Misconceptions that Could Kill
Think you know about the flu? Think again.
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The last time I got a flu shot, it gave me the flu.
You can’t get the flu from a flu shot. Influenza vaccines contain viruses that have been inactivated; they do not contain live viruses. However, people get flu shots during cold and flu season, so it’s possible you may have already have had a cold or flu virus when you got vaccinated, and your symptoms showed up around that time. The most common side effect from a flu shot is soreness around the vaccination site.
I had the flu this year, so I don’t need a vaccination—I’m already immune.
First, let’s be clear: Two flu vaccines will be available this flu season.
Second, was that really the flu you had? Other diseases can mimic it. And if it was the flu, which strain was it?
Flu viruses mutate—that’s why everyone should get a seasonal flu shot every year. The new 2009 H1N1 strain circling the globe this year (also known as swine flu and novel H1N1 flu) cropped up in the spring and is completely new. If you’re in a high-risk group, talk to your doctor about getting vaccinated against novel H1N1 flu as well as the seasonal (i.e., “regular”) flu.
Novel H1N1 flu (also known as swine flu) is especially dangerous to the elderly.
Unlike other flus, this new strain of flu is more likely to affect babies, children and young adults than the elderly. Other at-risk groups include pregnant women, household members and caregivers of babies up to 6 months old, health care workers and emergency medical personnel, and 24- to 64-year-olds with chronic health conditions or compromised immune systems.
But if you are over 65 and you get any flu, the outcome could be more serious. See your doctor if you have any flu-like symptoms.
Flu is a really bad cold.
“People have to realize that flu is a very serious illness. It is not just a bad cold,” says Michele Nakata, manager of the state Health Department’s Disease Investigation Branch. “People are so surprised when they hear about others being hospitalized or dying from the flu. They assume there must have been an underlying condition. And sometimes there isn’t. There are people who die and it’s just a complete surprise.”
