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Source: Valley Morning Star, Harlingen, TexasOct.儲存 06--Even though it is "futile" to predict the severity of the upcoming flu season, health experts say people should get their shot early to lower their chances of catching the disease.Typically the flu season begins in October and continues through May. However, experts say residents should not wait to get their flu shot, as it will protect them for the entire season. They note that the flu is always circulating and activity is already picking up in Texas.While it is recommended that everybody over 6 months old get the flu shot, experts said it is especially important for pregnant women, people over the age of 65, very young children and people with underlying chronic health conditions because of increased risk of complications from the flu."Anyone in those groups are at a greater risk if they do get the flu," said Chris Van Deusen, press officer with the Texas Department of State Health Services."If they do end up getting the flu then there is an increased risk that they can have some sort of seriouscomplications. And as we see every year those types of things can be very debilitating."Even though the flu is regarded by many as a minor nuisance, local experts said about 25,000 people die from the flu annually in the United States."The flu is not a cold ... it's an infection that causes severe upper respiratory infection, high fever and it makes people really sick," Dr. Brian Smith, DSHS regional director in Harlingen, said. "It puts people out of work for as long as two weeks, can lead to pneumonia and other complications including mortality. The flu is an important disease, and if we can prevent it that's the best way to do it."The flu is caused by a variety of different influenza virus strains, and every year a vaccine is developed based on the strains that researchers expect to be circulating, experts said.Typically a flu vaccine protects against three strains that researchers believe will be circulating. But this year a new version of the vaccine, the quadrivalent vaccine, is available."What happened in the past is that sometimes people would still get sick after they got the flu vaccine because they caught a strain that wasn't in the vaccine," Smith said. "The B strain they would have to guess at and it was about50-50 most years. So this year they went ahead and there are a couple of options that have two types of B in them, so that just increases the chance of getting protection against any strain of flu."Vaccines this year protect against the A/California/7/2009 H1N1, the A/Victoria/361/2011 H3Nmini storage strains, and the B/Massachusetts/2/2012 B strain, according to a DSHS press release.The quadrivalent vaccine also protects against the B/Brisbane/60/2008 strain as well, the release states.Still, experts said people interested in vaccinations should speak with their health care provider on a case-by-case basis.WHAT IF YOU ARE ALREADY SICK?People who have already contracted the flu experience a variety of symptoms including high temperatures, respiratory symptoms, cough, sore throat, sneezing, a runny nose, body aches, headache, chills and more, experts said.People suffering from typical flu symptoms would likely be best served by their family doctor, experts said, but any person experiencing more severe symptoms may need to go into the emergency room in case they have suffered any complications."If you are just having the typical fever, chills, body aches and cold symptoms, just make sure that you stay well hydrated and rest," Dr. Ada Cuellar, an emergency medicine physician at Valley Baptist Medical Center in Harlingen, said."If you feel that something more is going on and you feel that you are very dehydrated and short of breath, that would be a very good reason to come to the emergency department and make sure that you are not one of those people that are having a more severe case of the flu or have pneumonia on top of it," Cuellar said.Physicians may also be able to prescribe antiviral medication to patients, which can help prevent complications, local experts said."What can help is antiviral medication," Penny Hodgins, an infection prevention nurse with Harlingen Medical Center, said."That's especially important if people are in risk groups for complications," Hodgins said. "You can't get anything like that over the counter. Antibiotics are not antiviral drugs. This is a different class of drugs that are prescription medications; they can make the illness milder, have a shorter duration and they can prevent complications."Don't underestimate "abuelita's" (grandma's) chicken soup, which experts said can help alleviate the illness."Chicken soup is clinically (shown) to be effective," Smith said. "Homemade will make due quite nicely. Chicken soup in general is shown to be quite helpful. Abuelita's old recipe, that's fine. There are no magic medicines that really improve getting well from the flu, it's just going to be rest, sleep and chicken soup."jmendoza@valleystar.comCopyright: ___ (c)2013 Valley Morning Star (Harlingen, Texas) Visit Valley Morning Star (Harlingen, Texas) at .valleymorningstar.com Distributed by MCT Information Servicesself storage