Dana Arreola thought she had protected herself in the fall by getting a flu shot, but this year’s severe flu season has taught her — and perhaps millions of others — that vaccinations are no guarantee against disease.
Arreola, 30, a medical assistant from Glenview, contracted a crushing case of flu last week, with a peak fever of 104. She learned later that her vaccine offered incomplete protection because it did not match some of the flu varieties in circulation this season.
“I can’t believe I let someone stick me in the arm with a sharp syringe and still got the flu anyway,” said Arreola, who has a fear of needles.
This is the worst flu season in several years, according to early figures from state and federal health agencies. At least some of the increase stems from the vaccine mismatch, which came about because of a viral shift that experts did not anticipate.
The vaccine problems could mean as many as 3 million more people come down with the flu, and the issue has doctors and sufferers scrambling for other ways to deal with the disease.
Anti-flu drugs such as Tamiflu are playing an unusually prominent role this year, both as a treatment and to help protect at-risk patients. The option of such drugs, which did not exist 10 years ago, has spurred many doctors to use new rapid flu tests to identify patients who might benefit from medication.
Yet those tests are unpleasant, requiring a cotton swab to be pushed far into a patient’s nose.
It took just a few seconds for Dr. Katie Rosenfeld of St. Charles to test a 6-year-old boy for the flu last week, but the procedure seemed to leave a lasting impression on him.
“He said it was ‘like a bee stung me inside my nose,'” said Rosenfeld, who works at Charlestown Convenient Care in St. Charles.
Although federal officials cannot assess the flu’s full impact until May, figures so far show that the flu is more widespread than it has been in several years.
In Illinois, the rate of flu-related doctor visits has doubled this year compared with the last two flu seasons, and the nationwide rate has increased noticeably, said Dr. Carolyn Bridges, an influenza epidemiologist with the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.
“It’s a very sharp spike,” said Bridges, noting that those recent seasons were unusually mild.
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This year’s impasse is no reason to lose faith in flu vaccines, experts said. Every February, a committee of vaccine specialists meets with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to analyze worldwide flu trends and make an educated guess of which flu strains will be dominant in the U.S. the next season. Usually the vaccine that results from that estimate is reliable; CDC officials said the flu vaccine has matched the virus in 16 of the last 19 seasons.
Gauging the effect of the mismatched vaccine is difficult. In a good year, flu vaccines are 80 percent effective, but this year’s problems could lower that figure to about 50 percent. That means millions who would have been protected if the vaccine were ideal could end up sick, Bridges said. Hospitals and clinics across the Chicago region started seeing a sudden increase in flu cases three to four weeks ago, and that the volume of cases has stayed high ever since.
“It came in late, and it came in with a vengeance,” said Judy Zilberbrand, a secretary at Town & County Pediatrics in Glenview, where staffers have jokingly dubbed the flu “The Disease of the Month Club.”
Once the illness is diagnosed, some patients and their relatives are asking for Tamiflu, doctors say. But at $90 or more per prescription, some doctors hesitate to recommend the drug. “A lot of insurance doesn’t cover Tamiflu,” said Dr. Dirk de Haas, assistant director of the emergency room at Advocate Trinity Hospital in Chicago. “It can decrease the length of the flu by a day or two, but not the intensity.”
Even though the vaccine is less effective than usual, it may make sense to get a shot at this late date, said Karen McMahon, chief of the immunization section at the Illinois Department of Public Health. Experts recommend getting vaccinated before the flu season, but a flu shot now should start to offer protection in about two weeks.
“It is the best means for protection,” McMahon said.
Arreola said her bad luck this year has not soured her on getting shots.
“I’ll still get the flu shot next year, but I’ll just be more cautious with it and start taking Tamiflu as soon as I start feeling the symptoms,” she said.
The flu has cut a merciless path through Arreola’s family. She believes her husband was the first to get the virus. After that came her sons Carmen, 8, and Dominic, 4, and her mother. The only two who haven’t contracted the virus are Jerry, 7, and Eric, 11.
“We’re not done yet,” Arreola said of her family’s flu experience. “It’s going to pass through the other two kids. I tell my husband if we were in the 18th Century we would probably all have died.”
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A few flu facts
Q: Should I get a flu shot if I haven’t already?
A: It depends. The vaccine is not a perfect match this year, but it gives some protection. People at risk for serious disease should always get vaccinated.
Q: What about Tamiflu?
A: The anti-viral drug can be 80 percent effective at prevention. If you you’re already are sick, take it within 48 hours of symptoms. It reduces the duration.
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