THE MINISTRY of Health, at the start of a public education campaign, has drawn attention to the flu epidemic now spreading through 38 States in America and has warned Jamaicans to be on the alert for its presence in the island. With a large influx of returning residents and visitors over the Christmas holidays it is likely that the strain of flu now causing concern in America could affect us in Jamaica. It is a particularly virulent type of flu, the worst in 25 years, and has already resulted in the deaths of some 40 children in America.
There have been so many flu cases in the United States that the authorities have been hard-pressed to access sufficient 'flu shots' to cope with them. We have no large-scale public programme for vaccination against flu in Jamaica, although a few private doctors have imported the vaccine from France and provided flu shots to some of their patients at the outset of the current flu season in October.
To date we seem to be relatively free of flu outbreak so there is no need to panic but we urge the health authorities and the public to be vigilant. Symptoms include sore throat accompanied by high fever. If early treatment is not sought, pneumonia can quickly develop which, in turn, can result in death.
It was the so-called Spanish Flu, a mysterious outbreak of influenza after World War I, which nearly brought America to its knees. It started at an army camp in Boston in 1918 and spread like wildfire not only in America but in Europe as well. There were no known treatments and authorities stood helplessly by while 600,000 Americans died of the flu in 10 months, a death rate which averaged 2,000 a day. Then the outbreak ceased as mysteriously as it appeared.
If we are fortunate enough to escape the worst of the current flu season, it may be opportune for the public health authorities and private physicians to plan from now to have on hand reasonable supplies of flu shots for next year - enough perhaps to protect the very young and the elderly who are the most vulnerable.
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