Flu Season 2001-2002

February 1, 2002 - Two news stories relating to the current influenza season:

• New research has found an association between flu vaccination and a lower risk of stroke in some men and women older than 60. Story from Reuters Health/Yahoo. (link is no longer available)
  
  
  
• The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is warning that the mild flu season may gain strength. Story from Reuters Health/Yahoo. (link is no longer available)

December 8, 2001 - The flu season has started slowly in the US this year according to researchers at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Story from Reuters/Yahoo. (link is no longer available)

November 7, 2001 - The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is providing an abbreviated version of their new booklet "Updated: Detection and Control of Influenza Outbreaks in Acute Care Facilities 2001" via the Internet. Click here to view.

Here is the latest weekly report on the spread of influenza this season. As of October 27, only Alaska was reporting "regional" activity.

California, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Tennessee, Texas, West Virginia, and Wyoming), New York City, and Washington, DC reported sporadic activity.

October 23, 2001 - Dialysis patients and healthcare workers are reminded that they should receive the influenza vaccine now. Story from WebMD.

October 9, 2001 - Healthy people are now being told that they should wait until December to get vaccinated so that the people who are at high risk for complications get their vaccine in October and November. (link is no lonber available)

Health care workers should be vaccinated now.

September 27, 2001 - Recommendations for influenza vaccination giving the elderly, chronically ill, and health care workers immunization priority through the end of October went into effect this week. Individuals over 64 years old and those with chronic health conditions should receive the flu vaccine between now and October 31st. Those who do not fall into the high risk category should refrain from being vaccinated until November.

Here is the Flu Season web site from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Here is the Infectious Diseases: Influenza information page from the CDC.

This week's issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) has an abstract entitled, "Racial Disparity in Influenza Vaccination".


[This message has been edited by Gary Peterson (edited 04-18-2002).]