A new flu subvariant is circulating, but physicians say that doesn’t mean this year’s vaccine is ineffective. It’s not so different from strains in prior years, they say.
Duke University professor Dr. Cameron Wolfe is an infectious diseases specialist with expertise in respiratory viruses. He said the best way to avoid hospitalization is to get your annual influenza vaccine.
“Your likelihood of getting a severe case, even if you get a case of the flu, is so much less. We look through our ICU cases of influenza, and they're almost universally unvaccinated individuals,” he said.
Receiving the vaccine is one of the recommended precautions to take before upcoming travel and visits with family and friends, which are likely to be indoors.
Wolfe said if you’re visiting older relatives who have chronic illnesses or are immunocompromised, think through the risks.
And that if symptoms such as fever, sore throat, and muscle aches persist for a few days in December or January, they may indicate influenza, but these symptoms may be less pronounced in healthy adults.
He also offered suggestions for what to do if a family member is sick and being around them is unavoidable.
“Separation in space, putting infected people in different rooms, being cautious about how you prepare food and drinks, and masking when you can't be separated, actually, the risk of transmission was much less than 50%. And I do think you can take good heart from the fact that statistically, if you're careful, most other people in the house won't get sick,” he said.
Duke University assistant professor Dr. Caroline Sloan is a general internist. She said it’s definitely time to see a physician when a person has shortness of breath, especially if they have a lung or heart condition, a cough that lingers for a while, or they've gotten better but then start to deteriorate again. The latter means they could have developed a bacterial infection.
Sloan adds that if a person has chronic conditions and is taking other medications, it’s important to consult a physician before using over-the-counter medicines for respiratory illnesses.
In addition to the influenza vaccine, essential vaccines for other illnesses include COVID-19, RSV, pertussis (Tdap), pneumonia, and shingles.
Wolfe said that his priorities for the winter are influenza, RSV, and COVID-19 vaccines.
“RSV is not a virus that we had a vaccine for until three or four years ago, and RSV does not mutate at the same pace that flu and Covid do. We now have really good data to say that there's a very clear age proportional risk that escalates significantly after people turn 75, so I don't think there's anyone in the community who's over 75 who shouldn't be getting an RSV shot,” he said.
One dose of the RSV vaccine will likely protect for at least two to three years.
“A very large chunk of our hospital admissions of older adults are actually RSV, and then they come in dehydrated or with pneumonia or other symptoms,” he said.
Shingles is not a mutating virus, and the vaccine is highly effective, according to Wolfe.
“I'm going to take away 95% or more of your risk of getting shingles; two doses, four to six months apart, and you're done for the rest of your life. That's recommended for individuals over 50,” he said.
Wolfe said that receiving multiple vaccines in a single visit does not diminish the effectiveness of any individual vaccine, plus it helps medical facilities — some of which are short staffed — serve more people, more efficiently.
“In fact, our body's immune system gets challenged by thousands of different things every day and copes entirely adequately,” he said.
Sloan said she wants the public also to be aware of norovirus. It’s a diarrheal illness that can cause diarrhea, nausea, and vomiting, and is highly contagious.
“So just make sure that you are washing your hands frequently, Purell and other kinds of lotion-based things for your hands that don't involve soap do not protect against norovirus,” she said.
Duke University: Other relevant links and experts related to health during the holidays
- Healthy Winter Travel Tips: https://www.dukehealth.org/blog/healthy-winter-travel-tips
- RSV: What Parents of Young Children Need to Know: https://www.dukehealth.org/blog/rsv-what-parents-of-young-children-need-know
- Get a Flu Vaccine to Protect Yourself Against the Flu: https://www.dukehealth.org/blog/why-you-need-flu-shot
- Three Immunizations for Children this Season Video: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/yU-whfHoheU
