Dr. Prashanth Kumar S

"The seasonal change is as good from place to place. initially though we say we fall in Northern hemisphere we get the same flu variant of the flu vaccine for that matter. In India towards northern India, we see we get an annual flu. Thought the year there will be n ongoing flu season. To a certain extent w e se the parts that area close to the equator like arts that are close to the equator we see a paten o a southern hemisphere pattern of a flu virus . So it is very important whenever you are travelling form place to place it is very important to protect you against the flu vaccine. Generally the parents keep asking w e are going for a holiday and we are planning to travel out of the control and I have a rough idea we are travelling to. Generally for a flu vaccination we divide to a Northern hemisphere and a southern hemisphere of the globe , we can say. If I am travelling from India to other countries like Russia or China, if I have taken a vaccine in India I do not have to necessarily worry about getting revaccinated. So if you have vaccinated a child before 2 to 3 weeks before a planned travel, but if you are travelling to a different country that has a different pattern of a flu virus prevalent, it is always better to have a knowledge about it and it is always better to have a knowledge about it and always get a flu vaccination done. Laws travelling from place to lace has a lot of health issues, especially health related , weather related, climate related, more so it affects adult compared to a smaller kid so whenever kids are travelling from place to place, during holiday seasons, we always ask them to getting them vaccinated for the flu vaccine if they have not taken the flu vaccine in the current season. So it is better to get a flu vaccination if you have to have a planned travel"

"We see most of the school going kids getting flu every now and then they get cough, cold fever. You don’t have to get worried. If the fever is of really high grade and child is getting very dull and not able to breathe comfortably, not at all taking oral intake, too much vomiting or generally child is becoming very sick, very lethargic, sleeping for long hours, urine output is very less, fast breathing. These symptoms we call as warning symptoms. At this point you should be cautious"

"Flu vaccine is very safe in kids. After vaccination we see reactions. It varies from mild pain, fever, sometimes swelling, to a severe variety. Sometimes they throw fits or they become unconscious. With Flu vaccine these side effects are not seen"

"Flu Vaccine is a live viral vaccine like most of the vaccines. We use a live virus or a killed component of the bacteria and what it does is it gets into our body and stimulates our body’s immune function. The Flu Vaccine stimulates your body to have antibody response to that, that is the fighting capacity against the virus so that the actual virus your body will have immunity against that"

"Yes, the flu is a seasonal thing. There are the strains of influenza, influenza A and B. A is the one which keeps mutating every now and then and it keeps on mutating very frequently compared to influenza B which doesn’t keep changing compared to influenza B. Most often what we see in these pandemics or what we call as the sudden outbreaks, what we keep hearing in the news. Majority of the times it is due to influenza A. But having said that 30 to 50% cases are documented because of influenza B also. So when we vaccinate a child for a particular thing it will be relevant for that particular season like 2 years back when we had H1N1 everywhere. So the vaccine should be targeted against that particular lineage or strain of virus. So when we vaccinate it will be relevant to hat particular season. It will be very beneficial against that particular viral strains. It affects mostly during the monsoon period. So the next year, during the premonsoon if there is different strain of virus. The virus is mutated, then previous vaccine we have used will not be very effective for that particular thing unless it is the same virus that is still prevailing in t he environment. If the virus has mutated. So the flu vaccine wheat we give has a good coverage or that particular season , but it is always recommended to keep giving the flu vaccine yearly so that the particular viral strain that which is there in the environment and the vaccination that we are targeting against both are same. So we recommend giving flu vaccine annually"

"Flu is a seasonal thing. Everytime there are chances that the vaccine may get mutated. Every time we get a new virus in the environment. A vaccination will be designed according to the viral strain that is present for the season. So when we design a vaccine for that, it will be relevant to the viral strains that is there in the commonality that will affect the kids so generally by rule of the thumb flu is a seasonal disease and the vaccine for that is particular for that season . Having said that when we are vaccinating a child for the particular season it will have a larger impact against the severity of the disuse throughout that particular season. But there are different strains of flu, against influenza A, influenza B, wherein we see influenza A is the one that typically keeps mutating very frequently. predominantly against influenza A starts. But influenza B strain is also equally dangerous like it will take its own time getting mutated like in every 2 years or every years there are larger outbreaks happening will be a major contributor for that. So when we vaccinate for a particular season there well be a larger benefit for that. When we usually vaccinate for a particular vaccine, the larger benefit for that seasons, when we usually vaccinate during premonsoon season, the larger benefit for that particular season , preventing the severity of disease in that season but again what we use in a quadrivalent vaccine like influenza B and all will have sustained effect for the next 2 to 3 years unless the virus gets mutates badly or we see altogether different strain of virus. So basically it is a major advantage for that particular season"