Flu symptoms should not be fobbed off. Influenza kills about 400 New Zealanders a year. Yet the threat of other illnesses such as measles and meningitis are often taken more seriously.
Flu has put its claws into Hawke's Bay this winter. Doctors are seeing a huge spike in flu-like illness with the number of cases doubling over the past seven days. Shortness of breath and chest infections are leading to more elderly being hospitalised, chief medical officer John Gommans says.
A University of Otago study last year looked at influenza-associated deaths in New Zealand. Not surprisingly it found the elderly to be hardest hit by influenza with 86 per cent of deaths occurring in those people aged 65 years or older.
But young people too were at risk. Those under the age of 65 with specified medical conditions, pregnant women and children under the age of 5 with a history of significant respiratory illness were also vulnerable to influenza. While the study revealed that most of who died, were killed by other illnesses, they were triggered by influenza. If these people had been immunised against influenza it could have prevented this. Although we're in the middle of a chilly winter, it's not too late to get an influenza vaccine. The vaccine is free for many people with chronic illnesses until the end of July. Pregnant women are also funded for the injection which is effective in preventing influenza and its complications in both women and child for a short time after birth.
So, if you don't want the aches and pains get down to your GP and get the jab.
