Puerto Rico Fighting Both Zika and Influenza

Earlier this year, the Puerto Rican Health Department (PRHD) declared a Zika epidemic on the island, reporting nearly 500 new cases of Zika have been identified which total 34,562 cases of the mosquito-borne virus. This report includes nearly 2,700 pregnant women, with 290 hospitalized. Now, PRHD Secretary Dr. Ana Ríus has declared an influenza epidemic on the island as reported cases near 10,000.

“As of last season, there have been 9,591 influenza cases on the island, and we have had a steady increase in cases of influenza and hospitalizations for four weeks”, she said.

“At the moment preliminary numbers of the vaccination record indicate that around 180,544 people have been vaccinated so far this year (2016-2017).”

“Vaccination is the most effective flu prevention measure we have,” Rius said.

The influenza viruses cause the flu. The virus infects the nose, throat, and lungs and can lead to death, CDC recommends a yearly flu vaccine to protect against this contagious illness.

The PRHD administrative order includes a moratorium on pharmacies, so they can vaccinate children over seven years of age.

Dr. Ríus reminds parents “to take their children to get vaccinated because it is the best way to protect them.”

Flu vaccine is produced by private manufacturers, so supply depends on manufacturers. In past years the following manufacturers produced a flu vaccine: Sanofi Pasteur, GlaxoSmithKline, and Protein Sciences.

For the 2016-2017 season, manufacturer's projected they would provide 176 million doses of vaccine for the U.S. market.

The upcoming season's flu vaccine will protect against the influenza viruses that research indicates will be most common during the season. This includes an influenza A (H1N1) virus, an influenza A (H3N2) virus, and one or two influenza B viruses, depending on the flu vaccine.

In addition, pregnant women, people over 65 years of age, and people with conditions such as asthma, diabetes, obesity, cancer, lung or heart disease, renal or hepatic failure, and immuno-compromised patients should also be protected through vaccination.