Rawalpindi : This is the most appropriate time for vaccination against seasonal ‘influenza A’ disease, particularly for the high-risk population as according to health experts, people with certain health conditions such as chronic heart, lung, kidney, liver, blood or metabolic diseases like diabetes, or weakened immune systems, are at high risk of contracting serious flu complications.
Serious outcomes of seasonal ‘influenza A’ disease can result in hospitalization or death and to avoid losses, it is a must for the high-risk population including elderly people aged 65 years or older and pregnant women to be vaccinated against impending appearance of seasonal ‘influenza A’ disease that appear in winter every year and causes significant morbidity and mortality particularly from December to February in this region of the country.
Experts say that people must get themselves and their near and dear ones vaccinated against the disease as the vaccine is available in the market against influenza A.
The vaccine is developed from the strains of viruses circulating in the world in the previous year and the new vaccine comes in the market in October each year. Experts say that the vaccination against flu is the most effective and the only way to prevent infection and severe outcomes caused by influenza viruses.
Health experts say that the health authorities must direct the hospitals to show a high level of preparedness for the upcoming high transmission season of influenza A virus by developing standard isolation units, stockpiling of PPEs (personal protective equipment), capacity building of hospital staff in the art of infection control and adopting barrier nursing techniques along with procuring sufficient viral transport media and reagents for laboratories.
It is worth mentioning here that the appearance of the Influenza Pandemic of ‘A H1N1’ in 2009’, is the same infection that is now called seasonal flu and it has become a regular feature appearing almost each year since 2011. This disease has caused considerable morbidity and mortality in the previous years in the months of December and January.
The most important preventive measure for the community, according to health experts, is to learn and follow the respiratory protocols to respect others and cover their faces
with tissue papers while sneezing or coughing to prevent others from infection and also to properly dispose of the infected or used tissues and wash hands frequently.
Studies reveal that around 90 per cent of the flu cases that do not fall in the high-risk category recover without any medical intervention. Like other flu strains, self-segregation and home-based treatment is recommended for most of the cases of seasonal flu, however in case a patient develops any complications, he or she must report immediately to the nearest hospital.
