Health

ELMHURST, Ill. (CBS) ― As the number of  H1N1 flu cases continues to rise across Chicagoland, the fight to slow the spread of the virus has hit a snag because doctors don't have enough vaccine.

As CBS 2's Ed Curran reports, at least 21 people have died from H1N1 in Illinois since the beginning of the year, and hundreds more have become sick from it.

In St. Charles, the flu sickened so many students that it shut down St. Charles East High School, although it's not clear whether the students are sick with H1N1. The Centers For Disease Control on Thursday reported that 1 in 5 children in the United States had flu symptoms in the past month, and most likely had H1N1.

Doctors say it isn't time to panic, but they say everyone should be educated.

But some doctors think the vaccine shortage is a certifiably worrisome problem. A total of 7 million doses of the H1N1 vaccine were expected to be sent to Chicago, but so far, only 114,000 have arrived.


Dr. Terry Mason, Chicago's health commissioner, had been promised a 180,000 to start and another hundred thousand a week. Suburban hospitals like Northshore University HealthSystem in Evanston are still waiting for their first doses, even though more than 300 people tested positive for H1N1 there this week.

Now is the time to vaccinate people, says Dr. Lance Peterson, the director of microbiology and infectious disease research at Northshore University HealthSystem. That's because it takes 10 days for the vaccine to begin protecting recipients.

Many school districts in Chicago and the suburbs have had to put their vaccination plans on hold because of the vaccine shortage. Some of the vaccination clinics were scheduled to start as early as this week.

Some doctors now worry there won't be enough vaccine available to stop the H1N1 virus from spreading throughout the state.

Meanwhile, Chicago health officials say the H1N1 virus already appears to be spreading throughout the city.

The latest figures from Oct. 16 say five people have been taken to hospitals with severe cases of the virus recently, and the number of emergency room cases with H1N1 symptoms is up 54 percent in just over a week.

Residents of Cook, Lake, DuPage, Kane, Winnebago, and downstate Christian County have died from the virus this year.

There have been 135 confirmed cases of H1N1 so serious they required hospitalization. The lion's share of those cases are in children and young adults between the ages of 6 months and 24 years old.

Curran spent the morning at Elmhurst Memorial Hospital with answers to your questions about the vaccine:

 First, pediatrician Dr. Marianne Senese talked about the symptoms to watch for if you suspect your child has H1N1.
 Senese also answered questions about the H1N1 vaccine.
Obstetrician Dr. Jennifer Kossoris talks about the risks for pregnant women.
Infectious disease Dr. James Allen explains why the vaccine contains a mercury-based preservative.
Emergency medicine Dr. Karl Vos talks about when you should go to the ER.
Dr. Allen tells who needs to get the vaccine most.
More general answers about the virus, the risk, and the vaccine.
Dr. Allen quells some fears about the vaccine
Some final advice from all four doctors

Answers To Frequently Asked Questions:
The first people to get the vaccine are in high risk groups. CBS 2 asked Dr. Jennifer Kossoris, an obstetrician, why pregnant women are especially at risk.

"Pregnant women are at a higher risk for complications from the H1N1 flu, specifically pneumonia, because their lung capacity is somewhat compromised when they're pregnant," she said. "So it's very important for them to get the flu vaccine and the H1N1 vaccine as well."

If you have a child at home, pediatrician Dr. Marianne Senese tells us about the symptoms to look for:

"If the child has a very high fever that's not able to be controlled, they should get in to their doctor. If their child's having any respiratory issues and is not able to drink adequately they can be at risk for dehydration," Senese said. "Otherwise this can be like any other viral infection and, as long as the child's doing well, they could call their doctor for advice but there's no need to panic."

Infectious disease Dr. James Allen says the smart thing to do is to get vaccinated against the H1N1 flu now, if you're in one of the high-risk groups.

"Young people, particularly 5 and less, and 24 and less, and then pregnant women because they're the people who have the potential for the highest complications and that is pneumonia and death," he said. "So the vaccine is the best way to prevent that, and hopefully there'll be enough vaccine available for those people to get that."

But some people have vaccine concerns. One person we talked to on the street said, "I think I need to know more about what the risks are for children, giving them the shot, before I'm comfortable giving it."

Dr. Allen says he believe the vaccine is just fine to use. "It's very safe, very effective, been well tested, it's been manufactured exactly the same as the others for the last 60 years."

As for the small amount of mercury in many doses, Dr. Allen says it has not been linked directly to any problems, and some single doses do not have the substance in them. Ask your doctor if you're concerned.

Among the other facts you should know about H1N1, don't go to the emergency room if you have the typical symptoms of a common cold, but make sure you go right away if you experience any shortness of breath.

Another interesting fact is that many people with H1N1 flu do not have a high fever, but they do experience nausea or vomiting.

Finally, we're all in love with our hand sanitizer but you're more likely to get the virus through the air. We're told there's about a seven foot danger zone. The virus can be expelled that far by an infected person before it drops to the ground.

After considering all the causes, the effects of the flu, and all the ways to get it, a shot in the arm sure seems like the way to go.

There are several suburbs that are holding clinics to distribute the H1N1 vaccine. For a list, click here for our Links & Numbers page.

CBS 2 Chief Correspondent Jay Levine contributed to this report.

(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

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