The community is buzzing about the flu. From the work place to the local coffee shop, everyone is worried about how rampant it really is. Despite the fact influenza is raging all over the state, the Carbon and Emery county area is experiencing “normal” levels of illness.
“All the doctors offices, clinics and the hospital are busy,” stated Southeastern Health Department Emergency Response Coordinator and Public Relations Information Officer, Terrie Wright, “but it is not any more than most flu seasons.”
Also contributing this season is an unnamed strain of flu virus hitting even those who received a flu shot. The good news is that signs are showing the peak might have been last week and that new cases have begun to drop.
Wright reminded people it is not to late to get your flu shot, but you will have to go to your private health care provider. The Southeast Heath Department has already done their clinics and do not have any more vaccines on hand.
A check of four of the more popular pharmacies found that K-Mart Pharmacy was the only one with a supply left and they were running low. Fresh Market Pharmacy was planning on re-ordering influenza immunizations. Smiths and Wal-Mart have none in stock.
The shot contains a “dead” virus and cannot cause the flu in otherwise healthy people. It does take about two weeks for your immune system to build the resistance to the flu after the shot.
The formula that is put into each year’s flu vaccine is a very scientific process that relies on what happens in Australia to formulate the vaccine. It has shown that it is a pretty accurate prediction of what will hit the US.
If you have experienced flu-like symptoms you need to remember to drink plenty of fluids, remember to cough or sneeze into your sleeve and stay home if at all possible. There is also an unnamed virus making its rounds in the community.
Wright understands that since it is the first of the year many people do not have any sick days on the books yet, so it is part of the issue that make to spread of viruses so rampant. В If she had her say, she would like companies to allow their employees to carry over sick days through about February so they could remain home when they were sick. If more people could stay home, flu epidemics might be slowed or stopped before they took over a community.
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