It’s that time again, time for sharing germs and illnesses. October through the 1st of March is deemed flu season with the peak being the end of January and February.
One question on a parent’s mind is, “Is it necessary to get my child vaccinated for the flu this year?”
John Brownstein, an epidemiologist at Children’s Hospital of Boston says that the close quarters of preschools and day cares are full of kids who do not cover their sneezes and are most likely to pick their noses which make for “hotbeds of infection.”
School-age kids are big influenza spreaders, as well. Ages 5 to 18 year olds are more active in the community and have more contact with the elderly who are the most vulnerable to influenza, says flu specialist Ira Longini, a biostatistician at Emory University.
Preschoolers may indicate to us that the flu season has arrived. Approximately a month after parents of 3 and 4 year olds begin to take them into the doctor or emergency rooms to discover their preschooler has the flu, a round of flu-ridden adults will catch the flu and will begin a new wave of patients at the doctor’s offices to rid themselves of flu symptoms.
In Boston, researchers are using a system that tracks Boston-area health care. Although there is currently no definitive correlation between the number of preschoolers contracting the flu and the rate of flu in adults, the research is examining that hypothesis. However, there are indicators that support this research supposition.
What they are finding is that a spike in respiratory illness among children under 5 is a predictor that in approximately 4 to 5 weeks, influenza-related deaths among the elderly will peak. Flu-like illnesses in preschoolers can be indicators of the effects on illness in adults in the weeks to come.
So do parents need to get their child immunized against the flu for this season? Consider the following information: Just before the influenza pandemic in 1968, 85 % of school-age children in Tecumseh, Michigan were vaccinated to prevent flu-like illness which resulted in 67% less flu -like illness in the community than a neighboring community.
Today, researchers are seeing an 8 to 18% decline in adults seeking care for respiratory illnesses just after 25 % of children are immunized against the flu in a given community.
Healthy children over the age of 2 are not flue-shot targets each year because they are typically strong enough to fight off the virus without serious complications. But parents can choose to get them vaccinated anyway, as supplies allow. More vaccine is expected to be available this year than last year.
The high-risk people for influenza are those 65 or older; babies and toddlers ages 6 to 23 months; anyone with a chronic illness such as heart or lung disease; pregnant women; and caregivers of high-risk patients.
Our government is trying to increase vaccine supplies as flu specialists question whether it is time to begin targeting just those at risk of influenza’s complications, but also those most likely to spread the virus.
The pattern that has emerged is that preschoolers show up first with flu-like illnesses, babies and toddlers follow a week or two later, followed by older children and then finally adults.
Communities can gear up for flu outbreaks if they can recognize the wave of flu outbreaks that begins with preschoolers and carry through to adults. Adults can teach coughing, sneezing and ways to avoid sharing germs to children by the following methods:
| Coughing, Sneezing and Not Sharing Germs EtiquetteSchedule |
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Teach children to keep germs to themselves by:
- Coughing or sneezing into their arm sleeve instead of their hands.
- Using soap and water and scrubbing for as long as it takes to sing “Happy Birthday”
- Using alcohol hand washing solution if soap and water is not available
- Not sharing food and drinks which transmit infection.
- Keeping children home when they are sick
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The challenging discovery of preschoolers harboring illnesses that can cause a wave of illness throughout a population is one in which to take a closer look. It is a discovery that will increase the call to vaccinate more healthy children against influenza to help keep the miserable illness from spreading to all ages of our population, even keeping the death rate down in the elderly.
References:
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Key Facts About Seasonal Influenza, downloaded October 9, 2009 from
Neergard, Lauran . More Flu Vaccine Aimed at Key Flu Spreaders: Kids. Associated Press, dowloaded October 9, 2009 from
Dianne Glasgow is a Family & Child Specialist Educator with the LSU AgCenter who may be contacted at 318-226-6805 or by email.
Updated by Diane Sasser, October 2009.