and Human Services …
FDA Warns Against Buying H1N1 Drugs Online
Friday, October 16th, 2009
Think you might be coming down with the flu? Turn to your doctor for help, not the Internet. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Thursday warned against buying products over the Internet that claim to diagnose, prevent, treat or cure H1N1 influenza. These drugs, they say, could be contaminated, or have too little or too much of the active ingredient.
One of the orders for a product claiming to be Tamiflu (an antiviral used to prevent flu symptoms from worsening) that the agency recently bought online turned out to be nothing more than talc and acetaminophen (the active ingredient in Tylenol). The unlabeled, white tablets arrived taped between two pieces of paper in an envelope with a postmark from India.
Other products purchased by FDA did contain some oseltamivir (Tamiflu) but didn’t arrive quickly enough to effectively treat someone with H1N1. And the companies selling these products did not require a prescription, so people using them without doctor supervision run the risk of suffering side-effects because they used the medication improperly, or having the medication interact in a dangerous way with another prescription they are taking.
The FDA urges consumers to only purchase FDA-approved products from licensed pharmacies located in the United States. The two antiviral drugs approved by the FDA for treatment and prevention of H1N1 Tamiflu (oseltamivir phosphate) and Relenza (zanamivir).
Learn more about how to protect yourself when buying medicines online …
Visit the FDA 2009 H1N1 (Swine) Flu Page …
H1N1 Is Serious, Yo
Tuesday, October 13th, 2009But we can still have a bit of fun with it, as evidenced by this rap from Dr. John Clark of Baldwin, N.Y., a winning entry in the CDC’s H1N1 public service announcement contest:
H1N1 Vaccine Is Here, Regular Flu Shot Might Offer Some Protection, Too
Wednesday, October 7th, 2009
CDC/ Judy Schmidt
The first wave of H1N1 flu vaccine is now available in most areas, but some high-risk groups will have to wait a week for their turn, says the CDC. That’s because this round of doses is made up of the nasal spray version of the vaccine. That version is created from weakened live virus – rather than the killed virus used in the flu shot – and isn’t recommended for pregnant women or people with asthma.
Thus far, the CDC has reports of 28 H1N1-related deaths in pregnant women, who are high on the vaccination priority list, and 60 deaths in children. Kids over age 2 can take the nasal spray vaccine, and health officials are making a big push to get them vaccinated.
For those stuck waiting (because while the government has been promising vaccine for all who want it, the supply is expected to trickle in slowly), a study released today might be of interest. Mexican researchers reporting in the online edition of the British Medical Journal found that seasonal flu vaccine might offer some partial protection against H1N1. Looking at a small group of hospital patients during the H1N1 epidemic in Mexico City in the spring, the researchers found that those who had a seasonal flu shot had significantly milder cases of H1N1 than those who had not.
Still, because this was a small study, and because the protection offered was only partial, experts are still stressing the need for folks to get both the seasonal flu vaccine and a vaccine against H1N1.
Dosing Info On Tamiflu
Tuesday, September 29th, 2009
If someone in your family has a serious case of the flu – especially this season – there is a chance your doctor will prescribe Tamiflu (oseltamivir) to help dampen influenza symptoms and keep the illness mild.
Before you leave the pharmacy, check to make sure the dosing dispenser you are given matches the dose on the drug’s packaging. If your prescription is in milliliters (mL), make sure that is how the dispenser is marked.
The FDA last week issued a public health alert to doctors and pharmacists, pointing out that while doctors generally write prescriptions in milliliters or teaspoons, the dosing dispensers packaged with Tamiflu are marked only in milligrams. This could lead to dosing errors when parents try to follow directions but have the wrong dispenser.
Giving too little could mean the drug is ineffective, while overdosing could lead to serious side-effects.
