Influenza activity in Maine is widespread with laboratory
confirmed influenza reported in all counties. Influenza A/pH1N1, Influenza
A/H3, and influenza B have been confirmed in Maine indicating all three strains
are circulating. Maine CDC has followed up on six outbreaks of influenza
as of Tuesday, January 7th. Influenza vaccination is still strongly encouraged
and is widely available, especially to protect those persons at risk of severe
disease. The vaccine appears to be a good match to the circulating
strains this year, and it is not too late to get vaccinated.
For more information, see the
Health Alert from Dec. 26 about Early Reports of pH1N1-Associated
Illnesses for the 2013-14 Influenza Season at http://go.usa.gov/Zp6w and the Health Alert
from Jan. 8 about Widespread Influenza Activity in Maine at http://go.usa.gov/ZdAj
Weekly updates on flu activity
are available online:
- for Maine: http://go.usa.gov/NoK
- for the US: http://go.usa.gov/ITB
- for the world: http://go.usa.gov/ITK
In addition, people and
clinicians may review or anonymously report flu at www.flunearyou.org
Prevention
Take everyday preventive measures
against the flu:
- Wash your hands
frequently with soap and water, but especially after coughing and
sneezing. Alcohol-based hand gels can also be used.
- Avoid touching your
nose, mouth, and eyes. Germs can spread this way.
- Consult your health care provider about
getting a pneumococcal vaccine for anyone who is younger than 5, between
ages 5 and 64 with high risk conditions, or age 65 and older.
- Avoid contact with
sick people. If you are at very high risk for complications, you may
want to avoid large crowds.
Vaccination
There is still time to get vaccinated against the flu for this season. Full immunity develops 7-10 days after the vaccine is administered. To find locations where vaccine is available, contact your health care provider or pharmacy, call 211, or visit www.211maine.org or www.flu.gov
Maine CDC recommends that Health
Care Providers continue vaccinating to protect against influenza this
year. To ensure that vaccine is available for all Maine people who are
seeking it, please use the following as guidelines:
Health Care Providers should use
state-supplied vaccine for patients in the following circumstances:
- The patient is a child ages 6
months through 18 years;
- The patient is pregnant or the
partner of a pregnant patient;
- The patient's insurance does not
cover vaccinations;
- The patient is uninsured.
Health Care Providers may use state-supplied
vaccine for other patients only if:
- The Health Care Provider has
already vaccinated all eligible patients listed above and has excess
state-supplied vaccine; and
- Privately purchased vaccine is
not available.
Please remember that providers
may not charge for state-supplied vaccine. It is reasonable and allowable to
charge an administration fee for administration of state-supplied vaccine in
some circumstances provided that:
- MaineCare-eligible children are
not charged an out of pocket administration fee;
- Administration fees do not exceed
the regional Medicare maximum; and
- No one is denied vaccine because
of their inability to pay an administration fee.
Treatment
If you have the flu:
- Stay home if you
are sick, until you are fever-free for a full 24 hours without taking
fever-reducing medicine.
- Cough and sneeze
into your elbow or into a tissue. Throw the tissue away.
- Although most
people can stay home to recover without seeing a health care provider, it
is possible for healthy people to develop severe illness from the flu.
Anyone with the flu should seek medical attention for:
- Dehydration
- Trouble breathing
- Getting better,
then suddenly getting a lot worse
- Any major change
in condition
