My Healthy Heart Blogs
Flu Shot Crucial for Heart Disease Sufferers
11/01/07
Diagnosis, Prevention
Even though statistics show most American adults who die from are people living with heart disease, more than one in three such people do not plan on getting a flu shot this year.
A survey found that 37 percent of heart disease sufferers do not anticipate getting vaccinated against influenza this season. And last year, only half of all people living with heart disease received a flu shot. Those percentages were reported in a survey completed for Mended Hearts, Inc., a national nonprofit organization associated with the American Heart Association.
According to the Centers for Disease Control, the flu vaccine is the single best way to prevent infection and the potentially serious complications of contracting the flu. The center recommends that adults at high risk of developing serious complications seek out vaccination against the flu. And in light of the survey results, Mended Hearts, Inc. launched a campaign called I Heart Flu Shots to promote flu shots among people living with heart disease. This campaign adds to the efforts of the American Heart Association and American College of Cardiology urging cardiologists to encourage flu vaccination among their patients.
Flu season usually begins in November and can stretch into March, with the peak usually falling in February. Vaccinations are most effective when administered in October or November, but they can still be helpful when given as late as December. The influenza virus is passed by droplets of water expelled from an infected person in a cough or sneeze. Those droplets are either directly deposited in the mouth, eyes, or nose of another person, or they land on a surface that an uninfected person touches. Because the virus is easily transmissible, vaccination is vital to prevention.
Sources:
Mended Heart, Inc.
PR Newswire
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
