Welcome to the Sanford Safety Post. This site has been created to help you and your family understand the facts on important safety related subjects from the medical field. The topics below deal with important topics ranging from prevention, identification and details as to when you should seek professional medical assistance.
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Keeping you and your loved one’s safe is Sanford’s goal. You can help us by taking an active part in your healthcare. You have an important role to make sure you receive the best possible care. Research shows that people who are involved in their own care, ask questions, and develop a relationship with their provider are happier with and receive better healthcare than those who don’t.
Bring a list (0:15)
Give information to your health care provider
Tell them your history
Allergies
Past surgeries
Medications that you take
List of signs and symptoms you are currently experiencing.
Tell them other physicians or practitioners you are seeing
Get information from your health care provider
Ask questions
Take notes
Understand your diagnosis
Follow up
Know when tests and procedures are to be completed
You probably ask more questions about what sides come with your meal than you ask your doctor about your health. Remember, your doctor is there to help. Prepare a list of specific and general questions before every visit, so you’re sure to ask them.
Germs live everywhere – on humans, animals and in the environment around us. While we use our hands at work and school, when enjoying sports and hobbies, preparing food, and while caring for others or pets, we may also come into contact with lots of germs. Did you know that simple hand washing is the single best way to defend yourself and others against infections like the flu?
The main way that many illnesses are spread is from person to person. Also, viruses and bacteria can live for many hours on surfaces. Germs from coughs, sneezes, or from our skin or wounds can be deposited on surfaces like a cafeteria table, counter top, or doorknob. Contact with germs from other persons, surface and animals can spread when the eyes, mouth or nose are touched before washing hands.
So, wash your hands frequently throughout the day! Either soap and water or hand gels may be used for washing hands. At least 15 seconds of friction to all areas of the hands is needed to remove germs. Especially before food preparation and after restroom use, coughing or sneezing, playing with pets and any time hands appear soiled. So clean hands often and well!
You probably know to cover your cough or sneeze, but you shouldn’t use your hand to do it. Avoid spreading germs by coughing into a tissue or your arm, then by washing your hands. This keeps the germs off your hands.
The term “flu” is most accurately applied to In”flu”enza, which is an acute respiratory illness (onset 1-2 days) caused by the influenza group of viruses. Influenza A and B caused the vast majority of flu cases in humans. Each main group of A’s and B’s has several circulating strains.
There are two types of the flu broadly speaking.
“Seasonal” flu which occurs each year as the influenza viruses (both A and B) undergo slight genetic change and continue to place portions of the population at risk.
“Pandemic” flu which occurs every 10-40 years when one of the Influenza A viruses undergoes a big genetic change leaving large segments of the population at risk because of little or no immunity. We are currently in one of those pandemics (the first in 41 years) with the H1N1 virus spreading around the region, the nation and indeed the world.
Both seasonal flu and H1N1 flu look very similar to each other from a symptom standpoint and therefore can’t be distinguished strictly speaking on signs and symptoms alone. The great difference however, comes in which part of the population is affected with seasonal flu involving the very young and very old and H1N1 involving mainly those under 25 and sparing the elderly for the most part to date.
Both seasonal and H1N1 flu can be a severe infection even for otherwise healthy persons. The seasonal flu accounts for 36,000 deaths each year in the U.S. and the H1N1 flu has already caused over 1,000 deaths in the U.S. since its entry into our country in late April of this year. Certain groups of people are at increased risk for the complications of both seasonal and H1N1 flu, including:
Children under 5 years of age
Adults 65 or older
Pregnancy
Children under 19 who are on chronic aspirin therapy
Anyone at any age with a chronic medical condition or who has a compromised immune system.
persons who are in long term care facilities
Each year about 5-15% of the population gets the seasonal flu and 25-30% of the population is projected to come down with the H1N1 flu this year. In both forms of the flu the most common symptoms include fever, cough, sore throat, muscle aches, runny/stuffy nose and headache. Sometimes these flu viruses can cause a direct form of pneumonia, which can lead to respiratory distress and even failure. In other situations the flu virus can open the door for dangerous bacterial pathogens to enter the body like staph (staph aureus) and strep (strep pneumoniae and Grade A strep) resulting in overwhelming infection called sepsis.
Fortunately the great majority of persons recover from both the seasonal and H1N1 flu without complications or treatment, with the typical illness lasting a few days. Even those “few days,” however, may be miserable, causing time away from work or school because you are “flat on your back.”
Please contact your physician if you or your child come down with the flu and are in one of the increased risk categories mentioned above OR if your fever is prolonged (i.e.3 days or more), there are breathing difficulties, changes in mental status or signs of dehydration (weakness, lightheadedness, decreased urine output).
Flu Vaccine Myths (0:15)
Influenza vaccination is safe and effective with decades of research behind it. Persons who are at increased risk for the complications of the flu should get their vaccination every year and indeed everyone in the population is encouraged to consider the seasonal flu vaccine as usually there is more than enough vaccine to cover anyone who wishes to receive it. Those at increased risk for the complications of influenza (either seasonal or H1N1) are as follows:
Children under 5 years of age
Adults 65 or older
Pregnancy
Children under 19 who are on chronic aspirin therapy
Anyone at any age with a chronic medical condition or who has a compromised immune system.
persons who are in long term care facilities
Unfortunately there are some flu vaccine myths out there that have prevented people from getting their vaccine. While there are many myths that are grounded in truth, there are others that are grounded primarily in misperception and lack of understanding. The vaccine myths belong to this latter category.
Flu Vaccine Myth #1: “The vaccine can cause the flu.”
Answer: In the case of the injectable form of the vaccine, which is a killed virus, the answer is categorically NO for all persons. Killed viruses cannot cause “live” infections. In the case of the live attenuated vaccine called Flu-Mist, which is sprayed into the nostrils the answer is categorically NO for persons who are healthy, not pregnant and between the ages of 2 And 49. The flu-mist vaccine contains a weakened form of the virus, which could theoretically cause mild infection in those with impaired immune systems. Thus to be safe those persons are excluded.
Flu Myth #2: “The flu vaccine only lasts a few months.”
Answer: Again categorically NO. Both injectible and flu-mist versions protect out to 12 months and the flu-mist version within children can provide some protection even into the next flu season. There is no need for a mid-season “booster” and the earlier seasonal vaccine campaign this year will not affect the length of protection.
Flu Myth #3: “I don’t need the flu vaccine because I’ve never gotten the flu”
Answer: Remember that 5-15% of the population comes down with symptoms of the flu each season but many more likely are infected and either has an extremely mild case or no symptoms at all. Therefore, just because you do not recall having the flu does not mean you were not infected nor does it mean that you will continue to avoid having All who are infected, no matter how ill, will shed the virus beginning 24 hours or so prior to the onset of symptoms out to 7 days and beyond. The H1N1 virus appears to be shed even longer, perhaps out to 16 days. By you getting the vaccine you protect yourself and those around you. If high percentages of the population (90%) get the vaccine it creates a dead-end for the virus and we have what is termed “herd immunity”. This is one of the most remarkable contributions of vaccines to mankind with the drastic reduction of killers like measles, mumps, rubella, whooping cough, diphtheria, polio, small pox, Hemophilus influenza type B (causing ear infections, pneumonia and meningitis in children), and Meningococcal meningitis to name the most famous.
Flu Myth #4: “The flu shot didn’t work for me, I got the flu anyway”
Answer: This is a tougher one to answer but there are several factors to consider.
The “flu” that occurred was in fact not influenza but an unrelated respiratory virus in the community ie RSV, Parainfluenza, Adenovirus, Rhinovirus.
Some years the “match” of the influenza vaccine is not as good as others meaning that there are strains in the community not contained in the vaccine. Remember the components of the seasonal influenza vaccine include two influenza A strains and one influenza B strain. The method of making influenza vaccines is a 50 year old technology involving eggs which is where much of the problem occurs because of the time it takes to produce millions of doses. The specific flu strains are determined in February of each year with production completed by the end of July. The FDA then approves the vaccine for the upcoming flu season which typically begins around October 1 and lasts until May of the following year. Therefore, there is always a 6 month or so lag time which allows for certain strains that were not anticipated to become predominant. Generally speaking the vaccine experts are pretty good at this guessing process but it does argue for new and quicker ways to make these vaccines that do not require eggs.
The last possibility is that even if a person did get the flu vaccine it takes about 2 weeks for the body to develop an antibody response and therefore the person could have come down with the flu during this susceptible period.
