Vaccinate now against flu and influenza viruses?

Dr. Carsten Lekutat: We just had the Corona wave. This is now being replaced by the viral influenza wave. The fact is that for many years during the pandemic we kept our distance from one another and wore masks. Our immune system has therefore forgotten a lot. We are seeing catch-up effects, which are probably due to the fact that we have had fewer contacts in recent years.

The current flu wave is also affecting younger people, not just the older ones, about whom we are very worried, but also children, teenagers and young adults. It is a form of swine flu that we know from 2009, which is now reappearing in a slightly mutated form. We already saw that back then, that younger people were more likely to be affected.

That is a difficult question. None of us can see into the future. If I get vaccinated against viral influenza today, the body needs about 14 days to build up good protection. The thing is, there was another real wave in March of the last 2022/23 season. If something like that were to happen this year, a vaccination would still provide protection today. But it does not protect us from an infection that will take place in the next week, for example.

A vaccination is never: yes or no. You build up a certain level of protection. There can be breakthrough infections where you become ill despite being vaccinated. But the illness is then more often less severe.

But what you can definitely say about the viral flu is that it feels different. As a rule, the beginning is frantic. That means if I don’t feel so good today and think: “Oh, I’m out of breath. Let’s see if I can hatch something.” And tomorrow the cold comes, then it’s probably not a viral flu, but more of a normal cold. However, if I’m going through life happily and suddenly have an infection with a fever, then it will be the viral flu.

The rapid onset, usually with fever, often headaches, and often respiratory symptoms, indicates the flu. But this rapid change of “I’m healthy now” and within an hour later “really sick to death” clearly points to viral flu. Then go to the doctor and get tested.

You can only ever become infected if you come into direct contact with the virus. And this is transmitted from person to person. This means that if I keep my distance from other people and maybe even wear a mask again during this time, I can protect myself relatively well from infection. Masks not only help against Corona, but also against other respiratory diseases.

Now, of course, you have to make a clear distinction: viral influenza and the common cold. With the normal one A cold I always recommend taking zinc first. Zinc is a wonderful mineral, a wonderful medicine. You can buy this at the pharmacy. I think steam inhalation is great. That means you boil water and put it in a bowl, put a towel over your head like grandma told us and just inhale the steam. By the way, there doesn’t have to be anything in there. The steam is completely sufficient.

At a Viral flu Home remedies usually don’t help. If you want to reduce your fever, it is important to sweat. Then calf wraps help to make this easier. The natural home remedies for colds are unlikely to be effective against viral influenza.

We all know this from the corona tests. It always made sense to check your nose to see whether you were infected with Corona. Why actually? Above all, to protect other people, to separate yourself so as not to infect others. It’s the same with the influenza test. Even if I realize: “I have influenza. Maybe I don’t feel so bad because I’m a young, healthy, immunocompetent person.” Even then, it still makes sense to stay at home and not go to work if such a test is positive.