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American Morning

Fighting the Flu: Answering Your E-Mail

Aired December 12, 2003 - 09:42   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: The early and severe outbreak of the flu has many people worried, and the shortage of the flu vaccine is only raising anxiety levels. So this morning, our medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta is reading your e-mail questions about the flu, and he's back with some answers. Lots of good questions. Let's get right to them.
First one comes from Mike Bailey in Kentucky: Now that our entire family has been exposed to the flu bug and had the flu, high fever, aches, runny nose, et cetera, are each of us less likely to catch the flu again this season? Once you get it, can you get it again?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, a couple of things about that. First of all, you should get some protection if you've had the flu again, although, as we've learned, so many of us have learned, there's several different strains out there. So if you've been protected against one strain, maybe not necessarily the other. Also interesting about this particular question, they mention runny nose in there. Runny nose not a hallmark of the flu as we've talked about.

O'BRIEN: But a cold.

GUPTA: Might be a cold here. They could actually have just have had colds, not the actual flu.

O'BRIEN: My goodness, it sounds like they've all been miserably sick.

GUPTA: It happens. You know, households sharing things, close contact, all that.

O'BRIEN: Next one, this is from T.J. in San Diego: My 10-month- old has had the flu for 3 1/2 weeks can he -- maybe should he -- get a flu shot while he has the flu?

GUPTA: If you have a fever, you probably should not get the flu shot again. You can get the flu shot if you maybe have some mild symptoms of cold, but if you have the flu with true fever and things, again, probably not a good idea.

But again here, Soledad, sort of interesting, 3 1/2 weeks? If someone has had the flu for 3 1/2 weeks. First of all, it may just be a cold, because flus typically don't last that long.

O'BRIEN: How long do they last? GUPTA: A couple of weeks, seven to 14 days typically. Or they should go see somebody about it if the symptoms have lasted that long. That's cause for concern, especially in someone that young.

O'BRIEN: Can you get the flu more than once in a flu season, or do you get some resistance to it after you've had it? This from Ed Brown, and this is similar to the first question.

GUPTA: Similar to the first question. Again, you can develop some resistance. There are usually a few different strains out there. So if you've had the same strain, you're probably going to be pretty well protected against that strain, but if another strain comes along, not as much protection there.

O'BRIEN: We have to talk about pregnancy. My daughter is five weeks shy of her due date, and I'm wondering if she should get a flu shot. Also, if she were to have the flu shot, would it protect her newborn as well? That's an interesting question.

GUPTA: It's a very good question.

O'BRIEN: Do they recommend flu shots -- they do in pregnant women, but is there a point where you shouldn't get one?

GUPTA: Second and third trimesters is when you should get the flu shot, and so she would develop protection. One important thing to remember about the flu shot, it takes about two weeks to develop immunity to them. So I think she mentioned five days short of...

O'BRIEN: Five weeks.

O'BRIEN: Five weeks, so maybe she would confer some of that immunity to the newborn, as well. It makes about two weeks before you develop immunity yourself, and then you start to transfer some of that to the newborn as well.

O'BRIEN: Can we talk for just a second about flu mist.

GUPTA: Yes.

O'BRIEN: What's the take on this? Is there enough of this? Would you recommend people get flu mist?

GUPTA: They made only about 4 million doses of the flu mist. For some reason, it's never really caught on. Probably for a couple of reasons. One, it's pretty pricey, about three times the cost of a flu shot. And two is that it does contain part of the live virus in it. You're probably not going to get the flu from it, but they're not recommending it for young children, they're not recommending it for people who have illness, so it's really for healthy people between the ages of 5 and 49. Pregnant women probably shouldn't take the flu mist either.

O'BRIEN: All right, Sanjay, thank you, as always.

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 - 09:42   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: The early and severe outbreak of the flu has many people worried, and the shortage of the flu vaccine is only raising anxiety levels. So this morning, our medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta is reading your e-mail questions about the flu, and he's back with some answers. Lots of good questions. Let's get right to them.
First one comes from Mike Bailey in Kentucky: Now that our entire family has been exposed to the flu bug and had the flu, high fever, aches, runny nose, et cetera, are each of us less likely to catch the flu again this season? Once you get it, can you get it again?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, a couple of things about that. First of all, you should get some protection if you've had the flu again, although, as we've learned, so many of us have learned, there's several different strains out there. So if you've been protected against one strain, maybe not necessarily the other. Also interesting about this particular question, they mention runny nose in there. Runny nose not a hallmark of the flu as we've talked about.

O'BRIEN: But a cold.

GUPTA: Might be a cold here. They could actually have just have had colds, not the actual flu.

O'BRIEN: My goodness, it sounds like they've all been miserably sick.

GUPTA: It happens. You know, households sharing things, close contact, all that.

O'BRIEN: Next one, this is from T.J. in San Diego: My 10-month- old has had the flu for 3 1/2 weeks can he -- maybe should he -- get a flu shot while he has the flu?

GUPTA: If you have a fever, you probably should not get the flu shot again. You can get the flu shot if you maybe have some mild symptoms of cold, but if you have the flu with true fever and things, again, probably not a good idea.

But again here, Soledad, sort of interesting, 3 1/2 weeks? If someone has had the flu for 3 1/2 weeks. First of all, it may just be a cold, because flus typically don't last that long.

O'BRIEN: How long do they last? GUPTA: A couple of weeks, seven to 14 days typically. Or they should go see somebody about it if the symptoms have lasted that long. That's cause for concern, especially in someone that young.

O'BRIEN: Can you get the flu more than once in a flu season, or do you get some resistance to it after you've had it? This from Ed Brown, and this is similar to the first question.

GUPTA: Similar to the first question. Again, you can develop some resistance. There are usually a few different strains out there. So if you've had the same strain, you're probably going to be pretty well protected against that strain, but if another strain comes along, not as much protection there.

O'BRIEN: We have to talk about pregnancy. My daughter is five weeks shy of her due date, and I'm wondering if she should get a flu shot. Also, if she were to have the flu shot, would it protect her newborn as well? That's an interesting question.

GUPTA: It's a very good question.

O'BRIEN: Do they recommend flu shots -- they do in pregnant women, but is there a point where you shouldn't get one?

GUPTA: Second and third trimesters is when you should get the flu shot, and so she would develop protection. One important thing to remember about the flu shot, it takes about two weeks to develop immunity to them. So I think she mentioned five days short of...

O'BRIEN: Five weeks.

O'BRIEN: Five weeks, so maybe she would confer some of that immunity to the newborn, as well. It makes about two weeks before you develop immunity yourself, and then you start to transfer some of that to the newborn as well.

O'BRIEN: Can we talk for just a second about flu mist.

GUPTA: Yes.

O'BRIEN: What's the take on this? Is there enough of this? Would you recommend people get flu mist?

GUPTA: They made only about 4 million doses of the flu mist. For some reason, it's never really caught on. Probably for a couple of reasons. One, it's pretty pricey, about three times the cost of a flu shot. And two is that it does contain part of the live virus in it. You're probably not going to get the flu from it, but they're not recommending it for young children, they're not recommending it for people who have illness, so it's really for healthy people between the ages of 5 and 49. Pregnant women probably shouldn't take the flu mist either.

O'BRIEN: All right, Sanjay, thank you, as always.

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