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CNN Live Today

Flu Outbreak

Aired December 11, 2003 - 11:14   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.


HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: The flu blues. Sneezing, coughing, aches, fever. Flu season is certainly taking off fast. Thirteen states, mostly in the West, are reporting widespread flu activity this morning. On this graphic, you see the blue states are the ones where the outbreak is growing the fastest. It is slowly creeping east now, with cases reported in Tennessee and Pennsylvania. We want to talk a little bit more about this.
In order to do that, we'll bring in Dr. Mark Siegel of the University of New York Medical Center.

Doctor, hello to you, and thanks so much for being with us.

MARC SIEGEL, UNIV. OF NEW YORK MEDICAL CENTER: Good morning.

COLLINS: What's the bottom line? People have been hearing so much about this in the past few weeks, and many are nervous. What is the bottom line?

SIEGEL: The bottom line is that I'm actually glad that the flu is getting attention this year, because flu is a bad thing. It kills 36,000 people a year. This looks like a bad flu year, but the bottom line is, I think at this point, people are more worried about this than they need to be.

COLLINS: Why?

SIEGEL: Well, because it doesn't look like it's going to be an epidemic. There are some bad things. Influenza a is the predominant strain, which is a bad bug, and the vaccine, which is going to be helpful is not 100 percent protective, and that's not good. And it hasn't run its full course yet. The flu season is generally in January. So I'm glad that there's a lot of attention focused on this, but I would tell people not to panic.

COLLINS: What about the panic, or at least the concern, if you will, about the number of vaccines available, another thing that we've been talking about over the past couple of weeks. Now we know we're talking about the flu. It's coming on hard. Should we all be running out to get that vaccine?

SIEGEL: Well, you know, the vaccine has already been used in probably 70 million, 80 million people already. So that will slow the progression of the virus probably, and we have target groups that really need the vaccine, the chronically ill, the very young, under 2, and People over 60, 65, people with asthma, pregnant women, these people really need the vaccine, and those are the people that should get it. Healthy people, if they were to get the flu, would probably be OK in most cases.

COLLINS: OK, let's talk as we could. I realize you have trouble with your earpiece there, so I'll try to talk loud. I want to talk about the differences, though, between the flu and your average, everyday cold. This is something that certainly this year people I think are really worried about.

SIEGEL: Well, for one thing, it's actually hard to tell the difference. And I would encourage anybody that's feeling sick because there's a bad flu out there, to consult your doctor early, because the flu can come on quickly. And before you know it, you could be very, very ill. And the problem with the flu are the secondary infections you get like pneumonia, and in some cases, we've seen children getting staph infections. So the earlier a doctor is involved the better, but if you want to look for signs of the flu, look for sudden onset of fever, chills, malaise, headaches and muscle aches. That's in comparison to a common cold, which has respiratory congestion, and you feel a little bit under the weather, but you don't get hit with a lightning bolt like that.

Flu tends to me, in most cases, again, that rapid onset of fever, chills muscle aches, and you just feel very fatigued and lethargic. That's the flu.

COLLINS: And you know, in looking at those graphics there, I wish we could put them side by side, because they really are, there are a couple of symptoms that are exact opposites. As you said, the flu is a high fever. The cold is a low fever.

SIEGEL: Exactly.

COLLINS: The flu is muscle ache, common cold, no muscle ache. So there are at least a couple of really opposite sort of symptoms to be looking for here.

SIEGEL: And not only that, Heidi, there's been a lot of stomach symptoms associated with the flu this year. You can feel a little bit of GI upset with a cold, but much more marked with this flu that's going around.

COLLINS: All right, let's talk also about parents quickly. Maybe they just have their first child, aren't really sure about a lot of things, much less the difference between a flu in their child and the cold as we've been talking about. What can they really look at in their children for this?

SIEGEL: Well you know, children especially get malaise early when they're not feeling well. If a child gets a severe illness, they're just not going to look right and they're not going to respond the same way that they do, and kids also get very high fevers. So that's what you're going to look for. If you get a high fever, your kid doesn't look quite right, his or her eyes don't look right, call your physician, and don't hesitate to actually go in and see the physician, because they can actually test for the flu with a nasal swab. COLLINS: All right, Dr. Marc Siegel, we certainly appreciate your time today, and we continue to watch this story and make sure that we cover it appropriately. Thanks so very much.

SIEGEL: Thank you, Heidi. Thanks for having me on.

COLLINS: You bet.

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 December 11, 2003 - 11:14   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: The flu blues. Sneezing, coughing, aches, fever. Flu season is certainly taking off fast. Thirteen states, mostly in the West, are reporting widespread flu activity this morning. On this graphic, you see the blue states are the ones where the outbreak is growing the fastest. It is slowly creeping east now, with cases reported in Tennessee and Pennsylvania. We want to talk a little bit more about this.
In order to do that, we'll bring in Dr. Mark Siegel of the University of New York Medical Center.

Doctor, hello to you, and thanks so much for being with us.

MARC SIEGEL, UNIV. OF NEW YORK MEDICAL CENTER: Good morning.

COLLINS: What's the bottom line? People have been hearing so much about this in the past few weeks, and many are nervous. What is the bottom line?

SIEGEL: The bottom line is that I'm actually glad that the flu is getting attention this year, because flu is a bad thing. It kills 36,000 people a year. This looks like a bad flu year, but the bottom line is, I think at this point, people are more worried about this than they need to be.

COLLINS: Why?

SIEGEL: Well, because it doesn't look like it's going to be an epidemic. There are some bad things. Influenza a is the predominant strain, which is a bad bug, and the vaccine, which is going to be helpful is not 100 percent protective, and that's not good. And it hasn't run its full course yet. The flu season is generally in January. So I'm glad that there's a lot of attention focused on this, but I would tell people not to panic.

COLLINS: What about the panic, or at least the concern, if you will, about the number of vaccines available, another thing that we've been talking about over the past couple of weeks. Now we know we're talking about the flu. It's coming on hard. Should we all be running out to get that vaccine?

SIEGEL: Well, you know, the vaccine has already been used in probably 70 million, 80 million people already. So that will slow the progression of the virus probably, and we have target groups that really need the vaccine, the chronically ill, the very young, under 2, and People over 60, 65, people with asthma, pregnant women, these people really need the vaccine, and those are the people that should get it. Healthy people, if they were to get the flu, would probably be OK in most cases.

COLLINS: OK, let's talk as we could. I realize you have trouble with your earpiece there, so I'll try to talk loud. I want to talk about the differences, though, between the flu and your average, everyday cold. This is something that certainly this year people I think are really worried about.

SIEGEL: Well, for one thing, it's actually hard to tell the difference. And I would encourage anybody that's feeling sick because there's a bad flu out there, to consult your doctor early, because the flu can come on quickly. And before you know it, you could be very, very ill. And the problem with the flu are the secondary infections you get like pneumonia, and in some cases, we've seen children getting staph infections. So the earlier a doctor is involved the better, but if you want to look for signs of the flu, look for sudden onset of fever, chills, malaise, headaches and muscle aches. That's in comparison to a common cold, which has respiratory congestion, and you feel a little bit under the weather, but you don't get hit with a lightning bolt like that.

Flu tends to me, in most cases, again, that rapid onset of fever, chills muscle aches, and you just feel very fatigued and lethargic. That's the flu.

COLLINS: And you know, in looking at those graphics there, I wish we could put them side by side, because they really are, there are a couple of symptoms that are exact opposites. As you said, the flu is a high fever. The cold is a low fever.

SIEGEL: Exactly.

COLLINS: The flu is muscle ache, common cold, no muscle ache. So there are at least a couple of really opposite sort of symptoms to be looking for here.

SIEGEL: And not only that, Heidi, there's been a lot of stomach symptoms associated with the flu this year. You can feel a little bit of GI upset with a cold, but much more marked with this flu that's going around.

COLLINS: All right, let's talk also about parents quickly. Maybe they just have their first child, aren't really sure about a lot of things, much less the difference between a flu in their child and the cold as we've been talking about. What can they really look at in their children for this?

SIEGEL: Well you know, children especially get malaise early when they're not feeling well. If a child gets a severe illness, they're just not going to look right and they're not going to respond the same way that they do, and kids also get very high fevers. So that's what you're going to look for. If you get a high fever, your kid doesn't look quite right, his or her eyes don't look right, call your physician, and don't hesitate to actually go in and see the physician, because they can actually test for the flu with a nasal swab. COLLINS: All right, Dr. Marc Siegel, we certainly appreciate your time today, and we continue to watch this story and make sure that we cover it appropriately. Thanks so very much.

SIEGEL: Thank you, Heidi. Thanks for having me on.

COLLINS: You bet.

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