State waiting to see if third H1N1 wave hits
Article published January 16, 2010
Reprinted courtesy of Keene Sentinel, Keene, NH
By ANIKA CLARK
Sentinal Staff
With H1N1 cases down, health officials believe the nation’s coming off its second wave of outbreaks.
But, they warn, this could simply be the calm before another storm.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has stopped short of predicting a third wave of H1N1, or swine flu, for one simple reason:
“Flu is just unpredictable,” said CDC spokesman Jeffrey J. Dimond. However, he said, “We do know that flu comes in waves.”
With vaccine availability widespread, Dimond described now as a window of opportunity to get as many people vaccinated as possible.
“We want to continue to keep this at a higher profile in the public’s mind,” he said. “Complacency would be our worst enemy at this point.”
But with the threat of another outbreak looming, local clinic organizers say they fear some people are slipping into a false sense of security.
“Because of the natural dip of what we would expect in terms of the number of people getting sick ... I think people are feeling less concerned about their safety,” said
The network is one of 15 public health networks in the state.
“I think that a lot of people think that this is all over with, and that would be wonderful, but you can’t predict,” she said.
Since the vaccine doesn’t offer immediate protection against the swine flu, she stressed that people should avoid a “wait-and-see” attitude.
The body can take one to two weeks to develop antibodies to the virus after receiving an H1N1 vaccine injection, according to Gaspard. As a live attenuated virus, the nasal mist triggers the immune system faster but still takes about two days to become fully effective.
“It’s not a silver bullet (and) you’re immediately safe,” she said.
As of last week, about 5,000 people had been vaccinated at roughly 50 Monadnock public health network clinics.
Still, “There hasn’t been the response that we’d hoped for,” Fernandes said, While individual clinics have drawn hundreds of people, this is a small fraction of the 107,000 living in the network’s coverage area of Cheshire and part of Hillsborough counties.
Elderly residents have come out to the local clinics in force, but young adults have generally stayed away from them, according to Gaspard.
As of earlier this week, 19- to 24-year-olds represented 9 percent of the public health network’s vaccine turnout — making this group, by far, the smallest among adults who’ve sought the vaccine.
Over the course of three clinics at
The low turnout among this age group is consistent with patterns from previous flu seasons, according to Christine Adamski, disease control chief with the N.H. Division of Public Health Services.
However, Gaspard said college students can be at particular risk for contracting the flu virus.
With a total enrollment of nearly 5,300 students, Keene State College represents “a large population,” she said. “It’s a natural setting for kids in class or in a dorm ... to pass on the influenza.”
The vaccine is the best course of preventing an H1N1 infection, according to Adamski.
Yet while this is the predominant flu strain in
“The circulating strains can change,” Adamski said. “The possibility for seasonal strains to be out there exists.”
For a complete list of free H1N1 clinics offered by the Greater Monadnock Public Health Network, visit Sentinelsource.com
Anika Clark can be reached at 352-1234, extension 1432, or aclark@keenesentinel.com