Many parents who chose not to have their children vaccinated thought flu shots didn't work because they or people they've known have suffered stomach ailments despite having had a flu shot.
Their logic: My flu shot didn't keep me from getting a gastrointestinal virus, so clearly it doesn't work.
The problem: That's like blaming the polio vaccine for not preventing measles.
"We've got to be able to get our minds clear about what influenza is and what the vaccine does so that we can get people to believe in it," says Dr. Allison McGeer, director of infectious diseases at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto.
Here Goes:
Gastrointestinal viruses like Norwalk rip through the system like drain cleaner. For 24, 48 or 72 hours, you feel like death warmed over and you can't stray far from the safety of familiar plumbing.
Influenza, on the other hand, has symptoms like those of a bad cold: coughing, sneezing, runny nose, achy muscles, fatigue, lethargy and a fever.
High fever can trigger vomiting in young children, so occasionally children with influenza will vomit -- a fact that probably adds to the confusion over what influenza is and isn't.
"Little kids when they get sick barf. It's a fact of life," McGeer says, noting it's the fever, not the influenza, that is responsible for the vomiting.
influenza never goes abdominal. ever.
