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American Morning

Look at Flu Situation

Aired December 12, 2003 - 08:04   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: Now the very latest on the flu. Widespread outbreaks are being reported in nearly half of the states. The government's bought up the last quarter million doses of vaccine and it is advising those, that those shots should go to those who are most at risk.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta joins us this morning for a complete look at this situation -- good morning.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.

Yes, and the CDC saying it's not peaked yet. Usually January is the worst time for the flu season. We're not quite there yet, obviously.

Now, about 24 states reporting widespread flu activity. Every state in the country obviously having some flu. You can take a look at the map there. Seventy-five percent of these cases being caused by what's known as the Fujian strain. That's certainly going to become the buzzword of this particular flu season.

I want to make one thing clear about this. We talk about these flu shots so much, the flu shots that are out there don't particularly have this Fujian strain covered in the flu shots. So why is it that we continue to recommend them? Because there is something known as cross protection, meaning that the vaccine that is out there does still offer some protection and probably your best protection against the flu this year. So still go ahead and get those flu shots, if you can.

Which is the last sort of concern about this is there's obviously been a shortage in some areas. There has been an ordering now of some new flu shot vaccines, 250,000 of those, of which about 150,000 of those are going to be reserved for children, 100,000 for adults. Those are going to be made available. That's not a very large percentage, obviously, of the total 83 million. But those are going to be made available over the next couple of months, as well.

O'BRIEN: Let's talk a little bit about kids and the flu. Of the children who've been dying, are those kids who were already sort of immunocompromised, sick children pre, I guess, disposed to getting the flu and having serious consequences? Or were these healthy children who got the flu and then just died?

GUPTA: They were both, actually. And some of -- between the six month and 23 months, six month and two year age group, children do die of the flu. I think people are paying attention to that this year. But that's considered a high risk group even if they have no preexisting illness. The six month to 23 month age makes up the largest chunk of that 20 or children that have died from this. They are as likely to be hospitalized, as likely to develop complications as an elderly person.

Some things I want to sort of put into perspective, as well. How do you -- a lot of people ask me how do you know the difference, again, between the flu and a cold, for example, when it comes to your child. Abrupt onset. The cold sort of starts on slowly and it's something that sort of gradually comes on over a few days. Usually a kid is not sick one day and then sick, very sick, within a day or two. High fever, 104 degrees oftentimes, sometimes muscle aches, as well.

Also, what are the things to watch out for in terms of when you should take your kids to the hospital? I want to point this out and I want to spend a little bit of time on this, because it's important. If the kid starts to develop rapid or labored breathing; won't wake up, obviously; not drinking enough fluids. That can be a subtle sign, as well. Irritable; gets sick, then better, then gets sick again. Those are sometimes concerns, as well. That can sometimes be a bacterial infection on top of the flu.

O'BRIEN: Well, all right, Sanjay, good advice.

Thanks a lot.

Appreciate it.

GUPTA: Thank you.

Yes, we'll keep an eye on it.

O'BRIEN: You can e-mail your questions about the flu to Sanjay at am@cnn.com. And he's going to answer your e-mails about 90 minutes from now.

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 12, 2003 - 08:04   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Now the very latest on the flu. Widespread outbreaks are being reported in nearly half of the states. The government's bought up the last quarter million doses of vaccine and it is advising those, that those shots should go to those who are most at risk.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta joins us this morning for a complete look at this situation -- good morning.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.

Yes, and the CDC saying it's not peaked yet. Usually January is the worst time for the flu season. We're not quite there yet, obviously.

Now, about 24 states reporting widespread flu activity. Every state in the country obviously having some flu. You can take a look at the map there. Seventy-five percent of these cases being caused by what's known as the Fujian strain. That's certainly going to become the buzzword of this particular flu season.

I want to make one thing clear about this. We talk about these flu shots so much, the flu shots that are out there don't particularly have this Fujian strain covered in the flu shots. So why is it that we continue to recommend them? Because there is something known as cross protection, meaning that the vaccine that is out there does still offer some protection and probably your best protection against the flu this year. So still go ahead and get those flu shots, if you can.

Which is the last sort of concern about this is there's obviously been a shortage in some areas. There has been an ordering now of some new flu shot vaccines, 250,000 of those, of which about 150,000 of those are going to be reserved for children, 100,000 for adults. Those are going to be made available. That's not a very large percentage, obviously, of the total 83 million. But those are going to be made available over the next couple of months, as well.

O'BRIEN: Let's talk a little bit about kids and the flu. Of the children who've been dying, are those kids who were already sort of immunocompromised, sick children pre, I guess, disposed to getting the flu and having serious consequences? Or were these healthy children who got the flu and then just died?

GUPTA: They were both, actually. And some of -- between the six month and 23 months, six month and two year age group, children do die of the flu. I think people are paying attention to that this year. But that's considered a high risk group even if they have no preexisting illness. The six month to 23 month age makes up the largest chunk of that 20 or children that have died from this. They are as likely to be hospitalized, as likely to develop complications as an elderly person.

Some things I want to sort of put into perspective, as well. How do you -- a lot of people ask me how do you know the difference, again, between the flu and a cold, for example, when it comes to your child. Abrupt onset. The cold sort of starts on slowly and it's something that sort of gradually comes on over a few days. Usually a kid is not sick one day and then sick, very sick, within a day or two. High fever, 104 degrees oftentimes, sometimes muscle aches, as well.

Also, what are the things to watch out for in terms of when you should take your kids to the hospital? I want to point this out and I want to spend a little bit of time on this, because it's important. If the kid starts to develop rapid or labored breathing; won't wake up, obviously; not drinking enough fluids. That can be a subtle sign, as well. Irritable; gets sick, then better, then gets sick again. Those are sometimes concerns, as well. That can sometimes be a bacterial infection on top of the flu.

O'BRIEN: Well, all right, Sanjay, good advice.

Thanks a lot.

Appreciate it.

GUPTA: Thank you.

Yes, we'll keep an eye on it.

O'BRIEN: You can e-mail your questions about the flu to Sanjay at am@cnn.com. And he's going to answer your e-mails about 90 minutes from now.

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