How to prevent influenza？ How to choose trivalent and tetravalent vaccines？ Teach you to cope with the flu season easily.

Influenza, referred to as influenza for short, is an acute upper respiratory infection caused by influenza virus, and it is also an infectious disease with strong infectivity and rapid spread. In China, an average of 88,000 people die of influenza every year. Generally, its high incidence period is autumn and winter, and it is mainly spread through droplets in the air, contact between people or contact with contaminated items. The typical clinical symptoms of influenza are: sudden onset of high fever, general pain, obvious fatigue and mild respiratory symptoms, which mainly affect the nose, throat, bronchus and occasionally affect the lungs. Influenza viruses can be divided into three types: A, B and C. Virus A often mutates its antigen, is highly contagious, spreads rapidly and is prone to widespread epidemic. Influenza A virus is further classified into subtypes. Among many subtypes of influenza A virus, influenza A H1N1 and influenza A H3N2 are common types, and compared with influenza A and influenza B cases, influenza C cases occur less. This is why only influenza A and B viruses are included in the seasonal influenza vaccine.

In the high incidence season of influenza in autumn and winter, if preventive measures are not taken, it is easy to catch the flu, aggravate the condition of basic diseases, and even have an impact on everyone’s life and work. Therefore, we must know the knowledge of influenza prevention. So what are the ways to prevent the flu? Let’s take a look at the preventive measures.

In autumn, the weather is cool, which is a good time for exercise. Therefore, we should take an active part in sports and go to the suburbs and outdoors to breathe fresh air. Walking, running and doing exercises can be carried out every day, which can make the body’s blood flow and muscles stretch, and can also achieve the purpose of strengthening physical fitness. However, when exercising, we must avoid the wind and sand and arrange the exercise reasonably.

In autumn, the climate is changeable, cold and hot. If clothes are suddenly increased or decreased, it will easily lead to the decrease of respiratory immunity and the invasion of pathogens. Therefore, we must appropriately increase or decrease clothes according to the usual weather changes. At the same time, you need to arrange your diet reasonably, eat less spicy food, reduce the irritation to the respiratory tract, drink more water and supplement vitamins.

At the same time, we also need to reduce contact with patients. Once you find yourself unwell or have flu-like symptoms, you must seek medical treatment as soon as possible. If there is an ill room, the living room should be disinfected.

First of all, we must pay attention to our personal hygiene and wash our hands before and after meals. Generally speaking, influenza virus is spread by air droplets, but if the hands of influenza patients touch their own nose and mucus and then touch other items, after the items are contaminated, others will be indirectly infected when they touch the contaminated items. Therefore, in our life, we must wash our hands frequently.

In the flu season, avoid entering public places with a lot of people, such as large shopping malls, supermarkets and vegetable markets, and wear masks if necessary. In addition, attention should be paid to indoor air circulation. Timely open the window for ventilation, as well as diet, we must pay attention to light diet, eat more foods rich in vitamins, such as vegetables and fruits, drink more water and strengthen excretion.

(1) There are currently trivalent and tetravalent influenza vaccines, so what is the difference between trivalent and tetravalent influenza vaccines?

A, the number of influenza virus subtypes prevented is different: trivalent vaccine can prevent three influenza viruses (H1N1, H3N2 and Victoria strain B); Tetravalent vaccine can prevent four influenza viruses (H1N1, H3N2, Victoria and Yamagata).

B, vaccination age is different: trivalent inactivated vaccine is used for people over 6 months old; Trivalent live attenuated vaccine is used for people aged 3-17; Tetravalent inactivated vaccine is used for people over 36 months old.

C, different vaccine formulations: trivalent inactivated vaccine includes 0.25ml and 0.5ml; There is only 0.2ml of trivalent live attenuated vaccine; There is only 0.5ml of tetravalent inactivated vaccine.

D, different inoculation methods: trivalent and tetravalent inactivated vaccines are intramuscular injection; The trivalent live attenuated vaccine was inoculated by intranasal spray.

(2) Which kind of influenza vaccine is better, nasal spray or injection?

In addition to the inoculation method, the main difference between the two types is the type of virus to be prevented and the applicable age. The nasal spray is only trivalent and can prevent three kinds of influenza viruses. There are trivalent and tetravalent injections. In theory, as long as the age meets and there are no relevant contraindications, you can choose voluntarily and there is no priority recommendation.

(3) After selecting the vaccine, what should we pay attention to before and after vaccination?

A. Precautions before vaccination:

Before getting the flu vaccine, you need to know the contraindications of this vaccine first. If you are allergic to this vaccine, you can’t get it. If you have an acute disease or an acute attack of a chronic disease recently, and your control is not good, you should consider getting the flu vaccine after the symptoms are completely relieved.

B, pay attention to good living habits during the flu vaccination, stop spicy, irritating, greasy and other foods in the diet, eat less barbecue and fried foods, drink more water, try not to stay up late, stay under observation for half an hour after vaccination, and leave without special circumstances.

C, matters needing attention after influenza vaccination mainly include the following points:

C1. Observation: Observe whether there is any abnormality in skin, breathing, heart rate, inoculation site and mental state after influenza vaccination. If there is any abnormality, you can consult the inoculation site or see a doctor in the nearest hospital.

C2. No contact with water: within 24 hours after vaccination, do not contact with water at the inoculation site, and do not take a bath. At this time, the needle eye may not be closed, which may stimulate the local area during contact with water, causing local infection, redness and other phenomena;

C3. Monitoring body temperature: Within 2 days after vaccination, there may be a low-grade reaction, which is a normal reaction after vaccination. The body temperature generally does not exceed 38.5℃, so don’t worry. If the body temperature is ≤38.5℃, physical cooling can be carried out, such as wiping the body and head with warm water, which has a cooling effect; Do not use drugs to reduce fever for the time being.

C4. Rest: Pay attention to rest after vaccination, and don’t be too tired;

C5. Light diet: It is recommended to have a light diet after vaccination. Don’t eat too greasy, so as to avoid confusion between symptoms of digestive tract and vaccine reaction due to improper diet after vaccination.

(1) Patients need to drink more water and strengthen nutrition. Patients need to eat a diet containing liquid or whole liquid. At the same time, they should eat more nutritious food and supplement vitamins. After eating, you need to eat warm salt water or warm boiled water to gargle, so as to keep your mouth and nose clean. If the patient’s systemic symptoms are obvious, he needs to seek medical treatment as soon as possible and start anti-infection treatment if necessary.　

(2) Self-conditioning: keep a cheerful mood, work and rest regularly, eat regularly, don’t stay up late, and do something interesting to relieve the psychological discomfort caused by the disease.　

(1) Principle of influenza treatment: If the flu is early, antiviral therapy can be used. We should adhere to the principle of paying equal attention to preventive isolation and drug treatment, and paying equal attention to both etiological treatment and symptomatic treatment.

(2) After suffering from the flu, you should actively treat it according to the doctor’s advice. If you don’t know the condition, don’t use antibacterial drugs on your own. You should actively cooperate and treat it according to the doctor’s advice so as not to delay the illness due to drug abuse, which will lead to drug resistance aggravating infection and worsening the condition into pneumonia.

Although influenza is a common disease, we must strengthen personal hygiene awareness, keep indoor air circulation, avoid gathering during the high incidence of influenza, and pay attention to hand hygiene.

To prevent the occurrence of influenza, prevention comes first.

Here comes the warm reminder of the little egg.

1. Influenza vaccination has started in all districts of Beijing. All community hospitals can vaccinate the elderly aged 60 and above (born before December 31, 1963) with local resident ID cards or social security cards for free. Students in primary and secondary schools, secondary specialized schools and technical colleges are vaccinated for free, and at the same time, self-funded influenza vaccination is started. Residents who are not registered in this city can choose to vaccinate themselves.

2. Residents can inquire about the outpatient address, consultation telephone number and appointment method in the sound and intelligence health applet.

3. Residents in Chaoyang District can also check the address, telephone number and appointment method of free and self-funded influenza vaccination clinics in Chaoyang District through "Beijing Chaoyang Disease Control WeChat official account". Please choose the appropriate vaccination clinic nearby.

Please bring your ID card or social security card when you are vaccinated.

5. Free influenza vaccination is initially scheduled to end at the end of November.

Author: Zhang Na, Heping Street Community Health Service Center, Chaoyang District, Beijing