Swine Flu and the Elderly
Experts share insights on ways seniors can protect themselves against swine flu.
By
Wendy C. Fries
WebMD Feature
Reviewed by
Louise Chang, MD
Pandemic. If the word has you a little nervous, you're not alone. Though a
pandemic simply refers to an epidemic that's widespread, when applied to terms
like novel influenza A (H1N1), H1N1 flu, or swine flu, it can sound confusing
and a little scary.
Some perspective can help. Certainly the spread of H1N1 swine flu is
serious. Yet so is seasonal flu, which hospitalizes more than 200,000 people a
year in the U.S. Both types of flu have similar symptoms, including fatigue,
chills, headache, body aches, stuffy nose, sore throat, cough, and fever. And
if you get sick, the only way to tell which flu you have is to be tested by
your doctor.
So what is it about swine flu that has people so nervous? Should seniors in
particular be worried? To learn more, WebMD went to medical experts and got
their answers to these and other questions about the H1N1 virus.
Why is swine flu a particular worry?
Swine flu is a novel form of the influenza virus, combining swine, human,
and avian virus strains. Because it is new, people in general don't appear to
have antibodies against it as they might against seasonal flu. That means
potentially more people could get sick with this flu.
Are seniors particularly susceptible to swine flu?
H1N1 swine flu doesn't seem to be a big problem for seniors unless that
person has a chronic underlying condition, says Thomas Yoshikawa, MD, professor
of medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and editor-in-chief
of the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.
Most H1N1 cases are occurring in younger people. "It appears that older
persons, who have been exposed multiple times in their life time with various
flu outbreaks, may have residual immunity of which some of it is against this
H1N1 flu strain," Yoshikawa tells WebMD.
However, underlying health problems like heart and lung diseases or a
compromised immune system "confers an increased risk of influenza, whether it's
swine flu or another type of flu," says Sean X. Leng, MD, PhD, a geriatrician
conducting research on influenza immunization in older adults and assistant
professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
Though healthy seniors haven't been particularly targeted by H1N1 swine flu,
seasonal influenza remains a deadly risk for many, with roughly 36,000 people
in the U.S. dying from flu-related causes every year. A yearly flu vaccination
remains an important way to stay flu-free.
Should seniors get a swine flu vaccine if it becomes available?
"Absolutely yes," says Yoshikawa.
Leng agrees. "When the vaccine is available I would recommend my patients
get it."
Yet while many experts expect a swine flu vaccine by fall, there won't
initially be enough vaccine for everyone. That's why some officials are
recommending that when the H1N1 flu vaccine is available, it should first
be administered to pregnant women, health care workers, people taking care of
infants less than 6 months old, children and young adults between 6 months to
24 years old, and those between 25 and 64 with underlying health problems.
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