Flu season is at its peak in February. Many individuals across the nation are ill because of this year’s virus strain.
Down with the Flu: Student and professors across campus have been infected with the flu, which comes with symptoms like fever, cough and body aches. Pictured above: Justin Jinks, a junior in English education. Lindsey Davidson / ASSISTANT PHOTO EDITOR
Urgent Care of Auburn has been treating approximately 50 to 75 cases of the flu per day, said Chuck Britton, registered nurse. All ages, from infant to the elderly, have been coming in for treatment.
“Most individuals have been suffering from fever, cough, sneezing as well as aches and pains,” said Amanda Elkins, a registered nurse at the AU Medical Clinic.
“I had the flu for about a week and a half,” said Candice Legrone, a senior in poultry science. “It’s definitely not something I want to repeat. I did not get vaccinated, but now I will always get my flu shot. I am still not 100 percent better.”
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Web site, the strain shifted during the 2007-2008 flu season from influenza A (H1N1) to influenza A (H3N2), which is a more severe strain.
“One flu strain will go through the population one year and based upon mutation of the virus, an educated guess about what the flu strain is going to mutate to can be made,” said Alfred Brown, professor of microbiology. “That’s how (the CDC) bases their decision to produce a particular vaccine. Usually they are pretty good, they hit the mark, but once in a while, the virus fools them because it is a biological entity, and it changes in a way that they didn’t anticipate.”
If the vaccine that is produced is not the same as the mutated strain for that year, the flu shot will not be as effective.
“It is my understanding that’s why this particular epidemic is occurring at this time,” Brown said. “They made a prediction or an educated guess on which strain was going to occur this particular year, and they may have missed it slightly as a result of the virus changing.”
Brown said viruses have spikes or proteins on their surfaces which bind to chemicals on the host cells (human cells). These spikes are the things that change with strains.
Brown said one of the main issues with the influenza virus, in addition to its ability to mutate, is that animal strains can combine with human strains, which is called a mosaic virus. This provides additional complications in creating an effective vaccine.
“The flu is much more prone to change, and because of this, it’s much more difficult to control in terms of vaccination,” Brown said. “The Great Flu Epidemic of 1918 that killed all those people worldwide was an avian strain. That’s why there is this concern about the present bird flu in the far East. If it gets loose and can be passed from human to human, we might have the same problem again in terms of a major pandemic over the world.”
The flu’s main form of transmission is person-to-person contact.
“By having direct contact with someone who is infected or by touching something that the infected person has touched such as a handkerchief, a glass or a pencil, you have the potential for picking up the virus,” Brown said. “The best way to prevent (the flu), besides being vaccinated, is to use precautionary methods such as washing your hands, because the influenza virus has a lipid membrane which can be degraded by detergents, soap.”
According to CDC’s Web site, there have been several co-infections between the influenza and Staphylococcus aureus. Individuals are contracting staph infections because their immune systems are weakened from the influenza. The CDC has issued a Health Advisory for this co-infection.
It is not too late to be vaccinated for the virus since the flu season can extend into March. Urgent Care still has the vaccine available. The AU Medical Clinic has been out of the vaccine since the fall.
“Because the viruses resemble each other, you can be vaccinated and still have some protection even if there is a mutation in the strain,” Brown said. “But it is not as preventative (as having the appropriate vaccine for a certain strain).”
For more information on the 2007-2008 flu virus, go to the CDC’s Web site at http://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/qa/season.htm
