With flu season just around the corner, a flu shot is an
excellent preventive measure,
especially if you have diabetes.
p>”People with diabetes are about three times more likely to die
from influenza
(flu) than those without it,” said Connie Crawley,
an Extension
Service nutrition and
health specialist with the University of
Georgia College of Family and
Consumer Sciences.
Crawley said 80 percent of flu-related deaths could be
prevented by a simple trip to
the doctor or health department for a flu shot.
Flu season generally runs from November through March. As a
rule, the flu virus causes
a respiratory illness. Symptoms include fever, muscle soreness,
sore throat and a
nonproductive cough.
Preventive flu shots are widely available. But only 40
percent of adults with diabetes
are reported to get their flu shots. Death rates among those
with diabetes climb 5 to 15
percent during flu epidemics.
Crawley said many people view flu shots in a negative light
due to misinformation.
“The flu vaccine can’t give you the flu,” she said. “It
doesn’t contain
a live virus. If you catch a cold a week or so after your flu
shot, it’s just a
coincidence. The flu is not a cold.”
Besides people with diabetes, pregnant women, residents of
nursing homes and
chronic-care facilities and those with underlying health
problems are more susceptible to
the flu.
Family members of people with diabetes can doubly benefit
from a flu shot. They can
protect themselves as well as avoid passing the virus on to
their more susceptible loved
one.
The flu shot will lower your chances of catching the flu. But
it’s not 100 percent
foolproof.
“If you catch the flu after getting your flu shot, you will
likely have a milder
case,” Crawley said. “The vaccine can still reduce the risk of
hospitalization
and death.”
Flu viruses vary from year to year. So you have to be
immunized each year. Some people
aren’t candidates for immunization, so see your doctor before
getting this or any
immunization.
The doctor may also recommend getting the vaccine for
pneumonia, since diabetes
increases the risk of complications from this infection as
well.
