My Plan For Health

...And I hardly felt a thing. Though I did look away and sing "la la la" to distract myself. The kind nurse sang along.

I got my seasonal flu shot last night at the Agricultural Administration Buidling, and I saw many nurses and volunteers who were worn out after a long day. One commented that this was the biggest turnout for flu shots that she’d ever seen. Still, I hardly had to wait in line at all, as there were so many nurses on duty.

This year, getting a seasonal flu shot is more important than ever. That’s because different strains of the flu can combine to form new strains — inside your body. The Los Angeles Times explains how this happens in an article that traces the origins of the H1N1 swine flu:

When a flu virus infects a cell, it breaks down into its eight component genes and invades the cell’s nucleus. Once inside, those genes make hundreds of copies of themselves. Then they exit the nucleus and repackage themselves into new flu particles, which go on to infect additional cells. If a single cell is infected with two strains of flu at the same time — which can happen easily — genes from both can be bundled together to form a new virus.

And new research shows that getting the seasonal flu shot can offer some protection against swine flu, because the shot wakes up your body’s immune system and gives your antibodies a boost.

With all our fears about the swine flu, it’s easy to forget the danger that the normal seasonal flu poses in this country. In trying to allay people’s fears about the swine flu vaccine, this article in The New Yorker makes the point that the seasonal flu is also a killer:

In fact, the new H1N1 virus is similar to seasonal flu in its severity. In the United States, influenza regularly ranks among the ten leading causes of death, infecting up to twenty per cent of the population. It kills roughly thirty-five thousand Americans every year and sends hundreds of thousands to the hospital. Even relatively mild pandemics, like those of 1957 and 1968, have been health-care disasters: the first killed two million people and the second a million.

Click here for an interactive map of flu shot locations on campus.

Ohio State employees can sign up for a free flu shot here. Remember to bring your BuckID!

Adult dependents may also receive free shots, but only on one remaining date: next Tuesday, Oct. 13. Something important to keep in mind is that your dependent will need to have your OSU employee ID number when he or she fills out the form to get the shot.

Meanwhile, free shots are available to OSU employees — but not dependents — at participating Kroger pharmacies.

Bonus: This week’s onCampus newspaper cautions us to take care but don’t panic, and offers a Q&A on the university’s flu prevention efforts. As always, you can check http://flu.osu.edu/ for updates.