FLU SEASON JUST AROUND THE CORNER

Another flu season is just around the corner, and people considered "at risk" need to plan to get flu shots.

Charlotte Craig, director of the Cape Girardeau County Health Department, said her agency gave more than 1,000 flu shots last year and expects to give at least that many this year.

But the health department, which doesn't charge for shots but does accept donations, will focus its initial effort on people who could suffer more serious complications if they catch the flu.

"Our department has to take care of the at-risk group before the normal population," Craig said.

That group includes people 65 and older, residents of nursing homes and other chronic-care facilities, adults and children with chronic disorders of the heart and lungs, health-care workers, and people who take care of an elderly person.

Also included in that group are children from 6 months to 18 years of age who are receiving long-term aspirin therapy and might risk Reye's syndrome if they caught the flu.

Dr. Ted Grieshop of Cape Girardeau said there has been a growing awareness of the need for people in the at-risk categories to receive flu shots.

He said many people, once they get the flu, are more susceptible to pneumonia or if they have had prior trouble, to more serious heart and lung problems.

For some people, a bad flu is enough to put them in the hospital with serious complications," he said.

To encourage more elderly citizens to have annual flu shots, in May 1993, the Department of Health and Human Services decided to extend Medicare benefits to cover influenza vaccinations.

Medicare also covers the pneumavax, a one-time vaccination to help protect elderly against bacterial pneumonia.

The American Lung Association of Eastern Missouri is making a special effort to encourage the elderly to get shots. Studies show that only 41 percent of older adults living at home receive flu shots and that only 20 percent receive the pneumavax.

Influenza and pneumonia are most likely to require hospitalization for people older than 65 and is the sixth leading cause of death for senior citizens nationwide. In 1993 it accounted for 79,513 deaths.

Since the flu season is generally in January and February, Craig said most public health agencies, like hers, try to administer shots in late October and early November.

The county health department has clinic dates set up beginning Oct. 19 at the Cape Senior Citizens Center; Oct. 20 at Woodard's Cafe in Delta where senior activities are held; and on Oct. 27 at the Jackson Senior Center. The clinics will be held from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at all three places.

After Oct. 27, the department will give shots to walk-in patients who are in the at-risk group.

Although it is better to give the shots a bit later, Grieshop said he will give it to elderly patients coming in now that he probably won't see for several months.

"It is better to get it too soon than never," he said, adding that someone not in the at-risk group can get a flu shot if they want, but it isn't necessary.

Healthy people don't need a flu shot, he said.

People with an egg allergy shouldn't get flu shots because the virus is grown in eggs in developing the vaccine.

Craig said flu shots are effective, normally around 85 to 90 percent. But shots only work with the strains that are in them.

Each year the Center for Disease Control determines three strains that are likely to be prevalent, and manufacturers produce drugs to deal with those strains.

But it is possible people will catch other strains.

Grieshop said the strains change from year-to-year and have to be predicted about six months in advance by the Center for Disease Control. Sometimes other strains develop.

Influenza is a virus and some years are worse than others. Every year the virus changes a little.

Flu outbreaks can be extremely serious, such as the Spanish flu which broke out just after World War I and killed thousands of people.

Flu season hits this part of the country in January and February.

Grieshop said the flu season starts in the southern hemisphere and works its way north.

People are susceptible to the virus in the winter because they are indoors more and participate in more indoor activities with large groups of people.

Craig stressed that flu shots can't cause the flu. "

Contrary to popular rumor, you do not get the flu when you get a flu shot.

Sometimes you get a sore arm, but if you get sick, you were cooking with something when you got the shot," Craig said. "It does not give you the flus."