Flu season | Napa Valley Register

Pandemic is a scary word.

Sounds like an unstoppable force, invisible, beyond our powers to control. Some of that is true with the spread of H1N1. But some of it is not.

When Napa County Public Health Officer Dr. Karen Smith and her colleagues visited the Register editorial board earlier this month, she pointed out that the word pandemic applies to the spread of H1N1 because the virus is moving rapidly around the world and because we humans have little natural immunity to it.

Yet Smith emphasized that the H1N1 pandemic has not remotely resembled the most infamous pandemic, the 1918 Spanish influenza, in a key measure: the human toll. In less than a year the Spanish flu took at least 22 million lives around the world, possibly twice as many. It killed nearly 700,000 in the United States alone.

As we head into flu season in the northern hemisphere, the swine flu has taken about 1,000 lives in the United States and 5,000 around the world, according to the World Health Organization.

When it strikes most of us, it can be mild. Dr. Smith told us that a substantial minority of people in Napa County probably have had the virus already.

That got me to thinking about the past few months in the Register newsroom.

That reporter felt low for a few days as something was passed from one of her family members to another. She stayed home.

That editor over there was coughing as though she’d suddenly gotten hooked on Tiparillos. She stayed home.

That page designer came in one day with the color drained from her face, then dropped out for a few days.

Was it? Could it be? Had the pandemic hit the newsroom?

The answer is: probably. All in all, not so bad. Newsroom colleagues, I mean no insult when I say perhaps the biggest contribution you’ve made lately is to have stayed away at the right time.

Another curiosity about this pandemic is that while immunity is low among the general population, it is relatively high among older people.

As Smith explained it, the common flu mutates a little each year as it goes from hand to hand and land to land. This year’s flu is never genetically the same as last year’s.

So if you’ve been around for a lot of flu seasons, you’ve collected up a lot of immunity — and since it is in your body instead of your retirement account or the stock market, you are at no risk of losing it.

“If you are 65, you’ve seen a lot of viruses,” Smith said cheerfully. “That helps.”

7 comment(s)

JustAnotherManicMonday wrote on Oct 28, 2009 9:31 AM:

" Am worried about my kids. Harvest Pediatrics is out of both regular and H1N1 vaccine. Had an appointment tomorrow for my son and had to cancel. Anyone else have flu or H1N1 shots anywhere else? I worry about my son, he's 7 and small for his age, only 35 pounds. Worried that if he gets this flu it could be fatal. "

LocalNapa wrote on Oct 28, 2009 11:58 AM:

" Kaiser has/had the shots last week, but unless you have Kaiser you are out of luck. There should have been a better system in place to get the vaccines coming into Napa County to those considered high risk. At Kaiser, the vaccine was distributed to anyone under their plan that wanted it. There are many children in Napa County - and many with immune issues - that have been unable to get the vaccine. No one knows when the next batch of doses will be available and it's awful to think of how long many of these children will need to wait before they too can get the protection they need. "

John Richards wrote on Oct 28, 2009 5:35 PM:

" LocalNapa, I think you are confusing the regular seasonal flu shots with the H1N1 flu shots. I don't believe Kaiser has started the H1N1 shots. "

NapaMom wrote on Oct 28, 2009 8:55 PM:

" Kaiser did get part of the first batch of H1N1 that was delivered to Napa. I am only aware of pediatric patients at Kaiser getting it not adults. It was only sent out to a few of the pediatric offices and to Clinic Ole. "

alucawanza wrote on Oct 29, 2009 11:10 AM:

" Kaiser has a hot line to call about the virus It isn't available to those over 64 unless they have asthma or some other serious chronic condition. There was a long line of people receiving it on the second floor yesterday of all ages. If you're over 64 you have to get an o.k. from a doctor first.
Rationing??? "

clonapa wrote on Oct 29, 2009 12:15 PM:

" At Kaiser in Napa, the adults are getting the reg flu shot. If you are 6m or 18months (I cant recall) to 25 or have a chronic illness they are giving out the H1N1 vaccine. We went last Friday 10-23-09, waited in line for approx 20 min, then got in and out of there. "

broke new mom wrote on Oct 30, 2009 2:43 PM:

" My daughter (6months) just got both her regular flu shot and the H1N1 shot yesterday from Kaiser.

The problem is that they are simply not making the vaccine fast enough.

Pregnant women are not getting the shot at all as they are having to prepare the vaccine with thrombiosis, which is a mercury-based compound that may not be safe for pregnant women and children under 6 months old.

Kaiser is having to ration out the shots and yes, they are saving it mostly for small children as they are the most susceptible to the virus.

It is a shame that Kaiser is the only one dispensing the shots, and they have a very limited quantity as well- it takes weeks for the different batches of vaccine to be developed and preserved with the thrombiosis.

My advice as a mother- if Kaiser is out of the vaccine and/or you are not a Kaiser private insurance carrier, the best thing you can do is stay away from large crowds.

Before my daughter was vaccinated, (and for the next couple weeks) I avoided large crowds with her.

Even when I would go to the grocery store, she would stay home with dad, and when I would return home, I would shower, change my clothes, and sanitize my hands as well.

If you use common sense and try to be smart about germs, you can take offensive action against this super-flu.

I am wishing everyone the best and praying that this pandemic comes to a halt before more lives are lost. "

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