What is Influenza?
Influenza (Flu) is the name for a type of viral infection caused by any of various strains of influenza virus. The infection causes tiredness, soreness, headache and congestion. In serious cases it can cause death. As of March 2016, there were 38 flu-related deaths in Ireland last winter.
Why is Vaccination Important?
Obviously the most serious outcome of flu is death, and because of this potential serious outcome, flu vaccination is particularly recommended for older people. Most deaths occur in people over 65. But there are other reasons why we want to limit the spread and effect of flu. It can be very unpleasant to be down with the flu, and beyond that it puts a serious dent in our productivity as individuals and as a society! Every year flu infections result in many thousands of hours of lost work time.
Other Medical Options
In addition to getting vaccinated for the flu, older people should talk to their doctor about antiviral drugs, especially if they are experiencing symptoms of viral infection. It’s important to ask fast, so don’t waste time if you feel like you’re getting sick – get to your doctor as soon as you can. Another possibly life-saving treatment is a vaccination to protect against the pneumococcus bacteria. One major health risk with flu is pneumococcal pneumonia caused by this bacteria. This vaccine can also help defend against other serious secondary infections such as meningitis (infection of the nervous system or brain) and infection of the bloodstream.
Simple Healthy Habits
It’s never any harm to remember the very simple things we can also do to stay healthy this flu season!
- wash hands frequently
- cover your face when coughing (some doctors recommend coughing into your arm rather than your hand as hands are the most frequent way of spreading germs)
- try to avoid sick people, or if you are sick to try to avoid unnecessary contact with others
Flu Vaccination Poster from PharmaPOS
Along with all of our great promotional templates to help move your products off the shelves, we like to provide health-benefiting instore materials too. This flu season many PharmaPOS members will be posting our PharmaPOS?Flu?Vaccination poster to remind their customers to get their flu jab! As with all our posters, it’s branded with the pharmacy logo.
