A delayed flu season in North Texas

It's common knowledge in the medical community that viruses like the flu mutate and adapt to maneuver around the latest immunizations. In fact, that's the reason we have to get flu shots every year - because the strains of the flu we were immunized against in prior years have evolved and require us to develop new vaccines for them.

But even as ingenious as mutation is, it may not be as tricky as what the flu did over the past several months in North Texas. You see, the typical peak of the flu season is in January and February here. But not this year. North Texas had an extremely mild amount of flu cases in the first couple of months of 2012.

That lulled most of us into thinking that we were just going to have a flu-less year. However, as you'll learn from our infectious disease expert Dr. Jeffrey Kahn in the WFAA news clip below, the flu just faked us out. There has been a significant increase in flu cases over the last several weeks, which implies that we're just now entering the throes of "flu season."

So, if you haven't had your child vaccinated against the flu yet, it's still a good idea.

The flu frenzy

My first child, the darling Emerson Lee Foster, was born at the end of November. The first six weeks of her life have been full of love, joy, celebration and... a lot, lot of paranoia.

Seems like all I can think about sometimes are bad drivers, BPA, blocked airways, falling picture frames and contagious diseases. Yes, I drive myself crazy. And it's been especially difficult to keep my sanity as I've started hearing an excessive amount of sniffling and coughing the past few weeks. In the office. At the store. All over the mall.

I can't escape it. The flu season is revving up. But, luckily, I have the experts at Children's to help me make it through - as you do, too.

So, I asked the director of the infectious disease department at Children's, Dr. Jeffrey Kahn, if he could give us some advice on keeping our children healthy the next couple of months.

Me: When is it safe for parents of babies to take their children out in public places? 8 weeks, 12 weeks, 6 months? Or should they just refrain from taking babies out into crowds during flu season?

Dr. Kahn: There are no official recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control that specify the age that young children can be safely taken to public places during influenza season. The best advice for parents and other caretakers would be to be cautious when influenza is circulating in the community. That information can be found at the CDC website (or follow the CDC's Twitter account that focuses entirely on flu news, @CDCFlu). Good hand washing for anyone who will hold/touch the child will also decrease the risk of influenza transmission. The best way to protect young children from the flu is vaccination (when they reach the appropriate age of older than 6 months). Also, vaccination of all those who come in regular contact with the baby (since a large proportion of influenza infections are acquired from infected individuals within the home) is the best way to protect children who are too young or not eligible to receive the vaccine.

Me: Is it a good idea for children to receive a flu vaccination now if they haven’t already received one? Is it too late?

Dr. Kahn: There is still time for children to get the influenza vaccination. At this time, there is still little influenza activity in north Texas suggesting that the “flu” season is yet to come. Vaccination is the BEST way to protect children from the flu. There are no school requirements for flu vaccination BUT All children who are eligible should be vaccinated.

Me: Is there a difference in the effectiveness of the flu shot and the flu mist?

Dr. Kahn: For the most part, these vaccines are of equal efficacy. For children who are eligible for either vaccine, the decision can be made by the parent, clinician and/or the child!

Back to school

Brianna Lamar is one of many 14-year-olds in North Texas who began their first week of high school on Monday. When I spoke with her a few weeks ago, she didn't seem worried at all about the adjustment.

"I'm looking forward to it," she said. "It's going to be a little different, because I'm going to be doing a lot more. I'm going to have to balance out a way to be on the debate team, student council and band. And all of my classes except for two are going to be advanced placement."

She wasn't worried about fitting in. Or harder classes. Or growing up. She wasn't worried about any of the typical things high school freshmen worry about.

What did worry Briana? Getting a scratch in PE. She's HIV positive and has been since birth.

But there is a lot more to her than that, as you can tell by the excerpts from our conversation below. A full story on Briana will run in the September issue of Children's Connect.

"I went to Camp Hope this summer. It's a camp full of kids who have HIV. This was my seventh year to go. It's pretty neat to see a bunch of kids just like me and make friends with them. We do outdoor stuff like canoeing, kayaking, riding bikes and going down a zip line. It's a lot of fun. I'm sad, because next year will be my last year to be a camper."

"I don't think about HIV all of the time, but there are times when I do. I wonder what stage it's in. I wonder how big it's gotten. I wonder if my medicines are shrinking it any."

"I call the people who don't have HIV 'The Normals.' It takes them days and weeks to get sick. But for me, sickness can advance within a matter of minutes or hours. And if it lasts for days to weeks, that's when it really gets a lot worse for me. That's why I have to take my medicine every day."

"There are two people that I consider my closest friends. You know, you tell somebody and they usually tell someone else. But I told them (about my condition), and they don't tell anyone else unless they ask me first. They keep it to themselves, and they don't threaten to tell other people if we get in an argument or anything. That's what I really like about them. They're the two most loyal friends I've had."

"When I turn 16, I'll have to get a job. I would love to intern at a veterinarian's office. I'd just like to work with animals in any way possible."

"I've already decided where I want to go to college: Texas A&M. They have a great veterinary program. For my undergrad degree, instead of doing it in 4 years, I'm going to do it in 2. And for my grad degree, instead of doing it in 4 years, I'm going to finish it in 2 also. And then I'll have a 2-year internship with a vet. And then I'll set up an animal sanctuary somewhere in the country in Montana. But not too far from the city."