Flu Shot Time: Influenza on the rise in Charleston

Cooler weather has yet to grace the Lowcountry this month, but it hasn't stopped the flu from spreading. October marks the beginning of influenza season and health experts say cases are popping up earlier than usual. The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control has some early numbers showing the spread of the virus and areas where confirmed cases are more prevalent.

As of October 7, the department reported 93 cases of influenza in over 22 counties. Charleston County has 20 reported cases this week, the most statewide.

“We’ve started to see scattered cases of influenza,” said Roper St. Francis Family Practitioner Dr. Valerie Scott. “In our office, we saw a patient two weeks ago with influenza A and at our after-hours, we’re seeing patients on a fairly regular basis, one or two a week.”

While children and the elderly are more susceptible to complications of the flu, Scott said it’s dangerous for every age group.

“One of the most common complications is like a sinus infection and that’s serious, but death can occur,” she said. “You know, there was over 4,000, maybe 4,600 deaths in 2014 (in the U.S.) attributed to the flu directly and that’s a lot of people if you think about it.”

Scott said she hears all kinds of excuses from patients, but despite popular belief, she said the flu shot cannot give you the flu.

“There are a lot of misconceptions about the flu shot and some of it, I think, dates back to the kind of previous flu shot we had back in the 60s and 70s,” Scott said. “Back then, it was a live virus shot and people did get the flu from it, but the shots we’ve had for the last many, many years, they’re actually inactivated shots with the virus.”

She said it’s common for there to be soreness at the injection site one to two days after receiving the shot.

“You can feel a little achy, you can feel a little viral for a few days and that’s your body’s immune system heightening its response to the flu and so that’s actually a good response.”

Predicting the season’s flu strains is not a fool-proof science, Scott added that predictions for the U.S. and Europe are based on what’s already happened in the southern hemisphere and this year, Australia had their worst flu epidemic in 50 years.