Where for art thou H1N1 (influenza)?

This blog post is re-purposed from Erie Family Health Center's Beats per Minute blog.

It just feels like the flu has gone away. Away from the headlines on TV, the web, radio. Away from the ERs and clinics. After H1N1 influenza ravished an unprepared America in the late spring of 2009 and again in the fall and early winter, it has basically disappeared. Should we let down our guard and stop worrying?

It’s true that most areas of the country are reporting either no or only sporadic (Illinois) flu activity. The most activity is in the South and in Maine. All of it is well below epidemic levels and it’s all H1N1, not other strains of flu virus that we sometimes call the “seasonal flu.”

H1N1 caused relatively mild illness for most people. Although this supposedly mild-mannered virus caused the deaths of thousands, it could have been much worse. The pandemic H1N1 of 1918 killed almost 500,000 in the US and at least 50 million world-wide. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “from August 30, 2009 to March 6, 2010, 2,042 laboratory-confirmed influenza-associated deaths were reported to CDC” among them 277 children. Perhaps up to 14,000 actually died since not all patients had lab confirmed tests. By contrast, seasonal flu normally kills some 36,000 Americans annually and over 250,000 world-wide every year.

It may be a bit too early to declare that this year’s (2009-2010) regular old seasonal flu turned out to be none other than the lone H1N1, but that’s what it looks like. Very few other types of flu viruses are showing up in lab tests across the country.

But, H1N1 could come back, either soon, or next flu season. Young adults and children, pregnant women, as well as those with chronic illnesses are at higher risk get more severe flu symptoms.

That’s why the expert panel that makes recommendations to the CDC has decided to include the H1N1 virus in next year’s (2010-2011) seasonal flu vaccine, along with several other flu viruses, based on world-wide trends and predictions. Whereas this year there were two separate flu vaccines: H1N1 and the seasonal flu vaccine, next year they will be combined into a single seasonal flu shot, which is really a mixture of several different flu strains. The combination changes every year based upon worldwide flu trends. And the expert panel will now recommend that everyone, from young to old, be vaccinated unless there is a good reason not to.

Erie Family Health Center was a leader in providing H1N1 vaccinations this flu season, giving over 5,000 vaccines to children, more than 850 to pregnant women and over 700 to chronically ill adults. Erie opened its doors and made it easy for patients, relatives and others to walk in and get vaccinated.

Haven’t yet gotten an H1N1 shot? Should you still get one? Yes.

The CDC is now encouraging everyone to get vaccinated. This could give you a head start even if the flu season is over for this spring, since H1N1 may come back before the 2010-2011 seasonal vaccine is available next fall. Supplies of H1N1 vaccine are still available, but ironically, the 2009-2010 seasonal flu vaccine (which does not contain H1N1) is still in short supply.

Flu prevention business is a tricky one. Every year, we are reminded to wash our hands, cover our cough while public health experts try to outguess Mother Nature by predicting the best vaccine. We know that the TV weatherperson has a difficult time with telling us if it is going to rain or snow or be sunny tomorrow and predicting the patters of a virus is even more complex. H1N1 is still smoldering in certain parts of the country. We should be worried and prepared for the flu if and when it decides to return.

For weekly updates on the flu, visit flu.gov.

END OF POST. Thank you for reading.