Flu Vaccine

Spraying a flu vaccine up children's noses, physicians have hit upon something every parent will appreciate: no needle stick, almost no flu and fewer ear infections.The findings, published yesterday in the New England Journal of Medicine, are the culmination of three decades of trying to find easier ways to give children shots.Scientists found that squirting the flu vaccine up children's noses, like a nasal spray, provided 93 percent protection against the influenza virus.It also proved to have 98 percent protection against a common complication, ear infections.

My pediatrician gives our son a flu shot every fall, . but this year he has been sick already. I know the flu vaccine is made new each year. Is it just not good this year?"

LINTHICUM COMMUNITY FAIR, an event we look forward to, is returning for its seventh year Saturday at the field across from St. John Lutheran Church, 300 W. Maple Road.Not only is it fun for the community to attend, but it also provides a chance for neighbors to show how much they care for those less fortunate. The fair earmarks its profits for the North County Emergency Outreach Network (NCEON).The festivities begin with a parade at 9 a.m. from Lindale-Brooklyn Park Middle School on Andover Road to the fairgrounds.

Q: My husband is a diabetic with heart disease, but he has never followed his doctor's advice to get a flu shot. He had always been afraid of the side effects of the vaccine. Now he argues that he will not get the flu again this winter because he had an attack in January. Should I try harder to convince him to get a flu shot?hTC A: Your husband should definitely follow the doctor's advice and get a flu shot soon. It takes one to two weeks for the vaccine to provide protection, and the flu season begins in November.

Mother's milk contains an acid-based protein that combats a major cause of life-threatening diarrhea in infants, a team led by a Johns Hopkins researcher reported yesterday.Another team of scientists, also led by a Hopkins researcher, said they have found that a new nose-drop flu vaccine, unlike the standard flu shot, is effective in infants between the ages of 2 months and 6 months.Both findings were issued yesterday at the combined annual meeting in Baltimore of three groups: the American Pediatric Society, the Society for Pediatric Research and the Ambulatory Pediatric Association.

Mother's milk contains an acid-based protein that combats a major cause of life-threatening diarrhea in infants, a team led by a Johns Hopkins researcher reported yesterday.Another team of scientists, also led by a Hopkins researcher, said it has found that a new nose-drop flu vaccine, unlike the standard flu shot, is effective in infants between the ages of 2 months and 6 months.Both findings were issued yesterday at the combined annual meeting in Baltimore of three groups: the American Pediatric Society, the Society for Pediatric Research and the Ambulatory Pediatric Association.

WASHINGTON -- Many older Americans who have receive free influenza shots for the last four years under an experimental Medicare project could go unprotected during the coming flu season, health experts say.The government and private health experts said they feared that if people 65 years old or older who have been protected by the vaccinations are not immunized this year, more of them could contract the flu.Older people are at higher-than-normal risk of...

ATLANTA (AP) -- The federal Centers for Disease Control yesterday downplayed reports by flu vaccine distributors that the early winter flu season is draining the supply of vaccine.The CDC said while there are shortages in some areas, there is still enough vaccine for the people the flu threatens the most -- the elderly and people with chronic lung and heart disorders.The New York Times reported yesterday that the manufacturers say they have sold virtually all the vaccine. But the companies refused to say how much they produced.

The nation is on the verge of running out of influenza vaccine just as the flu season is off to one of its earliest starts, distributors of the vaccine say.Experts attribute the shortage to an unexpectedly heavy demand for flu shots that developed after federal health officials warned in October that the predominant flu virus this year would be unusually widespread and deadly.Although some health officials in New York said they still had adequate stocks of flu vaccine, officials in several other cities said that they had run out or were scrambling to get an additional supply.

The season's first confirmed cases of influenza were reported this week to the state health department, triggering renewed warnings for the elderly and people with chronic diseases to get immunized against the disease.Dr. Timothy Cote, a health department epidemiologist, said yesterday that it was too early to predict whether this flu season would be as severe as last year's, when schools and nursing homes across the state reported wide outbreaks.The good news, he said, was that flu specimens so far had been the "B/Yamagata" strain -- a type specifically targeted by the influenza vaccine that is in distribution this year.

Two more people in Maryland have died of swine flu, bringing the state's tally of deaths associated with the H1N1 virus to 12, state health officials said Wednesday. The two who died were unrelated adults from the Baltimore area with no underlying health problems. Officials confirmed that one of the dead was Walter Brooks Jr., 18, a graduate of North County High School in Glen Burnie, who died Oct. 21. Maryland is among 46 states nationwide where the virus is widespread, contributing to 279 hospitalizations statewide.

Because of slow production of the swine flu vaccine, public health officials aren't sure how fast Baltimore-area children will be able to get the two doses recommended for protection against the virus. That's a concern because early monitoring shows that children are being hospitalized and dying from the H1N1 flu at higher rates than from a standard seasonal flu. And Friday, a top U.S. health official called the H1N1 flu "a young person's disease." Still, experts recommend that children be vaccinated - even if a second dose cannot be scheduled.

An 18-year-old graduate of North County High School in Glen Burnie died Wednesday after a brief illness that friends on a Facebook page described as suspected swine flu. In a letter to parents, the school describes Walter Brooks as a "dynamic presence" who was involved in theater productions and in the school's marching band. Said Bob Mosier, a spokesman for Anne Arundel County schools, "This is an incredibly popular student that has siblings at the school, so we've had counselors at the school today."

A growing number of Howard County schools have reported flu-related absences greater than 10 percent this school year. The school system has had 27 instances this school year in which a school had a rate of absence that exceeded 10 percent, the level when system officials notify the Health Department. The school system has closely monitored the absences. At Hollifield Station Elementary, for example, 21 percent of the kindergartners were absent one day last week, but overall less than 10 percent of the school's pupils were absent.

With delivery this week of the first doses of injectable vaccine against swine flu, Baltimore City and some area counties have begun scheduling their first public clinics for priority groups: those ages 6 months to 24 years, pregnant women, health care workers, people taking care of infants, and adults ages 25-64 with underlying health conditions. Baltimore City will hold its first large swine flu clinic today at Polytechnic Institute for children 2 and older and adults up to age 24. Public clinics in Baltimore County will start Friday at two middle schools.

The Maryland NAACP wants a clarification of the law on Baltimore's mayoral succession out of concern that someone who is white could be selected to lead a predominantly black city. Is this a valid concern? Yes 6% No 93% Not sure 1% (1,259 votes, results not scientific) Next poll: : Amid publicity about the swine flu, doctors are reporting an increase in demand for the seasonal flu vaccine as well, leading to some shortages. Do you plan to get a seasonal flu shot this year? Vote at baltimoresun.

With all the attention given to the slow pace of distribution of the swine flu vaccine, doctors and other providers are raising concerns about a shortage of vaccine for the other flu that is expected to slam the state and country this year. Demand appears to be up for the seasonal flu vaccine, normally sought by about 30 percent of Marylanders. But doctors, retail outlets and clinics are running low or are out of doses. Officials at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention note that nearly all of the cases of flu now are of the swine flu variety, also known as H1N1, and there is still time to get a seasonal flu vaccination before an outbreak.

The number of swine flu cases in Mexico is stabilizing. In the U.S., though more people are being diagnosed with the virus, cases have been mostly mild, claiming two lives. And health officials have backed off on closing schools where students are sick. It may seem as though the threat of the virus known as H1N1 has lessened. But infectious disease experts and public health officials agree: The worst is likely still to come. In pandemics of the past, flu that arrived in the spring hit harder come fall, when influenza season returned.

Upper Chesapeake to offer flu shots Upper Chesapeake Health will hold flu clinics for the public ages 12 and older. A separate one-day pediatric flu clinic will be held for children 6 months to 11 years old. FluMist, an intranasal vaccine, is also available in limited quantities. The cost is $20 per vaccine, free for those with a Medicare Part B card. UCH will accept cash or checks only. Clinics will be at these times and places: * Saturday : 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Upper Chesapeake Medical Center, Chesapeake Conference Center.

As Maryland wraps up its worst flu season in three years, a small army of researchers is working on a vexing problem: why flu shots so often don't help the elderly. No matter how many people are vaccinated and what recipe drug makers use to formulate the flu vaccine each year, it generally works in only 30 percent to 40 percent of those over 65 - compared with 80 percent to 90 percent of younger adults, experts say. Doctors gauge a vaccine's effectiveness by examining blood levels of the antibodies our bodies produce after receiving it. They say older bodies have more trouble producing the antibodies than younger ones, even with a push from flu vaccine, so they're working on a more potent version of today's shots for older patients.