Baltimore County, MD Hello Baltimore County, 4 Oct 2017

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From YouTube: Get the Shot, Not the Flu!

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Follow this Health Department doctor’s advice to keep your family healthy this winter.

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Thanks for watching hello!, baltimore county., I'm ellen kobler, and I don't know about you,, but I really, really.

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Do not want to get the flu this year., we have invited dr. joylene john-sowah,, who is, is the county's chief of communicable diseases to help us with some flu prevention..

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Thank you for joining us.. Thank you for inviting me., help! ( laughter ). Tell us a little bit about the flu --, what it is,. What are the signs and symptoms.

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Okay. so,, the flu, or influenza, is a series of viruses.

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That can cause respiratory illnesses., and some of the symptoms that you might have, if you get infected by flu virus, would include headache, fever,.

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Body, aches, muscle, aches,, sore throat, and just a general malaise. miserable., yeah. mm-hm., and it's different from the common cold, because the consequences of the flu can be a lot more severe.

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Really? yes. such as? so,, it can lead to more severe illness and it can also,.

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In some very rare cases, lead to death.

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And my understanding --, I know I worked with someone who's, otherwise, seemingly healthy brother in his 40s.

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Caught the flu and succumbed and just died.

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He wasn't elderly,, he wasn't an infant.

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so,. When you talk about getting the flu shot,, it really is for everyone?.

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The flu shot is recommended for everyone., I think. Perhaps traditionally people have felt that that it's more important.

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For those who are very young or those who are very old,,.

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And yes, they can run higher risks,, but currently the recommendation.

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Is that everyone should get the flu.

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also, another risk category can be those who have complications.

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Like asthma or chronic heart disease.

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But really and truly this is recommended for everyone.

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okay,. So where can baltimore county residents receive a flu shot?.

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That's a great question.

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Super saturday is baltimore county's mass effort to get everyone flu shots.

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And it's free and it's october 21st, this year.

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Clinics are being held in seven sites across the county.

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Kobler: okay, and we'll roll the locations up on the screen for you., john-sowah: and outside of --. If you cannot make it on the 21st,.

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You can go to your private physician to get a flu shot,.

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You can go to many local drug stores will offer them,.

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But the county health department's program is free,, bear that in mind.

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Kobler: okay, free is definitely good.

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Are there risks with getting the flu shot?

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that sort of healthy people should worry about?.

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So,, if you have severe life-threatening allergies to eggs,.

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That was a huge risk in the past,, but flu viruses that--.

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But the flu shot --, I'm sorry,, the flu shot, has changed somewhat.

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And so the recommendations for even people with some egg allergies.

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Have changed and people who -- and depending on the severity.

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Of your allergy,, you can still be eligible.

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For one of the several different shots that are offered.

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Okay,, so if somebody knows that,, they should talk to their doctor., but otherwise,. I get my shot. Every year.

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tiny little bit, of-- tiny ache for like a day or so, and that's about it.

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Mm-Hm, redness or swelling at the site,, maybe a little itching sometimes,.

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But most cases people do quite well with the flu shot.

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Can you catch the flu from getting a flu shot?.

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No. okay. and that's sort of a myth as well. I think.

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Yes,, it is., but there's no live virus in the flu shot.

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Let's talk about how all the nice people out there, what they can do to prevent, giving me the flu.

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Well, if you want to protect yourself from getting the flu,.

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One of the major things is getting that flu shot.

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Right, okay, I will., but secondary to that,. We always promote washing your hands.

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Washing your hands is a huge way to control many infections, --.

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Flu included. and the other thing that we say is cover your cough., so we've been teaching everyone. The proper way to cough is to turn your head and cough into your elbow.

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Yep, because you don't want to cough in your hands because then you touch everything.

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You touch everything, yes. and you can spread the flu that way.. So those are our main ways: get vaccinated, wash your hands,.

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And cover your cough. and sneezes too. achoo! right.

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Okay. there's another ailment, that's been in the news recently.

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And that's hepatitis c and it's becoming --.

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I don't know if it's just happening or just becoming more well known,.

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That there is a lot of hepatitis c being found in the baby, boomer population.

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What is going on with that?.

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Okay, so baby, boomers, or folks, who have been born between 1945 and 1965,.

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Currently, statistics are showing that they are five times more likely.

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To have contracted hepatitis c somewhere along the way.

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We don't know exactly when. we're not really sure why this is,, but some of the things.

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That they're exploring is the possibility that they might.

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Have contracted the virus from medical, from contaminated.

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Medical equipment prior to universal precautions being enacted.

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Or possibly from blood transfusions,, if they might have had that.

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Before blood was widely screened for things like hepatitis c.

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So those are theories that are floating around, but at the end of the day, they're, not really sure exactly why it is.

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But they do recommend that if you were born within this timeframe,.

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That you do get tested.

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Okay, and give us those years again.

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1945 to 1965.

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okay, and would people have symptoms?.

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Would they have a sense that they have it?

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well,? The interesting thing is: if you have hepatitis c virus infection,.

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Only about 20% to 30% of those infected will actually be symptomatic.

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And those symptoms can include fatigue, nauseousness,, abdominal pain,.

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Darker colored urine, or lighter colored stools --.

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We call them clay stools. and in more severe cases you might get jaundice or yellowing of the skin, and in the eyes too..

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So this virus attacks --. Is it the liver that it's attacking then, or...?.

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Right. hepatitis c is a virus and it causes inflammation of the liver.

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And untreated,, if left, untreated, somewhere between 75% and 85% of folks.

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Can go on to develop a chronic hepatitis c infection.

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And some of the consequences of that include liver, damage,.

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Like cirrhosis, or liver, cancer.,.

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And so, you know,, we have treatment now.

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And so this is one reason why we are really promoting that people should get tested.

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Okay, so where can people get tested or how do they do that?.

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Baltimore county health department also offers free testing.

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For hepatitis c virus., outside of that, you can always go to your primary care. Provider.

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Okay. and tell us a little bit about the treatment.

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Is this-- if you have it,, is it necessarily a huge problem?.

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Okay, so I'll just backtrack a little bit and let you know that.

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You can contract the virus from contact with blood. That's infected.

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And so there is treatment for that,. There are different anti-viral drugs.

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And drug regimen, and if you go to your primary care provider,, they can help identify --.

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They can assess you to identify the type of virus that you have,.

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And also put you on the appropriate treatment for that.

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But if you want to prevent yourself from getting hepatitis c, infection,.

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What you want to do is avoid contact with contaminated blood.

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So, you want to avoid sharing toothbrushes with other people.

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Or razors with other people., you also want to...

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Another way that you can get it,, which is less frequent than the blood,.

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And that's what I wanted to say, also, if you have open sores.

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If you have open sores or cuts on your skin,, you don't want to get in contact with blood or secretions from another individual,, and you want to keep those sores covered.

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so put on a band-aid., yeah.

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and then another way. That is much less frequent to get the virus.

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But still happens is through sexual contact,, so you want to make sure that you're protected in those instances.

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Okay. all right, well, thank you for this extremely valuable information.

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So,, you want people to, if they're, within that baby boomer age, range,.

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To get tested for hepatitis c.

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And regardless of age, everybody should get the flu shot.

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yes. all right.. Well, thank you so very much for joining us.. Thank you for having me here. sure.,.

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So the bottom line is, get your flu shot and wash those hands.

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Thanks for watching hello! baltimore county., we invite you to connect with baltimore county government on all of our social media. Platforms., we'll see you next time. ( ♪♪♪ ).