Check your flu IQ

Question: Can a flu vaccine give you the flu?
Answer: No. The viruses in the vaccine are killed, therefore they cannot cause infection. A fever and muscle aches may start within 12 hours and last a day or two. It’s uncommon in adults but common in children and the elderly while their immune system responds to the vaccine.

Question: Is the “stomach flu” and influenza the same thing?
Answer: No. Flu is a respiratory (lung) disease, not an intestinal disease. The main flu symptoms are fever (usually high), headache, extreme tiredness, dry cough, sore throat and muscle aches. Nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea can occur but are more common in children than in adults.

Question: Is it ever too late to get the flu vaccine?
Answer: No. While the best time to have the vaccine is at the beginning of winter (March or April), it can be given at any stage during the winter.

Question: Is it necessary to have a flu vaccine every year?
Answer: Yes. The viruses in the vaccine change each year.

Question: Is washing your hands the best way to protect against flu?
Answer: No. The influenza vaccine is still the most important way to either avoid flu or reduce its severity. However, washing your hands and covering your cough can slow the spread of germs.

Question: Does the flu vaccine protect against more than one strain of flu?
Answer: Yes. The flu vaccine protects against the three main flu strains that research indicates will cause the most illness during the flu season.

Question: Is flu typically spread through coughs and/or sneezes?
Answer: Yes. The flu virus is spread mainly by droplets when people with flu cough, sneeze or talk.

Question: Is flu a serious illness?
Answer: Yes. Flu is a serious contagious disease that can lead to death.

Question: Can flu be spread to others before symptoms appear?
Answer: Yes. Most healthy adults may be able to infect others one day before symptoms appear and up to five days after becoming ill.

Question: Do healthy people or those with well-managed chronic conditions need a flu vaccine?
Answer: Yes. Even healthy people can get very ill from the flu. It’s essential to get a flu shot if you’re aged 65 and older, have a heart problem, a respiratory problem (e.g. asthma), a chronic illness (e.g. diabetes, kidney failure) and if you’re immunosuppressed (e.g. HIV-positive). Children on long-term aspirin and women in the second and third trimester of pregnancy should also have the vaccine after having checked with their doctor.

Question: Are there any medical reasons to avoid the flu vaccine?
Answer: Yes. People with severe egg allergy should not have the vaccine and people with a fever should delay having it. Although there’s no known danger to the foetus linked to the flu vaccine, all vaccines are best avoided in the first trimester of pregnancy.

 

Sources
www.cdc.gov
www.gems.gov.za
www.health24.com
www.hrfuture.net
www.kauffmaninc.com