Bracing For The Flu Season

With an avian flu virus making headlines and the start of the annual flu season upon us, many Americans may be concerned about their health.

Tamiflu and Relenza are two medications used to reduce the severity of annual influenza and may prevent infection if used at the right time.

"Tamiflu is a proven treatment," Dr. Neil Schachter, author "The Good Doctor's Guide to Colds and Flu" and professor of pulmonary medicine at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, told The Early Show. "It is effective against the avian flu, absolutely."

Schachter said that both medications attack the influenza virus and prevent it from spreading inside the human body.

"It protects you. It doesn't eliminate the flu," he said. "But if you take it early on it minimizes the symptoms. It reduces the length of time that you have the flu."

Annually, the ordinary flu sickens 60 million Americans, puts 400,000 in the hospital and is fatal to more than 36,000 adults and children.

While the avian flu has not killed anyone in America, Schachter said: "Should we get a pandemic, as we're predicting ultimately we will get — maybe not this year but in the future — in that situation, stocking up on Tamiflu, for certain patients who are at high risk, is the right thing."

Currently, he said there is a vaccine for the avian flu, but it has yet to be approved.

"It has several draw backs," he said. "While it does work, it does protect you against the flu, it does give you immunity, it requires a large dose of the flu vaccine to produce that immunity. Given our current set-up in manufacturing the flu vaccine, it's not possible for us to meet the requirements of a pandemic with that vaccine.

"Hopefully it will be ready for next year. They're also working on newly-improved ways of making the vaccine so we will have a larger supply of the vaccine when the time comes, and give us more adaptability in designing new vaccines."

As for the regular flu, Schachter said that despite shortages last year, the Center for Disease Control says there will be enough vaccine available this year for everyone who needs it. As a precautionary measure, though, only at-risk people should be vaccinated between now and October 24.

Those in high-risk categories are:

• People older than 65 with underlying health problems
• People older than 50 with health problems such as heart disease, diabetes and asthma
• Pregnant women
• Children younger than 2
• People age 5 to 49 with underlying health problems
• Healthcare workers
• People who take care of small children
• Lastly, anyone looking to stay healthy through the flu season should consider going and getting one.