DATE: Thursday, October 16, 1997            TAG: 9710160511
SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B5   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY PAT DOOLEY, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:   90 lines

ROLL UP YOUR SLEEVES: IT'S TIME TO CONSIDER GETTING FLU VACCINE

The Virginia Department of Health would like you to go for it.

Your flu shot, that is.

For the past two years, December has been prime flu season across the commonwealth.

You remember: the cough, sniffles, aches. Wanting to crawl under the covers and never come out.

The vaccine takes about two weeks to become effective. So now through November is the time to roll up your sleeve and take a jab.

Jean Fulcher, 69, has done it every year since she retired from teaching in Newport News in 1984.

Now living in Norfolk, Fulcher visited a flu-immunization clinic Wednesday at Mount Lebanon Church on Campostella Road. The clinic is one of several sponsored by the city's health department.

For $10, Fulcher received a cotton swabbing of alcohol on her upper left arm and the quick prick of a needle. ``It doesn't hurt,'' she said, pulling her jacket back on.

Fulcher believes getting the vaccines has kept her from getting sick - or at least has reduced her symptoms when she has.

Some people, she says, tell her the flu shot has given them the flu. Fulcher tells them that's a myth.

Angela McFadden, the registered nurse who administered Fulcher's shot, says she's right.

The vaccine, which is extracted from dead flu virus, does not cause flu. Some people may already be infected, however, and the injection will not stop flu once it has taken hold. Or, another strain of flu may be the culprit.

This year's vaccine is made up of three strains predicted to be in the United States, McFadden said.

But flu viruses are cagey. They can change their structure and mutate. ``It's not really something you can predict,'' said Dr. Nancy M. Welch, director of the Chesapeake Health Department.

Nor is there any way to know how severe the season will be.

So the warnings go out.

Children easily catch flu. They can be vaccinated as early as 6 months. Senior citizens and people with illnesses that weaken their immune systems, such as AIDS, are at risk for complications or even death from flu.

Because the virus spreads quickly, anyone who works or lives with people at risk also should be immunized, Welch said.

Health department clinics are held throughout the season. The $10 fee is less than what most private physicians may charge, said Dr. John Rullan, deputy director for the state health department's office of epidemiology. Medicare recipients receive the shots for free.

More people are getting flu shots nationwide every year, Rullan said.

A recent study showed that about 58 percent of people over 65 got flu shots in 1995, up from 49 percent two years earlier.

In Virginia, the numbers climbed from 46 percent to 52.5 percent. ``That's the highest ever,'' Rullan said.

Part of the reason is that Medicare, the federal health insurance for the elderly and disabled, has covered flu shots since 1994, he said. Also, health departments have stepped up their public-awareness efforts. Most hospitals, for example, ask elderly patients if they have been immunized.

It is difficult to estimate the number of people infected by the virus each year, Rullan said. Many people suffer the effects of flu - fever, muscle aches, coughing, runny nose - without seeing their doctor.

The health department relies on ``sentinel'' doctors scattered throughout the state to monitor when flu season strikes.

Like fire in a dry forest, flu spreads rapidly.

``When influenza arrives, it arrives,'' Rullan said.

Beware the handshake.

``Hand-washing is very important,'' he said.

If you get the flu, an antiviral called amantadine may lessen its effects, said Welch. But the vaccine - which prevents flu in about 70 percent of people under 60 - is the best protection, she said.

In people over 60 it may prevent or lessen symptoms.

But is also has resulted in 50 percent fewer hospitalizations from flu, and 80 percent fewer deaths among seniors, Welch said.

Because the standard vaccine contains egg protein, it is not given to people who are allergic to eggs. Another vaccine is available for those people, said McFadden, the Norfolk immunization-clinic nurse.

Local health departments also offer vaccines against pneumonia and recommend them for people at risk. Often available where flu shots are given, the pneumococcal immunization costs $19 and is covered by Medicare.

Those shots are recommended every five years, McFadden said. MEMO: [For a copy of FLU SHOT SITES, see microfilm.] ILLUSTRATION: LAWRENCE JACKSON/The Virginian-Pilot

Angela McFadden gives Bob Ferguson of Chesapeake a flu shot

Wednesday. The vaccine can keep the virus away, but if someone is

already infected, they likely will still suffer from flu symptoms.

Local health departments are offering a spate of immunization

clinics before the flu season gets in full swing.

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