HEALTH WATCH: INFLUENZA VACCINE

The Ministry of Health is urging members of the public to get vaccinated against influenza.   Here's more in our Health Watch segment.

Transcript

00:00The TV6 Health Watch is brought to you by Alive, giving you more minerals and vitamins

00:05than leading brands, distributed by H&G Enterprises Ltd.

00:14Influenza is a serious illness and can be fatal.

00:17The World Health Organization estimates that 500,000 people die from influenza each year.

00:24According to Dr. Janine St. Bernard, County Medical Officer of Health for St. George East,

00:29there are four strains of influenza virus.

00:32She went on to explain how the virus is spread.

00:36Influenza is something of a flu, it's something that we hear about, it's something that comes

00:41to Trinidad to our shores every year and what influenza is, it is a highly infectious viral

00:49infection.

00:50So this is not something that we should take for granted.

00:53It's often spread by droplets, so when persons sneeze, they cough, those droplets are transmitted

01:00with great force, especially if you sneeze or cough, and those droplets can go quite

01:05far and those droplets have the virus particles in them.

01:08And wherever those particles land, if someone touches those particles and then they touch

01:13their face, their nose, their mouth, they rub their eyes, then you will then be infecting

01:18yourself from those particles.

01:21And if you're wondering what is the difference between the influenza virus and the common

01:25cold, Dr. St. Bernard said,

01:28Symptoms can be very similar, especially in the beginning.

01:32So you may find you're getting a little bit of headache, congestion, runny nose, stuffy

01:37nose, cough, but what would happen is if you have influenza as opposed to the common cold,

01:42you would find that your symptoms would become more severe and it may last a bit longer.

01:49The county medical officer said the vaccine is safe for pregnant women and shared some

01:54tips that can keep you safe.

01:56Wash hands, discard the tissue, don't sneeze into the air if you do, by the time you may

02:01realize you're now getting sick.

02:03When that first sneeze or cough is coming, if you have nothing, you do the crook of the

02:07elbow as we would have said in the past, and if you don't have access to soap and water

02:11to wash hands, then you use the good old alcohol-based hand sanitizer.

02:16I am Sharla Kesto with tonight's Health Watch.