Season’s first Flu Case prompts reminder to get immunizations

Influenza has offi­cially shown up in Delaware County, along with signs that increas­ing num­bers of peo­ple are get­ting flu-like ill­nesses. It is time to get a sea­sonal flu shot if you haven’t already.

A lab­o­ra­tory test of an ill per­son con­firmed the season’s first reported case of flu in Delaware County this week, said Joyce Rich­mond R.N., the Delaware Gen­eral Health District’s Direc­tor of Nurs­ing. Mean­while, the last two weeks have seen an increase in emer­gency room and urgent care patients com­plain­ing of flu-like symp­toms locally. Over-the-counter sales of cough and cold med­ica­tions and throat lozenges in this area have also increased in recent weeks.

The Ohio Depart­ment of Health offi­cially describes flu as “spo­radic” now, but an early flu sea­son could be com­ing, Rich­mond said. “Unlike the cold viruses that are spread­ing out there, you can do some­thing about the flu. You can pro­tect your­self by get­ting a flu shot.” Rich­mond said. “We encour­age every­one to get one. It’s time to do it if you haven’t already.”

The Cen­ters for Dis­ease Con­trol and Pre­ven­tion rec­om­mend flu shots for every­one aged six months or older. Flu shots pro­tect the recip­i­ent from get­ting the flu, and pro­tect the com­mu­nity by pre­vent­ing its spread. Sup­plies of flu vac­cine are ample this season.

The Delaware Gen­eral Health Dis­trict Clinic at 3 West Win­ter Street in down­town Delaware has Quick Flu Clin­ics sched­uled every Wednes­day morn­ing from 7:30 a.m. to 12 noon through Decem­ber. Flu shots also are offered at Adult Walk-In Clin­ics every week­day from 7:30 to 9 a.m. at the same loca­tion, and at all reg­u­larly sched­uled adult and child­hood immu­niza­tion clin­ics and at “DGHD In Your Neigh­bor­hood” loca­tions. Phone the clinic at 740–203-2040 or go to < www.delawarehealth.org > for sched­ules or appointments.

Delaware Gen­eral Health Dis­trict flu clin­ics offer Flu­zone High Dose vac­cine to pro­vide extra pro­tec­tion to per­sons 65 and older, in addi­tion to the reg­u­lar sea­sonal flu shot. Also avail­able is Flu Mist nasal spray vac­cine for healthy per­sons aged 2–49.

Pneu­mo­nia shots are rec­om­mended for per­sons over 65 who have not received them already, younger per­sons with chronic health con­di­tions and smokers.

The DGHD accepts most pri­vate insur­ance plans for flu immu­niza­tions as well as Med­ic­aid, Medicare and Medicare Man­aged Care Plans. Flu shots cost $10 for chil­dren through age 18 and $20 for adults. Flu Mist costs $10 for chil­dren and $30 for adults. A slid­ing fee scale is avail­able that may reduce the cost.

Posted by Gary Henery on Nov 7 2012. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS Feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.