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American Morning

Fighting the Flu

Aired November 28, 2003 - 08:43   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: Dr. Sanjay Gupta is off today, but in the medical news this morning, the renewed threat from the flu that cropped up early this year and with surprising severity. And now experts are warning the U.S. isn't ready for large outbreaks of the illness.
Medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen joining us now from CNN Center with details on this. Good morning, Elizabeth.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Heidi. To get a picture of this year's flu season, all you need to do is look at the state of Colorado. In that state, unfortunately four children have died from the flu already, and it's only the end of November. Usually in a given flu season, four children die in that state in the entire season, which is several months long.

There have been 4,000 cases of the flu in Colorado alone. Here are -- these are some crowded waiting rooms that we're seeing in Colorado right now.

Now, there's an article being published in the journal, "Science," that says what we're seeing this year is nothing compared to what could be the big one, a worldwide flu pandemic that many experts fear. Now, they say that the pandemic may be coming for several reasons.

They say there's not enough vaccine to go around and they need to come up with better and fasting ways of making vaccine. Also, that there's not enough anti-viral drugs. They say if this big pandemic of millions of cases came around, those anti-viral drugs would just get snatched up very quickly.

And also, they say in certain parts of the world animals are living in close quarters. We talked about this with the SARS epidemic, that animals are trading DNA, or rather the microbes that affect the animals are trading DNA, and so are making these difficult to fight infections. And they say that someone has to put a stop to that -- Heidi.

COLLINS: You know, already this year, we have seen quite a few people not ready for the flu. What's gone wrong here?

COHEN: Well, there have been a couple of things that have gone wrong. First of all, one is that the -- one of the strains of the flu that's particularly virulent, that's really making people sick, it wasn't in the vaccine. They try to plan in the spring for what they should put in the vaccine for the fall and they missed this one. This one just wasn't in there. And that happens sometimes. And so there may not be 100 percent protection against that particular strain.

The other thing is that flu seasons are cyclical. Every couple of years, every certain number of years you get a bad flu season. A couple of easy ones, and then you get a hard one.

Another one -- and this has been true for a long time -- is that people aren't listening to the CDC and other public health officials when they say get a flu shot. Most people simply ignore it.

For example, if you take a look at asthmatic children, those are children who really need a flu shot, because if they get the flu, they could really be in trouble. Only 10 percent of children with asthma do get flu shots although there have been many campaigns to educate pediatricians to give their asthmatic kids flu shots.

Also, everyone over age 50 is supposed to get a flu shot. Look at the 50 to 64-year-old bracket. Only one-third of them actually do.

And here's one from -- about people who really should know better. Less than 36 percent of healthcare workers get flu shots. And all of them are supposed to. And many public health officials find this particularly frustrating.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. WILLIAM SCHAFFNER, VANDERBILT SCHOOL OF MEDICINE: So many of them are really quite healthy that they don't see the recommendations pertaining to them. But what they've forgotten is the main reason we want them to get vaccinated is so that they don't give the flu to their patients. So they have a responsibility not only to themselves and their families, but to their patients.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COHEN: Now, many people say that they don't get flu shots because they have certain misconceptions about the shots. So let's go over what some of those misconceptions are.

Some people think that a flu shot is going to give them the flu. That is not true. Flu shots contain a dead virus and it won't give you the flu.

And some people feel, oh, the flu shot's not for me, it's for my grandmother or it's for someone with asthma, or it's for someone with this disease or that disease. But really, pretty much anyone can benefit from a flu shot. There are only very, very small numbers of people who are not supposed to get it -- Heidi.

COLLINS: All right. Very good. Things to think about today. Elizabeth Cohen, thanks so much.






Aired November 28, 2003 - 08:43   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Dr. Sanjay Gupta is off today, but in the medical news this morning, the renewed threat from the flu that cropped up early this year and with surprising severity. And now experts are warning the U.S. isn't ready for large outbreaks of the illness.
Medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen joining us now from CNN Center with details on this. Good morning, Elizabeth.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Heidi. To get a picture of this year's flu season, all you need to do is look at the state of Colorado. In that state, unfortunately four children have died from the flu already, and it's only the end of November. Usually in a given flu season, four children die in that state in the entire season, which is several months long.

There have been 4,000 cases of the flu in Colorado alone. Here are -- these are some crowded waiting rooms that we're seeing in Colorado right now.

Now, there's an article being published in the journal, "Science," that says what we're seeing this year is nothing compared to what could be the big one, a worldwide flu pandemic that many experts fear. Now, they say that the pandemic may be coming for several reasons.

They say there's not enough vaccine to go around and they need to come up with better and fasting ways of making vaccine. Also, that there's not enough anti-viral drugs. They say if this big pandemic of millions of cases came around, those anti-viral drugs would just get snatched up very quickly.

And also, they say in certain parts of the world animals are living in close quarters. We talked about this with the SARS epidemic, that animals are trading DNA, or rather the microbes that affect the animals are trading DNA, and so are making these difficult to fight infections. And they say that someone has to put a stop to that -- Heidi.

COLLINS: You know, already this year, we have seen quite a few people not ready for the flu. What's gone wrong here?

COHEN: Well, there have been a couple of things that have gone wrong. First of all, one is that the -- one of the strains of the flu that's particularly virulent, that's really making people sick, it wasn't in the vaccine. They try to plan in the spring for what they should put in the vaccine for the fall and they missed this one. This one just wasn't in there. And that happens sometimes. And so there may not be 100 percent protection against that particular strain.

The other thing is that flu seasons are cyclical. Every couple of years, every certain number of years you get a bad flu season. A couple of easy ones, and then you get a hard one.

Another one -- and this has been true for a long time -- is that people aren't listening to the CDC and other public health officials when they say get a flu shot. Most people simply ignore it.

For example, if you take a look at asthmatic children, those are children who really need a flu shot, because if they get the flu, they could really be in trouble. Only 10 percent of children with asthma do get flu shots although there have been many campaigns to educate pediatricians to give their asthmatic kids flu shots.

Also, everyone over age 50 is supposed to get a flu shot. Look at the 50 to 64-year-old bracket. Only one-third of them actually do.

And here's one from -- about people who really should know better. Less than 36 percent of healthcare workers get flu shots. And all of them are supposed to. And many public health officials find this particularly frustrating.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. WILLIAM SCHAFFNER, VANDERBILT SCHOOL OF MEDICINE: So many of them are really quite healthy that they don't see the recommendations pertaining to them. But what they've forgotten is the main reason we want them to get vaccinated is so that they don't give the flu to their patients. So they have a responsibility not only to themselves and their families, but to their patients.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COHEN: Now, many people say that they don't get flu shots because they have certain misconceptions about the shots. So let's go over what some of those misconceptions are.

Some people think that a flu shot is going to give them the flu. That is not true. Flu shots contain a dead virus and it won't give you the flu.

And some people feel, oh, the flu shot's not for me, it's for my grandmother or it's for someone with asthma, or it's for someone with this disease or that disease. But really, pretty much anyone can benefit from a flu shot. There are only very, very small numbers of people who are not supposed to get it -- Heidi.

COLLINS: All right. Very good. Things to think about today. Elizabeth Cohen, thanks so much.