The Ministry of Health warns: do not have time to get vaccinated - put on a mask Influenza epidemics visit us every year with the inexorability of natural phenomena and the change of seasons. But winter, let's say, happens differently - both fierce and thaw. What will it be like for...

Ministry of Health warns: do not have time to get vaccinated - wear a mask

E

flu epidemics visit us every year with the inexorability of natural phenomena and the change of seasons. But winter, let's say, happens differently - both fierce and thaw. What will the current wave of a dangerous infectious disease be like for the cities and entire regions of Russia? For first-hand information, I go to Vadkovsky lane, to the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation.

My interlocutor is Tamara FROLOCHKINA, chief specialist of the State Sanitary and Epidemiological Surveillance of the Russian Ministry of Health.

— Tamara Ivanovna! In the last century, periodically, approximately every 20 years, “abnormal”, very strong flu epidemics recurred, claiming much more human lives than the annual regular flu. The next blow was expected in 2000. Luckily, we've gotten past this problem so far. But after all, her arrival can be expected in any next year, and this too?

- The uniqueness of this disease is that, although it is repeated every year, each new epidemic has its own differences, features, its own degree of intensity. And when the most severe epidemics (in the language of doctors - “pandemics”) strike human populations, this is a real disaster for literally all countries of the world. The 1918 pandemic, for example, claimed 30 million lives. The likelihood of such disease strikes across the entire population of the Earth remains today. This is facilitated by the high rate of migration, mixing of the population, the creation of new high-speed vehicles, urbanization, and giant megacities.

True, in recent years we have dealt with epidemics of moderate intensity, when no more than ten percent of the population fell ill. The fact is that somewhere since 1977, two types of virus A (H3N2 and H1N1) have been in circulation. At first they caused very severe epidemics. But now these viruses are well known, and antidotes - vaccines - have been created against them. And the B virus. It causes influenza, which usually appears at the end of an epidemic and circulates only in the human population.

So the viruses are familiar, and a whole system is now working in the world to track where and how the flu spreads. There are centers for this in the USA, England, Southeast Asia. There is also a Federal Center for Influenza in Russia. It is based at the St. Petersburg Institute of Influenza. And the data flowing there suggests that this year we should expect an epidemic of moderate severity. The deadlines for fulfilling the forecast, however, have shifted by one and a half to two months, by the end of January.

In short, there will be no pandemic this year. If we ring the bells, then only for preventive purposes for the future. For in the short term, humanity is not immune from deadly pandemics.

- Every year, Russia spends 10-12 billion rubles directly on the treatment of influenza (not to mention the concomitant consequences, such as post-influenza heart disease). All other epidemics account for only three billion rubles. Where do they get money from in the current miserable state of our state medicine? And most importantly - where to get them in the future, tomorrow?

- Money not only for vaccination, but also for the entire complex of protecting the population from influenza is taken mainly from the federal and local budgets. And they will take it in the future. Of course, we miss them. We are still very far from the world standards of budget financing of medicine. But when it comes to protecting the population from epidemics on a nationwide scale, it would be imprudent to rely only on “targeted” help from individual wealthy citizens. The state must be so rich as to protect the health of the nation. Otherwise, what kind of state is it?

The ideology of both ours and the World Health Organization is, first of all, to protect risk groups during the pre-epidemic period. These are elderly people, children. But this includes all those who professionally deal with intense human flows: doctors, the military, catering and trade workers, and journalists.

- And if I, for example, do not belong to the risk group, but I want to be vaccinated?

- They'll make it for you.

- For free?

- For free. For you, but not for the state, of course. If in 1994-1995 three or four million people were vaccinated in the country, now it is already ten million. People are beginning to realize that getting sick today is a very expensive pleasure.

- The words of the chief sanitary doctor of Russia G. G. Onishchenko: "If all of Moscow puts on gauze masks, the epidemic will stop." Do you agree with this statement? Either these same masks, or vaccinations, or vitamins, or Dibazol, or ordinary garlic, are called a barrier against influenza. But is there really any panacea for this disease? Why is it still undefeated even today, already in the twenty-first century?

- Everything that you have named is really a proven preventive protection against influenza. First of all, vaccination. But if you didn’t have time to get vaccinated, and the epidemic is already in the yard, put on a mask. Buy at a pharmacy or make your own from three-layer gauze. For medical and commercial institutions, for a home where there are patients, this is a mandatory requirement. For the rest of the population - good advice.

But there is no single panacea against the flu either by science or by the attending physicians yet. The fact is that these are the most volatile viruses that adapt extremely quickly both to environmental conditions and to our antidotes - vaccines. The causative agents of influenza can have “point”, but there can also be very serious changes in the structure, leading to the emergence of new viruses against which we have no immunity. And then comes the time of the pandemic. We call such viruses pandemic.

- But is it possible to meet pandemic viruses on the way, to predict and create a vaccine against them even before they appear?

“Today this task is at the forefront of world science. For this, pre-pandemic programs are being developed in the best medical centers.

- And we have?

- And we have. In modern vaccines, which are the main and specific anti-influenza agent, only actual viruses of the next epidemics are used. It is predicted which viruses will be the main ones. And it is against them that vaccine strains are prepared. That is, every time a full-fledged immune response is prepared for the upcoming infectious attack. And we guess this answer, although the virus A (H1N1) circulating since 1977 has already changed a lot with “point” mutations. For the time being, we are keeping pace with these changes.

And the coming pandemic is a very difficult thing, the possible death of many millions of people. That is why the international monitoring system is closely monitoring the possibility of a new pandemic virus emerging. And if its "birth" is celebrated somewhere (most likely, it will be the traditional focus of epidemics - Southeast Asia), it is really possible to predict and create a vaccine against it. Today's "high technology" and information systems make it possible to do this at an accelerated pace. In any case, it's worth trying. I think it will work.