Flu shots essential as season approaches

Samantha Bielawski wouldn’t have gotten a flu shot if it weren’t for her bio-chemistry… Samantha Bielawski wouldn’t have gotten a flu shot if it weren’t for her bio-chemistry professor’s advice.

“He said it was only $20 but it could save your life,” Bielawski said.

Since her teacher had mentioned the prevalence of the potentially dangerous bird flu, Bielawski decided to join dozens of other Pitt students who waited in line yesterday to receive a flu shot in the William Pitt Union’s Assembly Room.

The flu is a contagious respiratory illness caused by the influenza virus that affects the nose, throat and lungs. Some symptoms include high fevers, extreme tiredness, coughing, sore throats, runny or stuffy noses and muscle aches, according to the Web site of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — a government organization that works to protect Americans’ health and safety.

Marcy Radakovich, the assistant dean of students, administered flu shots to students along with other nurses from Student Health. Student Health has hosted annual flu shot events for more than 10 years, except during a worldwide shortage of the vaccine in 2004.

She said that during the two days that Student Health distributes flu shots, the nurses treat close to 1,000 students, staff and faculty members and administer another 1,000 shots to students during their health appointments.

During the flu season, which occurs primarily during winter months, Radakovich said that Student Health treats more than 120 students who have become infected with the flu.

The disease spreads through water droplets that are transmitted from person to person, such as when a person infected with the influenza virus coughs or sneezes near the mouth or nose of someone else, according to the CDC’s Web site.

It is also possible for people to become infected after touching an object that contains the virus and then touching their nose or mouth without washing their hands first. After a person becomes infected with the disease, symptoms will appear about two days later.

Most healthy adults can infect others anywhere from the day before their symptoms develop to five days after they are sick.

Dr. Elizabeth Wettick, the senior physician of Student Health, said that although college students are typically younger and have strong immune systems that can fight off diseases, their lifestyles can contribute to health risks.

“College students can get sick because they tend to get less sleep and they don’t have as healthy as a diet,” Wettick said.

According to the CDC’s Web site, 5 to 20 percent of Americans get the flu each year. As protection against the disease, health centers administer flu shots, which contain an inactivated vaccine with a killed virus.

Two weeks after a person receives the shot, he develops antibodies that will protect him against the influenza virus infection.

People who should not receive an influenza vaccination include those with severe allergies to chicken eggs, have Guillian Barre syndrome — a disease that causes the body to kill its own nerve cells — and have had a severe reaction to vaccinations in the past.