KUCHING: A piece of advice for individuals aged 60 and above: Go for the influenza vaccination.
Two special interest groups, the Malaysian Influenza Working Group (MIWG) and Malaysian Society of Geriatric Medicine (MSGM), gave the advice following the increasing influenza cases in the country recently.
“The Association of Private Hospitals Malaysia (APHM) in a statement dated July 29 reported that hospitals were overwhelmed mainly by influenza cases to the point many have even run out of beds.
“This surge was also reflected by World Health Organisation’s (WHO) global web-based tool for influenza virological surveillance, FluNet, which reported that up until the end of July 2023, 20 percent of the samples tested in Malaysia were positive for influenza, the majority being serotype A.
“This concurs with the data of a private hospital in June 2023 where 126 out of 537 (23 percent) samples were positive for influenza (98 percent were serotype A),” the medical groups said in a joint statement.
MIWG and MSGM said the outbreak is a cause for great concern because of the risk of severe disease, complications, and even death in high-risk groups, especially older persons who have pre-existing non-communicable diseases (NCDs) such as diabetes, heart disease, stroke, chronic kidney disease, and chronic lung disease.
“Influenza increases the risk of heart attack more than 10 times within the first week of infection,” they said.
Citing the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the medical groups said up to 70 percent of influenza-related hospitalisations and a staggering 90 percent of influenza-related deaths occur among older persons.
“Thus, we strongly recommend that people over age 60 urgently get their influenza vaccination for their protection.
“The influenza vaccine is safe and effective and is available at private clinics. Investing in the influenza vaccine is a smart choice as it not only prevents severe disease but also prevents the financial burden of expensive hospital bills, and potential loss of income from missing work,” they said.
The medical groups reiterated that influenza is a highly contagious disease that usually presents with symptoms of fever, cough, sore throat, muscle aches and runny nose.
In older persons, they said the diagnosis of influenza is often missed due to atypical presentations of the disease such as the absence of fever and simply with a cough, fatigue, and confusion.
“This vulnerable population is at greater risk of developing pneumonia as a complication of influenza leading to prolonged hospitalisation.
“It is important to highlight that hospitalisation alone is associated with poor outcomes in older persons due to complications such as hospital-acquired pneumonia, delirium, falls, pressure injuries and functional decline.
“These common and distressing complications share risk factors and can co-exist resulting in longer admissions, possible readmissions, and higher mortality,” they said.
MIWG and MSGM said the risk of developing other life-threatening complications such as myocarditis, encephalitis and multi-organ failure is also higher in this high-risk group.
