By clicking on "Accept", you agree to the use of cookies on your device to improve navigation on the site, analyze its use and contribute to our marketing efforts. Read more
 
  • Products & Solutions
    Products & Solutions
    • Pharmaceuticals
      Pharmaceuticals
    • Animal Health
      Animal Health
    • Wellness and Beauty
      Wellness and Beauty
    • Healthcare Technologies
      Healthcare Technologies
      • Medical Consumables
      • Medical Equipment
      • Medical Laboratory
  • Expertise
  • Blog
  • About us
  • Careers
  • Contact
    • Medical Practitioner
    • Pharmacist
    • Veterinarian

MENU

  • Products & Solutions
    • Pharmaceuticals
    • Animal Health
    • Wellness and Beauty
    • Healthcare Technologies
      • Medical Consumables
      • Medical Equipment
      • Medical Laboratory
  • Expertise
  • Blog
  • About us
  • Careers
  • Pro
  • Contact
  • HEALTHACTIV CORPORATE
  • ANIMAL CARE
  • WELLNESS & BEAUTY
  • VITABIOTICS
  • Topicrem
  • Biocyte
  • HEALTHACTIV CORPORATE

CONNECT WITH US

  • Healthcare
  • Animal care
  • Wellness & Beauty
  • HealthActiv news
  • Healthcare
2019, August 12

Recommendations to prevent flu and flu-related complications

To reduce the risk of an elderly person contracting flu and developing serious complications, the National Council on Aging (NCOA) recommends that elders and their family members receive annual flu vaccinations

However, vaccination rates are alarmingly low among older adults. Globally only about 59% of adults aged 65 and over were vaccinated during the 2017-2018 flu season.

The flu vaccine is updated each year based on data from a worldwide virus tracking system that helps public health officials predict which virus strains will circulate during the upcoming season. Generally, people aged 65 and over have two vaccine options. There is a traditional flu shot and a higher dose flu shot designed specifically to address the age-related decline of the immune system. The higher dose vaccine prompts the body to produce more antibodies against the flu virus than would be produced by the traditional shot.

Because pneumonia is a common complication of the influenza virus, pneumococcal vaccines are also recommended for all adults over age 64. In addition to pneumonia, pneumococcal disease can cause dangerous infections of the bloodstream and the linings of the brain and spinal cord (meningitis).

Physicians are advised to recommend yearly vaccination against flu. Data from several studies demonstrate the benefits of flu vaccine:

  • Flu vaccine can stop or minimise the risk of getting flu
  • Vaccination can reduce the risk of flu-associated hospitalization or admission to the intensive unit.
  • Vaccination reduces the severity of the illness and minimises the risk of associated death.
  • Flu vaccination reduces the risk of acute respiratory infection and the risk of hospitalisation in pregnant women. It also helps protect the baby after birth from flu (since antibodies are passed onto the developing baby during pregnancy)


New frontiers for the protection against influenza

Despite major efforts on vaccination, influenza remains an ongoing global threat. The induction of strain‐specific neutralizing antibody response is a common phenomenon during vaccination with the current inactivated influenza vaccines, so the protective effect of these vaccines is mostly strain‐specific. There is an essential need for the development of next‐generation vaccines, with a broad range of immunogenicity against antigenically drifted or shifted influenza viruses. These include whole inactivated vaccines, based on chemical and physical methods, as well as new approaches to generate cross‐protective immune responses.

According to Sabbaghi and colleagues (Sabbaghi et al., 2019), vaccine candidates have recently been developed that can elicit antibodies against multiple influenza strains, and thus could overcome the need for annual influenza vaccines. Several antiviral drugs are currently in development for influenza treatment, including favipiravir, nitazoxanide, and arbidol.

Guidance on protection against the flu

Influenza is very infectious and can easily be transmitted to other people. Typically the risk of transmission is higher in the first 5 days of being infected.

Flu viruses spread from coughs and sneezes and remain alive on surfaces for up to 24 hours. Besides recommendation, a yearly flu vaccine, the following simple preventive measures are advised:

  • cover the mouth when coughing
  • wash hands regularly with warm water and soap
  • use tissues to trap germs when coughing or sneezing
  • throw away used tissues as quickly as possible
  • Avoid people who are sick



Author: Dr Reshma Ramracheya is a group leader at the University of Oxford with over 18 years of experience in teaching and medical research.

Reference:

  • Hay AJ, McCauley JW. The WHO global influenza surveillance and response system (GISRS)—A future perspective. Influenza Other Respi Viruses. 2018;12:551–557. https://doi.org/10.1111/irv.12565.
  • Hemila H., Chalker E., Douglas B. The Cochrane Library; 2010.
  • Sabbaghi A, Miri SM, Keshavarz M, Zargar M, Ghaemi A. Inactivation methods for whole influenza vaccine production. Rev Med Virol. 2019 Jul 23:e2074. doi: 10.1002/rmv.2074.
  • CDC, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/pubs/pinkbook/flu.html)
  • NICE, National Institute for Health and Care (https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/conditions-and-diseases/infections/influenza)
Back to Blog

Read also

  • Healthcare
2025, April 18
Understanding Meniscus Tear, a Common Knee Injury
  • HealthActiv news
2025, April 08
Meeting Global Standards: HealthActiv Qualified & Validated by Strategnos for Temperature Mapping
  • Wellness & Beauty
2025, March 28
L'aromathérapie et la santé articulaire : une approche naturelle pour soulager et prévenir
  • Healthcare
2025, March 04
L'importance du fer pour la santé des bébés et des enfants
logo HealthActiv
15 Reserves St, Les Salines
PO Box 540, Port Louis, Mauritius
+230 203 3500
info@healthactiv.mu

CONNECT WITH US ON SOCIAL MEDIA

Our facebook pages
  • Healthactiv corporate
  • Wellness & Beauty
  • Animal care
  • Vitabiotics
  • Topicrem
  • Biocyte
Our Linkedin page
  • Healthactiv corporate
  • POLICIES
  • Privacy Notice
  • Quality Policy
Copyright 2019 - 2025 HealthActiv
ibl
Visit iblgroup.com