Dr Dillner's health dilemmas: should I have the flu vaccine?

official figures show that more people take the opportunity to have the vaccine against the flu, but is it safe?

Nobody wants to get the flu, especially not swine flu is still around this season, according to the center of the WHO global influenza surveillance. Influenza is caused by a number of viruses and the center of WHO identifies which are most likely to cause the flu each year and makes vaccines that correspond to them. Jab this year protects against three types: H1N1 (swine flu), H3N2 and influenza B. usually causes a week or more unpleasant symptoms such as sudden high fever, cough, chest, chills, fatigue and joint pain and sore throat and diarrhea. However, complications such as pneumonia (possibly fatal) can occur in certain groups of people. The Department of Health recommends the vaccine for everyone over 65, everyone over six months with heart, lung, kidney or liver disease, diabetes, neurological disease (and others), all pregnant women , people in nursing homes for the elderly, caring for elderly or disabled people and social workers and health.

dilemma:

• If you are not in high-risk groups, you can always think that you should be vaccinated against influenza. But if you are pregnant, may become anxious about how safe the vaccine. You might think that because swine flu is more virulent than seasonal flu, the vaccine should be less secure in some way. You might think that the vaccine against the flu give you flu symptoms. On the other hand, you may be afraid of the flu coughs child everything the bus. The figures show that a significant number of people have been vaccinated against flu last year - nearly 40% of pregnant women and 75% of people over 65 but less than 50% of people with chronic diseases. Less than 40% of physicians had. So you can be sure that it should or should not have?

The solution:

If you are not in a high-risk group who do not need the vaccine. The vaccine is not "alive" (which is inactivated), which means that you can not get the flu from it and the symptoms are probably a bit of fever and pain in the arm. No less insurance to protect against swine flu - the vaccine is inactive, it has always in it. According to David Salisbury, director of immunization at the Department of Health: "In the U.S., has been routine for several years for pregnant women a vaccine against seasonal flu and we were on our way whether pregnant women should be vaccinated before the swine flu pandemic. "Therefore, regardless of swine flu, all pregnant women should be vaccinated against influenza. Swine flu increases the risk of dying from pregnancy to seven times more than usual risks, but, of Salisbury, he said, the one who decides is the real proof of the vaccine also protects the baby -. For the season

If you had a stroke last year is another year. It takes up to 10 days for the vaccine to work and for your body produces antibodies to protect against the flu virus. So if you are in a high-risk group, what are you waiting for?