The Ebola outbreak in West Africa and deadly diseases elsewhere in the world may infect the imagination and spread fear among observers, but the Quad Cities, Yavapai County and the United States in general are more at risk for an influenza epidemic arising from the often preventable spread of airborne germs.
The United States Centers for Disease Control (CDC) estimates the cost of “the flu” at $10.4 billion a year to the nation’s businesses and employers from loss of productivity, increased costs for health care and negative impacts on employee satisfaction. Occupational Health and Wellness Management, a New Hampshire company specializing in improved employee health, reckons that 15 million to 60 million Americans are infected with the flu each year, resulting in up to 70 million lost workdays.
Extrapolation using Yavapai County’s proportion of the U.S. population suggests 9,000 to 54,000 residents affected, with more than 63,000 work days missed and $6.2 million in business and employer losses to influenza in a typical year. It is not only the physical symptoms of those who catch the bug that invite abject misery, but also the bottom-line impact on a firm’s prosperity and the local economy. The CDC suggests two ways companies can combat these negative influences: hosting immunization clinics in the workplace and promoting vaccinations in the community.
There is no way to predict the timing, severity or length of a flu season’s impact, according to the CDC. Most commonly, the country’s season peaks in January and February, beginning as early as October and running as long as May. The CDC estimates 151 million to 159 million doses of its best guesstimate of the season’s flu antigens will be available for the 2014 to 2015 season.
“The best way for people to protect themselves against any communicable disease is to wash their hands, stay home if they’re sick so they don’t risk exposing others, stay away from people who are sick, and cover [their] mouths with the crook of [their] elbow if [they] cough or sneeze,” advised Steven Everett, epidemiologist and public health emergency preparedness unit manager for Yavapai County Community Health Services (YCCHS).
Those ounces of prevention – along with annual immunization programs – can outmaneuver the pound of cure, if the most vulnerable population groups – children and senior citizens – are spared contracting influenza and its potential deadly complications on susceptible immune systems.
“In almost all cases, children are always a high risk group for infection because they have immature immune systems, they tend to have poor hygiene habits and they spend most of their days packed in classrooms with people just like themselves,” Everett explained. “Seniors are always a health concern because their immune systems are not as vital as they once were [and] they can have chronic illnesses that can exacerbate any infection. With flu, it’s secondary infections and other complications that cause mortality, rather than the flu virus directly.”
That is why annual immunization programs are so prevalent and avidly touted by local and national health professionals for disease prevention. Consulting one’s medical provider is recommended to discover what vaccinations specifically should be administered to each family member. Everyone – especially seniors, who are at increased risk for complications – should get flu shots each year, based on their doctor’s evaluation, Everett notes.
“Vaccines are highly impactful on disease spread and used to bring about herd immunity, where disease transmission is disrupted by limiting the number of susceptible people in the population,” he explained.
YCCHS encourages parents to ensure that their children have complete childhood vaccinations. People also should keep their tetanus-diphtheria-pertussis shots up-to-date, with boosters at least every 10 years. For seniors, Everett also suggests consideration of a vaccination against shingles, a painful nerve infection for which every former chicken pox sufferer is a potential candidate.
Widespread diseases, such as the 2009 H1N1 flu outbreak, which especially affected younger adults across continents, are labeled pandemics. Though “very rare events” and “usually only happening once in a generation,” pandemics do occur.
Influenza most likely will be the cause of any future pandemic in Yavapai County, Everett predicts, noting that a “pandemic becomes a problem [for the general population] when it causes severe morbidity and mortality and disrupts the normal functioning of society. We’ve been fortunate that the past few pandemics have been mild compared to one like the 1918 flu pandemic that killed 20 million to 40 million people worldwide.”
Other than influenza, “the only other significant pandemic seen in the past 100 years has been HIV, and that only affected” people who engaged in risky behavior “that allowed more efficient transmission,” Everett said.
“For a pandemic to occur, the disease agent has to spread efficiently through a population,” he concluded. “Viral hemorrhagic fevers, like Ebola, don’t have that capability since they require contact with bodily fluids to transmit. Also, a sick person would have to be contagious before the illness debilitates him [or her] to maximize the number of people he [or she] is exposed to. If the person only becomes contagious at symptom onset, that individual can be quickly isolated from others, limiting exposure” in a country with good public health care, such as the United States. QCBN
By Sue Marceau
Quad Cities Business News
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