Flu can lead to complications

Dr. Conrado Sioson confers with a patient.

As Dr. Conrado Sioson heads into a flu season each winter, he always hopes for the best.

Sioson, a board certified internal medicine physician at the Medical Clinic, has many patients who should receive the flu shot.

“I am hoping that this flu season is not going to be bad,” he says.

The flu or influenza is transmitted by airborne droplets. Though it often is confused with the common cold, the flu is a more severe ailment, Dr. Sioson says. “It poses a greater risk, particularly in the very old, the very young and people with certain diseases that depress the immune system, such as liver disease, heart disease, diabetes and blood disorders,” he says.

“You worry about some patients because the flu can lead to complications, such as a secondary bacterial infection. Healthy people do a better job of fighting off the flu.”

During flu season, physicians like Dr. Sioson are reminding patients to take common sense precautions to avoid the flu and to seek treatment as soon as flu symptoms present themselves. “You are infectious when you have the flu,” he says. “Stay home to avoid its spread. Wash your hands often and cover your nose and mouth when you cough or sneeze.”

Use common sense during flu season Here are some good health habits from the U.S. Center for Disease Control: Avoid close contact with people who are sick. When you are sick, keep your distance from others to protect them from getting sick, too. Stay home when you’re sick. Cough or sneeze into a tissue or even your upper sleeve, but not your hands. Put your used tissue in the wastebasket. Clean your hands. Washing your hands often, particularly after coughing or sneezing will help protect you from germs. Wash your hands with soap and warm water or clean them with an alcohol-based hand cleaner. Avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth. Germs are often spread when a person touches something that is contaminated with germs and then touches his or her eyes, nose or mouth.

Flu symptoms include a high-grade fever and body aches all over. Symptoms, though similar to the common cold, typically are more intense.

For example, you probably have only a cold if you have a runny nose, sneezing, sore throat, mild muscles aches and weakness, and/or a mild hacking cough. A fever is rare in adults, but can be as high as 102 in children.

It’s more likely that you have the flu if your symptoms include a fever over several days, sudden onset of headache, more severe muscle aches, exhaustion and a cough that becomes severe. The fatigue and cough can linger more than two weeks, even after the other symptoms subside.

“If you think you have the flu, call your physician for an appointment so he can assess your condition and begin treatment as soon as possible,” Dr. Sioson says. Your doctor can do a flu screening, swab your nose and do a lab test while you are at the clinic, he says.

Beginning treatment early shortens the course of the flu and can prevent complications with secondary bacterial infections, Dr. Sioson says.

The bad news this winter was the lack of flu vaccine for everyone who needed and wanted to get a flu shot. However, the publicity from the shortage may help in the long run, Dr. Sioson points out.

“It raised the public’s awareness and education about the importance of the flu shot. Maybe next year more people will get the shot.”