New York – Gov. Andrew Cuomo has received a flu shot to urge people to get the inoculations during a particularly serious flu season. After getting his shot at a press conference Thursday, Cuomo received a lollipop from state Health Commissioner Nirav Shah.
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Shah says more than 19,000 flu cases have been reported this year, compared to just over 4,000 last year. Shah said two children died from the flu in New York and it’s not too late to get shots to protect against the disease.
Cuomo said the shot didn’t hurt at all.
New York City’s hospital emergency rooms are seeing more cases of the flu than they have in the past few years, according to city health commissioner Dr. Thomas Farley.
He says in the last week or two, about five percent of people coming into emergency rooms have influenza-like symptoms. That’s compared to rates of two percent of visits in other years.
Farley urges people who haven’t gotten a flu shot to get one. He says the city started seeing cases in early November and expects it to be around for another two months.
The common cold and flu are caused by different viruses but can have some similar symptoms, making them tough to tell apart. In general, the flu is worse and symptoms are more intense.
Here are some tips from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Roche, the maker of Tamiflu:
• COLDS: Usual symptoms include stuffy or runny nose, sore throat and sneezing. Coughs are hacking and productive. It’s unusual to have fever, chills, headaches and body aches, and if they do occur, they are mild.
• FLU: Fever is usually present, along with chills, headache and moderate-to-severe body aches and tiredness. Symptoms can come on rapidly, within three to six hours. Coughs are dry and unproductive, and sore throats are less common.
• PREVENTION: To avoid colds and flu, wash your hands with warm water and soap after you’ve been out in public or around sick people. Don’t share cups or utensils. And get a flu vaccination — officials say it’s not too late, even in places where flu is raging.
• TREATMENT: People with colds or mild cases of the flu should get plenty of rest and fluids. Those with severe symptoms, such as a high fever or difficulty breathing, should see a doctor and may be prescribed antiviral drugs or other medications. Children should not be given aspirin without a doctor’s approval.
As I do every year, I got my flu shot early in the season. It takes about 2 weeks to become fully effective. In my experience, the chances of significant side effects are miniscule, the great majority of those immunized do not get the flu, and those who do get the flu after being immunized often have a much milder case than they would have had if they hadn’t been immunized. The flu kills tens of thousands of people every year. The elderly, the very young, and those with chronic lung, heart, or other diseases are at particular risk.
I also received my pneumonia vaccine booster. The pneumonia vaccine protects against about two dozen different forms of pneumonia. It’s considered wise to get a follow-up booster immunization every 7 years or so.
Finally, I should mention that I found some of my titers to be low or non-existent for diseases against which I had been immunized as a child, so I simply got a booster injection.
Speak to your doctor.
Please Couomo, You are only showing your ignorance to flu by getting your flu shot this late in the season.
It is still important to get it even in January, but he should have had it by October!
well cuomo is just showing that even if u do not usually get the flu shot ,this year is a bad strain so rethinking that decision is prudent.
the flu shot carries serious risks including GBS- Guillain Barre Syndrome.
Patients have to weigh the risks vs benefits when they make the tough decision to get the shot.
The elderly and immunocompromised are at greater risk of a routine flu leading to a bad outcome ie death ,while a younger patient without multiple ailments will most likely just feel sick for a week ,with no long term harm.Doctors are very good at treating a routine flu in a non immunocompromised patient .Best treatment for flu in a healthy person in my opinion is to do nothing . The less u do the better the patient gets .However GBS in a healthy person ,doctors can do very little for them of substance.
Can someone answer?
How is it that lists of preventions miss out what i always believed was the number one prevention?
Coughing without sufficient blocking.
Not only do people do it in the street, when there are no people nearby, but most people today seem to be doing it into an indoor room full of people. And not only that, but about 50% of people seems to have no qualms about coughing right into the other persons mouth while he ls inhaling.
If someone does that to me even once, i almost ALWAYS get a bad cold or flu 2 days later. But since i unfortunately have to stay away from people who cough, as much as possible, I hardly ever get a cold. Except when i an forced into such an enclosed space.
And what about allowing people to feel all the food they buy and rub it all around and often put it back on the shelf, in bakeries, esp in Israel?
Not only that, but in Israel it is not customary to wash ones hands with soap after relieving oneself.
more than once, i was looking for a lysol type of product in israel…does it exist? please help