Tanner exec: H1N1 to ‘test our community’
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As vaccinations for H1N1 flu started trickling into the county, experts gathered Tuesday at an H1N1 Summit to discuss dealing with the pandemic with some of the local employers and schools.
“In my opinion, West Georgia is always a community that rises to the occasion and I certainly think that in dealing with some sort of flu like H1N1 we will be no different,” said Loy Howard, president and chief executive officer of Tanner Health System. “We wanted to host this summit because we think that the threat in this particular case has a lot of unique features that will test our community potentially like it’s never been tested before.”
The threat, H1N1 or Swine Flu, could potentially strike thousands of Carroll County residents and while the mortality rate for this flu hasn’t been much different than the seasonal flu, the flu is unique in other ways that make it dangerous.
Seasonal flu generally strikes the very young and the elderly the hardest. However, with H1N1 the vast majority of the victims have been between the ages of 5 and 24, and the most deaths have been pregnant women and people between the ages of 25 and 64.
H1N1 also has spread fast and has been active even outside of the flu season.
“It seems to be targeting a group that ordinarily is in good health and therefore if that group gets sick in large numbers, we are dealing with a situation that we’re not used to dealing with,” said Dr. Jack Birge, chairman of the Carroll County Board of Health. In addition, this flu is similar to the Spanish flu, H5N1, which caused the 1918 pandemic. That virus was also a Type A virus which meant it changed when it replicated itself and so could change itself mid-season, making even people who had already had the virus susceptible to getting it again.
“It has the property to change itself so rapidly that you might have a problem tomorrow that you didn’t have today,” Birge said.
In addition, flu pandemics also happen regularly about every 40 years and the last one was 1918 so, statistically, it is overdue.
The medical community is facing resistance in its flu prevention because of the lethargy of the public. Only 26 of the 50 states are even offering vaccines to their citizens. In those states offering the vaccine, some people are refusing the swine flu vaccine because of the problems the 1976 swine flu vaccine caused. That flu vaccine contained a preservative that caused a rare illness called Guillaine-Barre syndrome in some of the people vaccinated. That particular preservative has not been used for a decade in vaccinations, said Dr. Laura Larson, medical director of infection prevention at Tanner.
The public is also confused about the virus.
“There is not a lot of consensus even among providers on what people should be doing,” Larson said. “It’s a changing process. It’s a moving target.”
As more research has been done about this particular flu, recommendations have changed and will continue to change, so it’s important that the community have the best, most up to date research in dealing with the illness. Tanner has set up a link on its Web site to make that information available to the public.
Right now, the recommendations are: don’t go to work or to school if suffering from flu-like symptoms, which include a fever of more than 100 degrees and a cough or sore throat. Don’t go to the doctor or hospital just to be tested; only go if suffering from severe illness so that more people aren’t infected and, if the symptoms are severe, seek treatment within 48 hours. Don’t return to work or school until 24 hours after symptoms disappear.
To prevent the illness get both a seasonal flu and the H1N1 vaccine. Use general good hygiene – sneeze into a tissue or your arm, wash your hands, use hand sanitizer and give the people around you space, literally. Stand a social distance from people when talking to them.
The nasal spray vaccine has started arriving in the county in small batches and should be available soon from Tanner, physicians offices, the health department and from some chain stores. The vaccine will also be available as a shot.
“In my opinion, West Georgia is always a community that rises to the occasion and I certainly think that in dealing with some sort of flu like H1N1 we will be no different,” said Loy Howard, president and chief executive officer of Tanner Health System. “We wanted to host this summit because we think that the threat in this particular case has a lot of unique features that will test our community potentially like it’s never been tested before.”
The threat, H1N1 or Swine Flu, could potentially strike thousands of Carroll County residents and while the mortality rate for this flu hasn’t been much different than the seasonal flu, the flu is unique in other ways that make it dangerous.
Seasonal flu generally strikes the very young and the elderly the hardest. However, with H1N1 the vast majority of the victims have been between the ages of 5 and 24, and the most deaths have been pregnant women and people between the ages of 25 and 64.
H1N1 also has spread fast and has been active even outside of the flu season.
“It seems to be targeting a group that ordinarily is in good health and therefore if that group gets sick in large numbers, we are dealing with a situation that we’re not used to dealing with,” said Dr. Jack Birge, chairman of the Carroll County Board of Health. In addition, this flu is similar to the Spanish flu, H5N1, which caused the 1918 pandemic. That virus was also a Type A virus which meant it changed when it replicated itself and so could change itself mid-season, making even people who had already had the virus susceptible to getting it again.
“It has the property to change itself so rapidly that you might have a problem tomorrow that you didn’t have today,” Birge said.
In addition, flu pandemics also happen regularly about every 40 years and the last one was 1918 so, statistically, it is overdue.
The medical community is facing resistance in its flu prevention because of the lethargy of the public. Only 26 of the 50 states are even offering vaccines to their citizens. In those states offering the vaccine, some people are refusing the swine flu vaccine because of the problems the 1976 swine flu vaccine caused. That flu vaccine contained a preservative that caused a rare illness called Guillaine-Barre syndrome in some of the people vaccinated. That particular preservative has not been used for a decade in vaccinations, said Dr. Laura Larson, medical director of infection prevention at Tanner.
The public is also confused about the virus.
“There is not a lot of consensus even among providers on what people should be doing,” Larson said. “It’s a changing process. It’s a moving target.”
As more research has been done about this particular flu, recommendations have changed and will continue to change, so it’s important that the community have the best, most up to date research in dealing with the illness. Tanner has set up a link on its Web site to make that information available to the public.
Right now, the recommendations are: don’t go to work or to school if suffering from flu-like symptoms, which include a fever of more than 100 degrees and a cough or sore throat. Don’t go to the doctor or hospital just to be tested; only go if suffering from severe illness so that more people aren’t infected and, if the symptoms are severe, seek treatment within 48 hours. Don’t return to work or school until 24 hours after symptoms disappear.
To prevent the illness get both a seasonal flu and the H1N1 vaccine. Use general good hygiene – sneeze into a tissue or your arm, wash your hands, use hand sanitizer and give the people around you space, literally. Stand a social distance from people when talking to them.
The nasal spray vaccine has started arriving in the county in small batches and should be available soon from Tanner, physicians offices, the health department and from some chain stores. The vaccine will also be available as a shot.
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