Each year, influenza (flu) and its complications cause thousands of children to be hospitalized, and nearly 100 children die.
“Many parents do not realize how serious influenza can be. The easiest and best way to protect children from this potentially deadly disease is yearly vaccination,” said Dr. Carol Baker, a pediatric infectious diseases specialist and executive director of the Center for Vaccine Awareness and Research at Texas Children’s Hospital.
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that all infants and children age 6 through 18 years get vaccinated yearly against flu. Since flu vaccine cannot be given to infants less than 6 months of age, it is particularly important for every family member and childcare provider of a baby to be vaccinated.
A serious disease
Influenza is much more than a minor illness.
- Infants 6 to 23 months of age who develop flu are hospitalized as often as elderly people who get the disease.
- Children between the ages of 2 and 5 with influenza have more trips to physicians and more prescriptions for antibiotics.
- Parents whose children get the flu miss more days from work.
“People often confuse influenza with other fall and winter virus infections that cause fever and cold symptoms, but flu can be much more serious," Baker said. "Flu may cause higher fevers and seizures, and it lasts longer. A usually healthy child may be ill for at least a week and fatigued for up to two weeks. Flu may also have serious complications including pneumonia and secondary bacterial infections, such as the “super bug” (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus or MRSA)."
Flu can be prevented by vaccination with the flu shot (anyone age 6 months and older) or the flu nasal spray vaccine (healthy people aged 2 to 49 years). Children younger than 9 years who are receiving a flu vaccine for the first time or who had only one dose the prior year need two influenza vaccinations. The first dose prepares the immune system, and the second dose causes protection ten days to two weeks later.
Protect your child and family
Infants and young children are at greater risk for serious influenza than adults, and they are more likely to spread the virus. Children with flu can spread flu germs two days before their symptoms appear and for 10 days after. In contrast, adults are contagious one day before symptoms appear and five days after illness onset. Only vaccination can prevent spread to other family members.
Baker said an estimated 115 million doses of the flu vaccine -- the same as in 2008-2009 -- are available this year. Houston health care providers have had the vaccine since September and will continue to get shipments until the end of the year.
“Although flu vaccination should begin as soon as vaccine is available, it can continue after the holidays into March,” Baker said. "It’s almost never too late to be vaccinated."
In the past decade, influenza cases in the United States have peaked in February 60 percent of the time.
“Every year millions of vaccine doses are discarded and millions of children remain unprotected,” Baker said. "Be sure to protect your family this year."
For more information about influenza and influenza vaccine, please visit:
Parent Resource Center's Cold and flu season resources and www.PreventChildhoodInfluenza.org
