11/21/13 - County health officials say there is some good news in the discovery of Livingston County's first influenza case of the season. Sentinel doctors, who regularly test patients with flu-like symptoms to determine when flu season has begun, recently found a patient infected with Influenza A. Public Health Director Ted Westmeier tells WHMI this is one of the strains covered by this year's flu vaccine. Each year, experts try to anticipate what strains of influenza are likely to circulate that season so they can begin producing vaccines early enough to be useful to the public. Not every strain can be included in the standard vaccine, but Westmeier says Influenza A is included in this year's inoculations. He adds that flu vaccines should reduce symptoms of most influenza strains even if they are not specifically included, so everyone over the age of six months should get vaccinated. Those inoculations can be obtained at doctors' offices, pharmacies, and clinics. The Department of Public Health also offers regular vaccination clinics on Wednesdays between 8:30am to 4:30pm. The clinic stays open to 7pm on the 2nd and 4th Wednesdays of every month, but next week's hours will not be extended due to the Thanksgiving holiday. For more information, call (517) 546-9850 or follow the link below. (TD)
↧