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If you are actually in health care that is apalling advice to give anyone. Tell people to do some research, wash their hands, eat healthily, etc. But to tell people that flu is just a bad cold, and to toughen up is incredibly ignorant, and downright dangerous.
You may choose not to get a flu shot once you have all the facts, good for you, but as an adult you are able to protect yourself somewhat. My kids are younger, and are pretty good at handwashing, but once flu arrives at school, it spreads like wildfire. We all had the swine flu last year, and my then 6 year-old was actively ill for over 3 weeks, and took about another 2 before she was back to normal. That was no cold.
Believe what you want, and make choices for yourself that reflect your beliefs, but take some responsibility for the information you disseminate, it could cost someone their life.
Moderator cut: rude If you're elderly or at risk, by all means have at it. If you're a healthy adult, no reason to get it.
Last edited by SouthernBelleInUtah; 09-29-2010 at 06:15 PM..
Spare ME. I am also in healthcare in one of the most densely populated areas in the nation.(if not THE most). So to say that you've had more courses in standard precautions than I is, how did you put it? Ignorant. So as a HCW you should know that handwashing IS THE best way to prevent infection. Please consult with your IC dept. They'll tell you the same.
Badge of honor? No. Realist? Yes. Life includes a little bit of suffering. That means colds, including the flu. If MD's didn't write scrips for every sniffle(or pt's didn't DEMAND them). We'd see a lot less muti-drug resistant strains out there.
Touch more suffering=less infections=better world. Do the math.
Chicago isn't exactly sparsely populated either, k? YES, hand washing is important, as is proper rest and nutrition, but as other posters have pointed out, influenza is largely airborne. Clean hands won't prevent airborne viruses from traveling in the air after a sick person coughs or sneezes and right up into my nose. Moderator cut: rude
There is absolutely no reason to not get the vaccination unless you're afraid of its side effects. Having people get vax'ed is not going to cause drug-resistant anything, Moderator cut: rude . If you want to discuss the overuse of abx and their role in promoting and creating drug resistant bacterial strains, then I'm right there with you on that and you're preaching to the choir. Vaccinations and antibiotics are two completely different classes of infection control/prevention medications and have nothing to do with one another.
Suffering through the flu serves no purpose. Not only that, but people are contagious prior to exhibiting symptoms. Clearly, it isn't good to be working with patients who are at times already immunocompromised if you yourself are contagious and don't even know it. I feel sorry for your patients.
Last edited by SouthernBelleInUtah; 09-29-2010 at 06:17 PM..
Moderator cut: rude . If you're elderly or at risk, by all means have at it. If you're a healthy adult, no reason to get it.
Spare me the sarcasm. We live in a world with other people no matter how self-centered we would like to be. We live in communities where children live, the elderly, people who are immunocompromised. You may get the flu, and have mild symptoms, but the person you infect may not be so lucky. It amazes me how people don't understand the consequences with regard to infectious diseases, especially people who work in health care.
Last edited by SouthernBelleInUtah; 09-29-2010 at 06:17 PM..
What I don't understand are people who, when they get sick, just HAVE to get out and go to work. I know, I know, some places don't offer sick days or "allow" you to call in sick, but what if you made others at work sick? I think businesses should be more lenient on allowing workers to stay home when they are sick and people who are sick should STAY HOME!!! There is no reason if you have the flu or even a cold to go out to a concert or basketball game and infect everyone else. STAY HOME!!!
BTW, products like Germ-X and the overuse of antibiotics will do us in someday. The overuse of anti's is self explanatory, but Germ-X? You are supposed to have a certain amount of germs on your hands. They are good germs. Products like Germ-X and antibacterial soap kill them. How many people now get this mysterious "stomach bug" that you hear so much about? I've had it. It's sucks. The thing is, very few people got the "stomach bug" 20 years ago. Now it's everywhere, year-round. Everyone is so afraid of germs that they kill them all and it's making matters worse.
Folks, you cannot post that someone else has the understanding of a 6 y/o, or that they have no clue, etc. Stick to ideas not personal characteristics or your whole post will be deleted and infractions issued.
I've taken a number of flu shots over the years. Came down with the flu about 50% of the time after getting the shot. Also came down with the flu about 50% of the time in years I didn't get a shot.
I'm thinking the best bet for avoiding the flu is to live a healthy lifestyle to keep your immune system up and practice good hygiene.
They can keep their vaccine.
I'm a health professional myself, so may sound hypocritical what I'm saying, but I've never once had a flu shot, nor do several other physicians or pharmacist I know get them. My own father was never sick a day in his life until about 8 years ago, he had first flu shot ever, was sick next day (this was in October) and was not healthy again until February or March of next year. Next fall, had flu shot again, sick again biggest part of late fall and early winter, same thing happened next 4 or 5 years. I told Dad more than once not to take flu shot, but another physician talked him into it each time, and each time he regretted it. Last 2 years, no flu shot, he was healthy (except for one very minor cold this past SUMMER) the entire 2 years mentioned.
The fact that you keep saying this tells me you have no idea what influenza is...its NOT just a bad cold.
Influenza is not the same as viral gastroenteritis or other viral syndromes...
IF you had ever had the "flu" you would realize it involves more than a tad of "suffering"....people with influenza are SICK....rigors, body aches, severe malaise...it isn't a case of the sniffles.
I'm in agreement with you. The last time I had the flu (a number of years ago), I woke up with a splitting headache and felt like someone had beat me with a baseball bat, among other symptoms. I felt lousy for an entire week. I've had bad colds, and this was NOT one of them...it was worse.
I'm a health professional myself, so may sound hypocritical what I'm saying, but I've never once had a flu shot, nor do several other physicians or pharmacist I know get them. My own father was never sick a day in his life until about 8 years ago, he had first flu shot ever, was sick next day (this was in October) and was not healthy again until February or March of next year. Next fall, had flu shot again, sick again biggest part of late fall and early winter, same thing happened next 4 or 5 years. I told Dad more than once not to take flu shot, but another physician talked him into it each time, and each time he regretted it. Last 2 years, no flu shot, he was healthy (except for one very minor cold this past SUMMER) the entire 2 years mentioned.
What were your dad's symptoms? Were they influenza symptoms? He was "sick" in what way for all those months?
Three possibilities come to mind:
1. He was already infected with something other than the flu when he took the flu shot.
2. He was already infected with one of the flu strains in the vaccine, and the vaccine was not able to provide protection because of inadequate time to produce an immunologic response.
3. He was infected with a strain of flu not included in the vaccine.
In other words, did the vaccine cause the symptoms, or did it fail to prevent them?
Since there is no live virus in the vaccine, you cannot get the flu from the vaccine itself.
Is he allergic to eggs? That is about the only thing I can think of that would cause a severe problem, and it should be an allergic reaction, not an illness that goes on for months.
Presuming that he was reacting to something in the vaccine, does that mean that no one should use flu vaccine? I had mine yesterday and have no problems except some injection site soreness. I'll take that over the flu any day.
I never got a flu shot. I was not one of the "at risk" people who shouldn't get it, I just never bothered. I also never got the flu, except for the thing we used to CALL the flu when we were kids (which is correctly called the stomach flu but is not related to influenza). And I stopped getting that in college, back in the early 80's.
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HCP's are in the high-risk category.
