If no vaccine, fight the flu yourself

Bad news first: Quote CNN's medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta in Time magazine, “Respiratory viruses, including those that cause flu, are highly contagious and can survive for hours on skin, furniture, door knobs and the like.”

Which is why years ago, even though I always got a flu shot, I stopped shaking hands during the flu season, and never touch a public rest room doorknob with my bare hand, using paper toweling or my hand in my coat pocket. I later added toilet flush handles and booth door handles.

So far I haven’t gotten a flu shot although I am in a high-risk category, over 65 with a Pacemaker, but I cannot or will not stand in a line in the cold for hours, or take a bus trip or boat ride to Canada to get vaccinated.

My pharmacist advised me to call my doctor and get on a waiting list there. I tried that, even two of my doctors, but their staffs informed me they weren’t giving flu shots this year.

That may change. The next batch of vaccine that comes here, I was told by Dr. Scott Lindquist, the county health officer, is not going to Costco and Fred Meyer and the like. It’s going to health care providers.

“What we did,” he said, “was ask the community health care providers how many doses do you have on hand? How much did you order? How much do you need? As public health comes into the vaccine, people can go to their doctor and get the vaccine. We also asked some of the doctors, would you be willing to vaccinate those who are not on your usual patients’ list.”

Nursing homes? “We polled them. Every patient in a home should have a doctor so he can get the vaccine from his own doctor. We also didn’t commit the doctors to just giving the vaccine to high-risk categories. We’re leaving it up to them to do what it takes.”

As I usually do when writing about illnesses, I got out my American Medical Assn. Family Medical Guide and looked up influenza. “There is no specific treatment for flu,” it said, “since antibiotics are not effective against viruses.” It said if you get sick, go to bed and stay there. “Your coughing, sneezing, headache, muscular pains and sore throat should go away in a week or two.”

I can’t afford to be out of action for one week, let alone two, not with my husband in a nursing home where his expenses for care and drugs not covered by insurance are about $1,000 a week. Get old and sick and you’ll soon learn why nobody calls these the golden years any more.

But back to the flu. There aren’t many people left that remember the Spanish flu epidemic that started in an Army camp in Kansas in 1918 and spread all over the world, killing at least 50 million before disappearing in 1920 as mysteriously as it arrived. It killed more young adults than oldsters and kids, probably because it spread via military posts where so many young adults were.

Doctors advise getting plenty of sleep with a cold or flu because when you are asleep, your body’s resistance to disease swings into action. Wash your hands often and carry Handi-Wipes. When you go to a store, use one to wipe off the push handle on your shopping cart. My store, Albertson’s at Kingston, has containers of Handi-Wipes available at the front door so you can use theirs. Check your stores for that courtesy.

A carry a small bottle of a germ-killing alcohol which can be used on your hands without water or getting your hands sticky.

Now the good news. The flu season doesn’t really kick in until late November so there’s every hope of more vaccine arriving before then. And if you’re elderly, Dr. Lindquist advised, and can’t find a flu shot, get a pneumococcal shot. There’s no shortage of that vaccine which portects against common strains of pneumonia caused by a bacteria instead of a virus. And wash your hands, he said. “Most viruses are spread not through the air, but through your hands. You touch your nose, you touch someone else and it spreads. Wash your hands.”

Adele Ferguson can be reached at P.O. Box 69, Hansville, WA. 98340.

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