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American Morning

House Call: Flu Shots

Aired November 12, 2003 - 09:45   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: New reasons to get that flu shot. A new study says the shots could be the best protection against heart attacks and strokes.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta joins us with details.

Is this new information?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Some of it's sort of new. It's been out there for a little while, that a flu shot may do more than just prevent the flu, and I'm always encouraging my friend Bill Hemmer to get his flu shot. So this may be another nail in the coffin to get him to do that at some point.

O'BRIEN: He's kind of a big chicken. So that's what's offsetting the...

GUPTA: Yes, I know. Just a little needle, Bill.

The flu shot's been around, obviously, for a long time. But there's been this growing body of evidence that suggests maybe not just for the flu, but it may also ward off heart disease and stroke. Now I want to talk a little bit about why that occurs. Look at the decrease in risk here, heart attack risk decreased by 50 to 67 percent, stroke risk decreased by 50 percent. Why would this be? Why would the flu shot decrease your risk of that? It has to do with the fact that the flu, when you get sick like that, sometimes it destabilizes some of the clots in your blood vessels. We have an animation to sort of show what I'm talking about here. Basically, if you look at a blood vessel here, you get these clots going down there, when someone gets sick, these normal plaques that are sitting in the blood vessel not doing anything can become dislodged sometimes, in this case possibly causing a stroke. That clot going up to the brain. So that's what happens sometimes.

So obviously not a common thing. Otherwise, you'd have a lot of heart attacks and strokes when people have the flu, but it is a concern. And you can get an easy flu shot to prevent it.

O'BRIEN: At the same time, there are many people who think that because they're getting, what do they call it, a denatured flu virus itself, that they might be getting the flu, that getting the shot will give them the flu. And there are certain people who get the flu shot get sick immediately afterward and say, see, and that's why they don't get the shot.

GUPTA: And this is the great point of contention that doctors have with their patients. It's actually an inactivated flu virus, so you actually can't get the flu from the flu shot. And this has been a point of debate. But you still can get sick, because it takes awhile for the flu shot to work. So let's say it's flu season, you decide to go get your flu shot, you were going to get sick anyway, the flu shot hasn't kicked in yet, it takes about two weeks, so you get sick and you think it was the flu shot that caused it, when in fact, you would have gotten sick anyway.

O'BRIEN: So will the flu shot keep you from getting the flu if you get it with sort of enough time, the two week sort of amount of time that you need, or will it at the very least keep you from getting the flu to a great degree, like you'll have lesser symptoms?

GUPTA: That's true, as well. Two points there. One is, It's not going to prevent the flu in everybody, and it may just reduce the symptoms in some people. So you may still get a little bit sick. But the flu shot itself should not give you the flu and it should prevent the flu or decrease the symptoms within about two weeks of getting it.

O'BRIEN: If you have any kind of heart problems, do you want to talk to your cardiologist before you go ahead and get a flu shot?

GUPTA: Yes, I think that, for the most, the flu shot going to be pretty safe. There's a list of people who should be somewhat concerned about getting the flu shot. Bill Hemmer is not on that list. Severe allergy to hen's eggs. That's because the flu shot itself is actually made from some of the same derivatives in eggs. Severe reaction to a flu shot in the past, obviously, such things as guille-barre (ph), which is this numbness in the legs and arms. Younger than six months of age; anyone older than six months can get the flu shot. And finally, first trimester of pregnancy as well.

O'BRIEN: All right, excellent advice as always.

GUPTA: Sanjay, thanks.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired November 12, 2003 - 09:45   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: New reasons to get that flu shot. A new study says the shots could be the best protection against heart attacks and strokes.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta joins us with details.

Is this new information?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Some of it's sort of new. It's been out there for a little while, that a flu shot may do more than just prevent the flu, and I'm always encouraging my friend Bill Hemmer to get his flu shot. So this may be another nail in the coffin to get him to do that at some point.

O'BRIEN: He's kind of a big chicken. So that's what's offsetting the...

GUPTA: Yes, I know. Just a little needle, Bill.

The flu shot's been around, obviously, for a long time. But there's been this growing body of evidence that suggests maybe not just for the flu, but it may also ward off heart disease and stroke. Now I want to talk a little bit about why that occurs. Look at the decrease in risk here, heart attack risk decreased by 50 to 67 percent, stroke risk decreased by 50 percent. Why would this be? Why would the flu shot decrease your risk of that? It has to do with the fact that the flu, when you get sick like that, sometimes it destabilizes some of the clots in your blood vessels. We have an animation to sort of show what I'm talking about here. Basically, if you look at a blood vessel here, you get these clots going down there, when someone gets sick, these normal plaques that are sitting in the blood vessel not doing anything can become dislodged sometimes, in this case possibly causing a stroke. That clot going up to the brain. So that's what happens sometimes.

So obviously not a common thing. Otherwise, you'd have a lot of heart attacks and strokes when people have the flu, but it is a concern. And you can get an easy flu shot to prevent it.

O'BRIEN: At the same time, there are many people who think that because they're getting, what do they call it, a denatured flu virus itself, that they might be getting the flu, that getting the shot will give them the flu. And there are certain people who get the flu shot get sick immediately afterward and say, see, and that's why they don't get the shot.

GUPTA: And this is the great point of contention that doctors have with their patients. It's actually an inactivated flu virus, so you actually can't get the flu from the flu shot. And this has been a point of debate. But you still can get sick, because it takes awhile for the flu shot to work. So let's say it's flu season, you decide to go get your flu shot, you were going to get sick anyway, the flu shot hasn't kicked in yet, it takes about two weeks, so you get sick and you think it was the flu shot that caused it, when in fact, you would have gotten sick anyway.

O'BRIEN: So will the flu shot keep you from getting the flu if you get it with sort of enough time, the two week sort of amount of time that you need, or will it at the very least keep you from getting the flu to a great degree, like you'll have lesser symptoms?

GUPTA: That's true, as well. Two points there. One is, It's not going to prevent the flu in everybody, and it may just reduce the symptoms in some people. So you may still get a little bit sick. But the flu shot itself should not give you the flu and it should prevent the flu or decrease the symptoms within about two weeks of getting it.

O'BRIEN: If you have any kind of heart problems, do you want to talk to your cardiologist before you go ahead and get a flu shot?

GUPTA: Yes, I think that, for the most, the flu shot going to be pretty safe. There's a list of people who should be somewhat concerned about getting the flu shot. Bill Hemmer is not on that list. Severe allergy to hen's eggs. That's because the flu shot itself is actually made from some of the same derivatives in eggs. Severe reaction to a flu shot in the past, obviously, such things as guille-barre (ph), which is this numbness in the legs and arms. Younger than six months of age; anyone older than six months can get the flu shot. And finally, first trimester of pregnancy as well.

O'BRIEN: All right, excellent advice as always.

GUPTA: Sanjay, thanks.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com