From Google News

By Yan Kennon
Naval Hospital Jacksonville Public Affairs Senior Writer

Naval Branch Health Clinic Kings Bay is now providing annual influenza vaccine to service members, retirees and families.

The flu vaccine is required for all active duty military personnel, selected reserves and healthcare workers, and is recommended by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for everyone age six months and up.  It's the first and most important step in protecting against flu viruses.

According to CDC, seasonal epidemics of influenza occur every year in the United States, usually between October and April. Typically, epidemics cause thousands to tens of thousands of deaths and about 200,000 hospitalizations each year in the U.S. 

A vaccine to prevent influenza has been available since the 1940s, yet some patients don't take the time to get the vaccine, even after the recent 2009 H1N1 global pandemic — the first such pandemic in more than 40 years.

"The flu can be very dangerous, especially to the young and elderly," said Cmdr. Chad Roe, NBHC Kings Bay officer in charge. "Vaccination is the primary means of reducing seasonal flu illness and its complications. Vaccine protects both the individual and the community as a whole, by reducing and preventing the spread of the disease." 

Influenza is a virus that infects the nose, throat, windpipe and lungs.It is highly contagious, spreading from person to person by coughing, shaking hands, sneezing or talking closely with another person.

Typical flu symptoms include fever, chills, muscle aches, congestion, cough, runny nose and difficulty breathing. Flu can lead to more severe infections like pneumonia, especially in the elderly and the immunocompromised. 

H1N1 flu virus has similar symptoms, sometimes also including vomiting and diarrhea, and can cause severe infections in younger patients, pregnant women and children. 

NBHC Kings Bay offers two kinds of flu vaccine.  Flu mist, an intranasal vaccine that is squirted into the nose, can be given to healthy patients ages two to 49. The injectable vaccine, or flu shot, is given to pregnant moms, diabetic patients, asthmatics and anyone with a chronic medical condition such as emphysema.

The shot is safe for pregnant women at any time during pregnancy.  Since babies aren't able to get the vaccine until age six months, mom is baby's best protection. Breastfeeding also helps protect babies, thanks to the protective flu antibodies that appear in mom's milk about two weeks after immunization.

Potential side effects are usually mild. The flu mist can cause mild congestion and a runny nose, but it can't grow in the lungs and can't cause pneumonia. The flu shot can cause some redness and pain at the injection site, muscle ache and a low grade fever, but because the virus is completely inactivated, it cannot possibly cause influenza. 

At NBHC Kings Bay, patients can walk-in for flu vaccine 7 a.m. to 3 p.m., Monday through Friday. Flu vaccine walk-ins will be conducted from 7 to 11 a.m. only, on the last Friday of each month, to facilitate command training.

Other important immunizations include human papillomavirus, pneumococcal and the entire spectrum of childhood vaccines.

For more information, visit www.cdc.gov.

NBHC Kings Bay is one of Naval Hospital Jacksonville's six health care facilities located across Florida and Georgia. Of NH Jacksonville's patient population — about 163,000 active and retired sailors, soldiers, Marines, airmen, guardsmen and their families — more than 57,000 are enrolled with a primary care manager at one of its facilities.

To find out more about NBHC Kings Bay, visit the command Web site at www.med.navy.mil/sites/NavalHospitalJax.