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WotD: Secondary infection
Some people are concerned about the risk of developing a secondary infection due to receiving the influenza shot.
A secondary infection is an infection that a person develops during or after treatment for a different virus.
Back in October – November last year, I created a lesson called To Vaccinate or Not about the flu shot in which my students and I discussed whether the benefits of annually receiving the shot outweighed the cons.
One of the aspects of the shot that we talked about was the fact that some people believe there is a high risk of developing influenza as a result of being vaccinated against the flu.
Of course, it would be ironic if people were to pay for a vaccination that ended up causing them to develop the infection they were trying to prevent in the first place.
Being very practical people, we all agreed that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
It’s best to err on the side of caution and get vaccinated yearly rather than forgoing the vaccination and taking our chances with the flu.
For some people, the flu shot causes side effects, such as redness, swelling or pain around the injection site.
Luckily, I do not experience any of these, but I know people who do.
They consider these minor side effects a small price to pay for peace of mind.
Catching influenza in itself can be a pretty nasty experience, but, to add insult to injury, in severe cases, the flu can lead to a patient developing secondary infections such as pneumonia or ear and sinus infections.
If we listen to what the medical experts say and get the flu shot every year, we stand a good chance of preventing ourselves from catching a severe case of the flu and developing secondary infections as a direct result.
Flesch-Kincaid Readability Test
This post is understandable by someone with at least a 9th-grade education (age 15).
On the Flesch-Kincaid reading-ease test, this post scores 55.
The easier a passage is to read, the higher the score on a scale of 0 – 100.