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Melanie Cole (Host): Influenza is a serious disease and every flu season is different. Vaccination is one of the best ways you can protect yourself and your family from this potentially dangerous disease. My guest today is Kimberly Basham. She’s a registered nurse and Oroville Hospital’s Director of Infection Prevention and Control. Kimberly, explain a little bit about influenza and the devastating effect that it can have on individuals and really around the globe.

Kimberly Basham (Guest): Thank you, yes one of the things that we find with influenza that makes it considerably a sneakier illness is that you can actually spread the virus before you have symptoms yourself and that’s why it’s so important to have the flu vaccine and protect yourself so you can protect the others around you.

Melanie: How would you characterize the upcoming flu season? We know that last season was pretty nasty and not quite expected and we heard that the vaccine didn’t quite do what it was intended to do and as a result a lot of people made trips to the emergency room. It was a bad flu season. What are you expecting for this year?

Kimberly: I would expect this year to be quite similar to last year. The good thing about getting your flu vaccine is even if it’s not a perfect match on the strain, you will find that you will have less symptoms for less length of time for to be ill and it will help you from ending up in ICU or in a critical care situation.

Melanie: Then let’s talk about vaccination. First, who should be vaccinated?

Kimberly: We should have everyone vaccinated. I try to get as many people in the community vaccinated each year and six months on up, everyone needs to go out and get a vaccine. We do try to encourage our pregnant moms because they have such a high risk of having a problem with their baby and of course all our healthcare providers.

Melanie: Then you mentioned up to six months. What’s the best way to protect young children that are too young to receive that vaccine?

Kimberly: The best way to protect our children would be to limit their exposure to other people who could potentially be sick. It’s tough when you have a new baby in the house because everybody wants to pick up that child and love on that child and it’s just not the best thing for that baby until they get all of their protections on board. Good hand washing before and after children is a good preventative also.

Melanie: Kimberly, people wonder how these vaccines are made. How do they determine what they’re going to cover each different year?

Kimberly: They actually take a look at what’s happening in other countries. They take a look at what’s happening south of the equator prior to our flu season and try to make the best determination of the viruses that could potentially be coming into our area.

Melanie: And what are we looking at this year as far as the flu strain that we’re expecting because as we said last year, you know the vaccinations don’t always match up and also there was no nasal mist last year. So what’s different now?

Kimberly: I think we’re going to see the nasal mist not be available in the future years. I know it can be somewhat problematic as that does have live vaccine in it, but with our regular vaccine, we have to remember that even if it’s not an exact match of the strain that’s coming in, it will be beneficial for patients to get hat vaccine to reduce their symptoms of the virus that’s causing them problems.

Melanie: So you can still get the flu even if you have been vaccinated, it just may not be as severe?

Kimberly: Correct, and that is extremely important when you’re looking at hospitals that are already busy with the different seasonal illnesses.

Melanie: Kimberly, what do you tell people when they ask you about herd immunity and they say well I don’t want to get the vaccine but most of the people around me will so I’m fine.

Kimberly: Well when you’re looking at things that have different strains and you’re looking at other people are going to protect you, I think that it is not the safest method. You need to step up and protect yourself, protect your family members and be a part of the herd. You really do.

Melanie: Then let’s talk a little bit about if you do get the flu. How do we know the difference between a cold and the flu and even possibly an allergy and then what do you recommend? I mean you’re a registered nurse and the Director of Infection Prevention and Control. What if you do get the flu and how do you know that that’s what you have?

Kimberly: I think the best thing to protect yourself and others is if when you start feeling sick, when you start having a fever over say 100.5, you need to limit your exposure to people around you. Don’t go stand in the lines if you’re already sick if you can help it because we want to contain that to your residence, to your home if you are sick. We take a look at folks coming to work as far as health care providers go because they want to be here and they want to help, but we don’t want them here if they’re not feeling well, and again with the flu and the flu viruses, you can spread the flu and not be sick. So hand washing, avoid the contact with the masses, and try to stay as healthy as possible.

Melanie: If you do get the flu, Kimberly, how long are you contagious and is there any medication that you recommend? I mean does Tamiflu work or is it just pretty much over-the-counter symptom remedy, just try and rest and keep hydrated?

Kimberly: Tamiflu is an excellent product and yes it does work. It’s something that you want to take early on. You have to remember with the flu, you’re going to have that vomiting, diarrhea, and elevated temperature, so when you’re looking at getting treatment for that when you have that triad of symptoms, that’s when you want to go to your clinic and see if you can get the Tamiflu product early on.

Melanie: And how long are you contagious?

Kimberly: Well remember, you’re contagious before you have symptoms. So you can have three days before you develop symptoms, you can be spreading this virus and then without the Tamiflu product and going through it, you can be contagious for another 10 to 12 days.

Melanie: Wow and it’s certainly nasty if you’ve ever had the flu. It is just such a horrible feeling. So wrap it up Kimberly, what would you like the listeners to know about the importance of getting that flu shot, and not just this year, but every year and then importance of making sure that those that they love and those around them also get this flu vaccine?

Kimberly: Well the flu vaccine is our best method to protect ourselves and protect the people we love. Handwashing, like your mother always told you, it’s so important when you’re out in the community and you’re doing things, try to keep the hand sanitizer around. Be careful not to touch your face when you’re touching surfaces around you without doing the hand sanitizer in between, and remember hugs are wonderful but maybe not during flu season and do everything you can to protect the people around you.

Melanie: That’s great information. Thank you so much for joining us and explaining how the vaccine is made and the importance of getting that flu shot every year. You’re listening to Growing Healthy Together, a podcast by Oroville Hospital. For more information, please visit orovillehospital.com, that’s orovillehospital.com. This is Melanie Cole. Thanks so much for listening.