People advised to get flu-vaccination

BANGKOK, March 21 (TNA) - The Influenza Foundation (Thailand) advises people in the country, especially those in vulnerable groups, to get the vaccination against human influenza this year to reduce the number of flu patients at hospitals and the flu death toll. While voicing the advice in Bangkok on Thursday, IFT President Professor Emeritus Dr. Prasert Thongcharoen told journalists that the Geneva-based World Health Organization (WHO) has warned the international community of the possibility of serious outbreaks of human flu in 2019, particularly the influenza B virus. Professor Emeritus Dr. Prasert, thus, suggested people to get the flu shots as the precaution to prevent themselves from the viral disease that can easily spread out, especially those in vulnerable groups, namely women with at least four month-pregnancy, young children aged 6 months to two years old, patients with such persistent diseases as lung, heart, cerebrovascular disorders, kidney failure, cancer, thalassemia, HIV/AIDS and obesity. The senior Thai virologist stated that the National Health Security Office (NHSO), under the Ministry of Public Health, has already had the flu vaccine in its stocks for the vulnerable groups of people but only 10 per cent of them have got their flu shots, calling on the group of pregnant women, in particular, to get the flu vaccination for the safety of themselves and their babies-to-be. The senior Thai virologist also warned that global statistics have shown the elderly group of people aged 65 and older represents a large proportion of flu fatalities in past outbreaks. The Thai wellknown specialist in virology stressed that getting the vaccination is the best way to prevent people, especially those in the vulnerable groups, from contracting the communicable flu and to reduce the number of flu patients and even its death toll. Meanwhile, Assoc. Prof. Tawee Chotpitayasunondh, President of the Pediatric Infectious Disease Society of Thailand (PIDST), cautioned that types B of influenza are likely to spread in Thailand this year, advising people to get the three-typed or the four-typed flu vaccines, which can effectively prevent people from being infected with the viral disease by at least 60-70 per cent. The PIDST president also suggested people who have such flu symptoms as high fever of 38 degree Celcius or above, muscle pains and aches, headache, trembling, sore throat, stuffy nose and debility to quickly see their doctors. (TNA)