The Tribune

By RICARDO WELLS

Tribune Staff Reporter

rwells@tribunemedia.net

HEALTH Minister Dr Duane Sands has again urged Bahamians to take warnings related to the H3N2 flu strain seriously.

On Tuesday, the Elizabeth MP implored all at-risk Bahamians to get vaccinated to avoid catastrophic health risks from the new strain, dubbed Aussie Flu.

He also dismissed cultural superstitions that surround seasonal flu vaccinations, calling these beliefs “nonsense”.

He warned anyone abstaining from vaccines in this instance, were unnecessarily “rolling the dice” with their overall health.

“There is a lot of hearsay, you know. In The Bahamas, ‘if the draught hit your mole you’d get pneumonia’, right? Which is nonsense,” Dr Sands said.

“If you get wet in the rain, you’d get pneumonia, right? Which is nonsense.”

He continued: “The same thing applies to taking a flu shot. There is a specific subset of people that ought to take the flu shot every year; older people, people with underlining medical problems like diabetes or kidney failure, people with cancer, people that have depressed immune systems, younger people and health care workers. If you don’t, you’re rolling the dice.

“So don’t listen to all of this nonsense. I mean it is cute, but a lot of it is nonsense.”

Dr Sands, a surgeon, insisted international reports surrounding the virus were not being exaggerated.

He contended: “(This strain) is killing people around the world. This is nothing to play with.”

With respect to the availability of vaccines, Dr Sands added: “There are 10,000 doses of flu vaccines available in the public sector and we have the ability to get more. There are other doses in the private sector.

“You can decide whether you are going to listen to that someone (warning against a flu shot) who don’t know nothing about what they talking about and when you get very, very ill in the Intensive Care Unit.”

There have been no reported incidences of the virus in the Bahamas, but health service officials have watched the matter very closely.

Symptoms of the Australian or Aussie flu are identical to symptoms of less severe strains of the flu virus, except the symptoms are more severe and longer-lasting.

According to Australian health officials, the H3N2 strain mainly affects older people, those with long-term health conditions, pregnant women and children.

The strain was recently blamed for more than 300 deaths in Australia, with nearly 170,000 cases recorded.

According to the UK Telegraph, 24 people in the UK have died as a result of the strain.

Additionally, the number of those being treated for flu-like symptoms increased by 2,370 people in one week.