While doctors cannot yet predict how hard the upcoming flu seasonwill bear down on Butler County residents, they can offer advice on how to potentially avoid influenza — or decrease the duration of its uncomfortable symptoms.

Dr. John Love, the clinical director of infections for the Butler Health System, said county residents who have not done so should be getting their influenza shots now in advance of the wintertime peak in influenza cases.

“The peak last year was in February, so now there is a nice lag time when people think about the flu but we are not really seeing it,” he said. “We do push (the vaccine) at this time of year when the weather starts to change.”

He said people with health issues that could interfere with treatment of the flu — like lung disease and immune system issues — or living in a household with someone in poor health and over 65 years old should always have the flu shot.

“But we still recommend it for everyone,” Love said.

He said there are multiple opportunities for people to get the flu shot in recent years, including as a walk-in at many pharmacies, at their primary care doctor's office, and in many workplaces.

And yes, Love gets his flu shot each year. He recalled a case of the flu he suffered in his 20s, when he was horribly sick and achy for days.

“I'm one of the first ones to show up at occupational health,” he said.

Love explained that organizations like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention work with the vaccine manufacturers to determine which strains of flu will likely be most prevalent in the upcoming flu season.

Each vaccine contains an immunization against three or four strains, which will protect those immunized based on their individual immune systems and other factors.

“The flu vaccine cannot guarantee you cannot get the flu, even from one of the strains you are vaccinated against,” Love said. “It's the nature of this biological system.”

He said medical professionals think of the vaccine as “herd immunity,” meaning if you vaccinate enough of the population the virus' pathway will be greatly decreased or eliminated.

He said the swine flu in 2009 was particularly difficult because no vaccine existed against that virulent strain when it first appeared. It was then that children and adults were told not to cough on their closed fist but into the crook of their arm to prevent germs from being passed by the hands.

“That became popular with the swine flu,” said Love.

Regarding potential negative effects from the flu shot, Love said soreness at the site of the injection is the biggest side effect.

“A more serious reaction is Guillain-Barré syndrome, which is very, very rare,” he said.

Guillain-Barré syndrome causes the immune system to attack the central nervous system and can leave victims weakened and even unable to breathe on their own in severe cases.

He said as in any large-scale treatment or testing decision, the medical community considered risk versus benefit in the flu shot protocol.

“The risk of having a serious outcome from the flu is much higher than having serious adverse events from the vaccine,” Love said.

Those with lung disease, a compromised immune system or other chronic health problems could end up on a ventilator or even die if a severe case of the flu went untreated.

“We're talking about a specific pathogen that has a definite risk,” Love said, “It can kill people.”

Each season, flu sufferers who are experiencing particularly uncomfortable symptoms will appear at urgent care facilities and emergency rooms, Love said.

Healthy individuals without a number of medical problems will likely be sick with fever, chills, aches, fatigue, cough and sore throat for a few days without complications.

Senior citizens and those with chronic health issues, said Love, should receive a dose of Tamiflu as soon as possible after symptoms appear.

He said Tamiflu can be used as a preventive medication as well when an at-risk patient has been exposed to the flu.

The medication, which requires a prescription, prevents or greatly reduces flu symptoms but must be taken within the first few days after symptoms present themselves.

He said doctors can use a nasal swab test to determine if a patient has the flu or another problem.

“There are all sorts of colds and other respiratory infections that may look like the flu that would not be treated or prevented (with Tamiflu,)” Love said.

He stressed that the more people who get the flu shot, the less virulent the virus could be in the general population.

“We want to take every opportunity to gently remind people of the efficacy and safety of this intervention,” Love said.