Based on who has been hardest hit by the H1N1 virus to date, the CDC has set up priority groups for local health departments, hospitals and physicians to follow in vaccinating the public against H1N1. This list assumes sufficient doses to vaccinate everyone eligible for vaccine in this group. As long as there is a vaccine shortage, not everyone in this group can receive vaccine. In Huron County we are prioritizing based on which groups are most at risk for serious complications from H1N1 flu. Below is the list of CDC priority groups and why each group was given priority to receive H1N1 vaccine.

• Pregnant women—because they are more likely to develop serious complications from H1N1, and vaccinating pregnant women can potentially provide protection to infants who cannot be vaccinated until they are 6 months old
• Household contacts and caregivers for children younger than 6 months of age—because they can infect infants too young to themselves be vaccinated. Young infants are at higher risk of influenza-related complications. Vaccine cannot be given to infants under 6 months. Therefore, the best way to protect infants is to keep the virus out of their environment by protecting those who care for them
• Healthcare and emergency medical services personnel—because infections among healthcare workers is likely as they have close contact with patients with influenza. Infected healthcare workers can be a potential source of infection for vulnerable patients. Also, increased absenteeism in this population could reduce the capacity of the healthcare system at a time when their services are needed most
• All people from 6 months through 24 years of age
  • Children from 6 months through 18 years of age because cases of 2009 H1N1 influenza have been seen in children who are in close contact with each other in school and day care settings, which increases the likelihood of disease spread
  • Young adults 19 through 24 years of age because many cases of 2009 H1N1 influenza have been seen in these healthy young adults and they often live, work, and study in close proximity, and they are a frequently mobile population
• Persons aged 25 through 64 years who have health conditions associated with higher risk of medical complications from influenza.
  
  

The Huron County General Health District has received a small amount of H1N1 vaccine. We are holding vaccination clinics throughout the county for those who are most likely to get H1N1 and/or develop complications. Bigger counties have received more vaccine and may be able to vaccinate more groups. In Huron County, we are closely following the CDC priority groups to protect our most vulnerable residents. There are roughly 36,000 Huron County residents eligible to receive H1N1 vaccine in Tier 1 (all of CDC’s target priority groups listed above). The health department has received a total of 720 nasal spray doses and 800 flu shot doses of H1N1 vaccine to date. Because vaccine has been so scarce, the Huron County General Health District followed the CDC’s guidance on priority groups during a vaccine shortage. The vaccination strategy for Huron County is designed to first protect those groups most likely to develop serious complications from H1N1 infection. Those groups are:

• Pregnant women
• Children 6 months to 4 years old
• Children 5-18 years old with underlying medical conditions
• Healthcare workers and EMTs with close patient contact. This group does not include clerical and other staff who are not required to perform exams and procedures that require close patient contact. Again, healthcare workers are vaccinated to prevent the spread of H1N1 from influenza patients to patients with underlying medical conditions or weak immune systems who may be more vulnerable to complications
• Household contacts and caregivers of infants less than 6 months old. This group is vaccinated for the protection of the infants they are caring for who are more vulnerable to flu complications.

Once we have taken care of the most vulnerable residents, we will offer vaccine to other CDC priority groups (in order of risk) based on CDC data and guidance.

 

Only pregnant women, children 6 months to 4 years old, children with underlying medical conditions 5 to 18 years old, healthcare workers with direct patient contact, and caregivers of infants less than 6 months old will be vaccinated at this time. All others will be turned away.

View the H1N1 Vaccine Clinic Schedule for Huron County

Clinics were held at New London High School on Monday, October 26, 2009 and at South Central Elementary School on Wednesday, October 28, 2009. Additional clinics will be scheduled throughout Huron County. Future clinics will be announced after more vaccine is received.

 

The schedule of H1N1 vaccine clinics are posted at the Huron County General Health District website, www.huroncohealth.com, and at the Ohio Department of Health H1N1 vaccine website, www.h1n1vaccine.odh.ohio.gov. You can send an email this address (h1n1@huroncohealth.com) weekly to get an updated email message with the latest H1N1 and vaccine information.

Finally, you can receive text message or email alerts by pre-registering to receive vaccine at www.h1n1vaccine.odh.ohio.gov. Once you have pre-registered, print and bring your pre-registration form with you to the vaccine clinic. Pre-registering does not guarantee you vaccine, but it may speed your wait. Pre-registered children 6 months to 9 years of age who need two doses of vaccine to be protected from H1N1 flu, will receive an alert when the second dose is due. Those who do not pre-register will not receive personalized second dose notification because we will not have your email or cell phone number.

 

H1N1 vaccines are free through the Huron County General Health District. The vaccine was paid for by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

 

A vaccine is a substance made up of dead or weakened germs that are intentionally put into a person’s body to train his or her immune system to recognize and fight that germ without making the person sick.  If the immunized person is later exposed to that germ, their body can either kill the germs to prevent infection or prevent the germs from doing damage to the body.

 

The H1N1 vaccine is a vaccine designed to prevent those who get the vaccine from getting sick with H1N1 flu if they are later exposed to the H1N1 virus. Clinical trials of the vaccine are concluding. Those trials indicate safety and effectiveness comparable to that of seasonal flu vaccine.

Children 6 months through 9 years must receive two doses of vaccine given 1 month apart to be fully protected against H1N1. People 10 years old and older need only one dose. Most people will get shots with inactivated (dead) virus in them.  Some people can opt to have the live attenuated (weakened) intranasal (nose spray) H1N1 vaccine.

People able to get the nasal spray vaccine are:

• Between 2 and 49 years old,
• Healthy with no underlying lung, heart or kidney conditions,
• Not pregnant,

And do not:

• Have an immunodeficiency disease or are on immunosuppressive treatment.
• Have close contact with those who are extremely immunosuppressed.

With all flu vaccines, you should consult your doctor about your ability to get the H1N1 vaccine, especially if you:

• Have an allergy or hypersensitivity, including anaphylaxis, to any of the parts of flu vaccine or to eggs.
• Have experienced Guillain–Barré Syndrome after receiving flu vaccine.

 

It is confusing to think that seniors are less at risk than children or younger adults.  H1N1 is different than seasonal flu.  Seasonal flu typically strikes seniors harder than healthy young people.  But H1N1 has done just the opposite, striking young people far more than those over 64. 

What we have seen from the novel H1N1 virus so far suggests that those over 65 will likely be spared the brunt of H1N1.  We are not entirely sure why those 65 and older are less likely to get H1N1.  It is believed that seniors have limited immunity from related types of H1N1 that circulated over four decades ago, and that the older a person is, the more exposure they have had to different types of influenza over their lifetime.  Older people have likely been exposed to and fought off a similar type of flu (like a “distant cousin” to this 2009 H1N1 flu). The more an immune system has fought off flu, the more fit an immune system is for its next fight with the flu.  We do know that those under 64, particularly those under 25, have been more likely to get novel H1N1.  Therefore, it is important that children and young adults get vaccine as soon as it is available. 

For more information 2009 H1N1 flu vaccine and seniors, click here.

 

H1N1 symptoms are the same as seasonal flu symptoms. Symptoms include fever of 100F or higher, headache, extreme tiredness, dry cough, sore throat, runny or stuffy nose, and body aches. Some children and a few adults also get nausea, vomiting or diarrhea with influenza. People with flu may have just a few or all of these symptoms.

 

For most people, your body will fight off the flu within several days.  If you have the flu, you should rest, drink plenty of clear liquids (water, juice, jello, popsicles, etc.) and take medicine (like acetaminophen or ibuprofen) as directed to treat your symptoms.  

If you have severe illness or you are at high risk for flu complications, including pregnant women, and those with asthma, diabetes, or heart disease, contact your health care provider or seek medical care. Your health care provider will determine whether flu testing or treatment is needed. Be aware that if the flu becomes widespread, less testing will be needed, so your health care provider may decide not to test for the flu virus.

Children under 18 years old should NOT take aspirin or aspirin-containing products (e.g., Bayer Children’s ChewableTM), as this can cause a rare serious illness called Reye’s Syndrome.

If you have these warning signs, seek immediate medical care

Children:

• Fast breathing or trouble breathing   
• Bluish skin color
• Not keeping down enough fluids
• Not waking up or not interacting
• So irritable child doesn’t want to be held   
• Flu-like symptoms improve but return with fever and worse cough
• Fever with a rash

Adults:

• Difficulty breathing or shortness of breath
• Pain or pressure in the chest or abdomen 
• Sudden dizziness
• Confusion
• Severe or persistent vomiting

HELP OTHERS STAY WELL

Everyone must do their part to prevent the spread of the flu.  If you are sick, you can protect others:

• Stay home and away from others as much as possible until you have been free of fever and all other symptoms for 24 hours without the use of Tylenol, ibuprofen or other .
• Wash your hands a lot. Use hand sanitizer when you cannot get to a sink.
• Cough and sneeze into a tissue or the crook of your arm.
• Get help if you care for children, senior citizens or those at risk for flu complications.  Minimize your contact with them while you are sick.  Use a face mask if you must care for someone vulnerable to the flu.
• Rest and recover in a room (like a bedroom) away from the rest of the family.
• Don’t share food, drinks or eating utensils.

If you are taking care of someone with the flu, you can protect yourself and the rest of your family from the flu by:

• Designating one person to care for the patient.
• Washing your hands thoroughly and often.
• Avoiding touching your mouth and eyes until after you have washed your hands.
• Wiping down surfaces with a disinfectant.

 

Keep flu out of your body:

• Wash your hands before meals and throughout the day.  Use soap and warm running water.  Lather well for 15-20 seconds (roughly the length of time it takes to sing the ABC song).  Teach your children how to wash their hands and help them wash until they get the habit down.
• Avoid unnecessary contact with people who have the flu.
• Keep your hands out of your mouth and eyes or you have given any flu germs on your hands a way into your body!
• Use a face mask (they can be purchased at drug stores and hardware stores) when you must have contact with someone who has the flu.

Take extra good care of your immune system:

• Eat healthy.  Good nutrition, including fruits and vegetables, boosts your body’s ability to fight germs.  To learn more about what foods your body needs visit MyPyramid.gov.
• Get exercise.  Physical activity also boosts your body’s immune system.  To learn more about how much exercise you need visit the Physical Activity Page at cdc.gov.
• Get plenty of rest.  Your body works best when it has gotten the sleep it needs.  To learn more about how much sleep your body needs visit the Sleep and Sleep Disorders Page at cdc.gov.

If you are taking care of someone with the flu, protect yourself and the rest of the family:

• Designate one person to care for the patient.
• Wash your hands thoroughly and often.
• Avoid touching your mouth and eyes until after you have washed your hands.
• Wipe down surfaces with a disinfectant.

 

As of 11/2/2009, Huron County is experiencing an increase in flu-like illness, increased visits to doctors and emergency rooms with flu symptoms, and increased absences in schools and businesses. Some of those who are ill have tested positive for influenza A. H1N1 flu is a type of influenza A. Because the most common type of flu circulating right now is H1N1, many of those who test positive for influenza A have 2009 H1N1 flu. 2009 H1N1 flu is not more severe than regular seasonal flu. Very few people are tested specifically for H1N1. To date, 2 Huron County residents have tested positive for 2009 H1N1 flu.

 

In the spring, the CDC recommended that schools close for H1N1 influenza because little was known about how severe this brand new type of flu would be. Now that public health officials have studied H1N1 flu  and know that it is mild to moderate in severity, they recommend schools remain open unless absences among teachers and staff make that impossible.

The best way to keep students safe and healthy is to keep sick children at home to recover and to keep well children in school to learn. This way, we are separating those who are ill from those who are well.

When a child is in school, they interact with the same classroom of kids each day. When school is cancelled, those children may go to a new babysitter, stay with relatives or friends, play in the neighborhood, or go to the mall. These new interactions create the opportunity for new exposures.

 The key to making that system work is for parents to keep sick children home.

Schools are working with the health department to prevent the spread of flu by:

• reporting absences to identify outbreaks of flu,
• disinfecting classrooms and facilities,
• sending sick children and staff home,
• adding lessons on hand washing and covering coughs and sneezes,
• adding hand washing breaks before meals and snacks,
• communicating with parents on what they can do to prevent flu, and
• hosting H1N1 vaccine clinics.

Parents can help prevent the spread of flu by:

• training their children on regularly and thoroughly washing hands,
• getting their children vaccinated when they are eligible to receive the H1N1 vaccine,
• keeping sick children home until they are fever and symptom free for 24 hours without medication or otherwise directed by their physician.

Because schools will send sick children home, working parents should make a plan for who will pick up and watch their children if they are sick and cannot go to or stay at school.

 

On June 11th, 2009 the World Health Organization (WHO) declared a worldwide pandemic alert Phase 6. The pandemic phases are determined based upon how widespread the virus is, not on how severe the disease is. Phase 6 means that two or more countries in two or more WHO regions in the world are experiencing community level outbreaks. Simply, a pandemic means a disease (in this case influenza) is circulating all over the world.  A pandemic is more a measure of how disease spreads than of how dangerous or deadly a disease is. A flu that spreads easily but is not severe (like with 2009 H1N1) can cause a pandemic of influenza.

The severity of disease, on the other hand, is determined by the number of severe illnesses and deaths it causes. Flu can be very severe but not spread easily (like with H5N1 “bird flu”) and never be a pandemic flu.

For flu to be pandemic it must be widespread but it does not have to be severe.
Currently the H1N1 virus is considered a mild to moderate severity flu. Most people who get this type of flu recover from the infection without the need to seek medical care. Overall, levels of illness are comparable to seasonal flu, and most hospitals have not experienced an increase in emergency room visits and admissions that they cannot handle. The severity of H1N1 can change over time.

Influenza is always a concern.  On average, 36,000 people die from seasonal flu and its complications each year.  On average, 200,000 people are hospitalized with influenza-related complications each year. Click here to learn more about influenza including how to prevent it.

There are special concerns with pandemic flu.  First, there is extra concern because of how easily a brand new type of flu spreads.  It spreads easily because the population has little to no natural immunity or vaccine immunity to it.  So, it is likely that many more people will get sick.  Second, this new H1N1 infects children and young adults more than older people.  Third, it seems to hit young previously healthy people, pregnant women, and people with pre-existing medical conditions especially hard.  Finally, because the virus is a new flu, it is more difficult to predict how the virus may change (i.e. will illness become more or less severe, will it become resistant to antiviral medicine).