Flu Season Tips for Travelers to the United States

There are no restrictions on travel to U.S. or screening at ports of entry

Each year, influenza (the flu) affects many people in the world. In the northern hemisphere (including the U.S.) this usually occurs in winter months when factors such as cold and wet weather conditions keep people indoors for longer periods of time thus contributing to the spread of disease from person to person in relatively small spaces or where large crowds gather inside. This winter, as in previous years, the United States is experiencing an influenza outbreak across most of our states. Currently, 47 states are reporting flu cases yet these cases are already starting to decline from their peaks. Conversely, in Brazil, the flu season peaked during the southern hemisphere winter in mid-2012.

What makes this year’s outbreak different is twofold:

• The dominant type of flu virus spreading through North America is a different strain from previous years called influenza A (A/H3N2).  Unfortunately, the vaccine that people who were vaccinated for the flu in Brazil during the Brazil’s flu season in mid-2012, does not offer protection against this strain (please see below).  
• Our improved case monitoring and control of flu reporting statistics allow us to manage and keep people better informed about the spread of the illness. The improved flu monitoring system in the U.S., which has been tracking cases since December 7, 2012,  detected that the flu season started earlier this year than usual.

Said Tom Frieden, Director of the Center for Disease Control on January 11, 2012,

“Vaccination is the single most important step you can take to protect yourself.  Again, vaccination is far from perfect, but it's by far the best tool we have to prevent influenza.  You can still protect yourself through vaccination.  Second, be sure to cover your cough and sneeze and stay home if you're sick with cough and fever.  Keep your children home from school if they're sick with cough and fever.  This really does help prevent the spread of flu.  Washing your hands often is important.  It can reduce illness from flu and other things.  And if you get sick with flu-like illness, if you have fever and cough, if you're very ill or if you have an underlying condition, it's very important that you contact your doctor because early treatment with antivirals such as Tamiflu can reduce severity of illness and  can keep you out of the hospital or prevent even more serious illness.  There's as always more information available at flu.gov or CDC.gov”. 

The U.S. Mission to Brazil maintains close cooperation with Brazil’s Ministry of Health, the World Health Organization, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In addition, Brazil has a sophisticated flu monitoring and vaccination system nationwide. We recommend you visit the MOH website for more information about the flu in Brazil.  

Health officials’ goal is to help people become aware of the flu and to instruct people how to protect themselves.  These officials make no recommendation that suggest that travelers visiting the United States postpone their trips in order to avoid contracting the flu. There are no flu vaccination requirements for travelers visiting the United States.

By taking common sense precautions as recommended by Dr. Frieden, most people will not catch the flu. Current data shows that 60% of the U.S. population taking this year’s flu vaccine is not catching the flu. Of course, children, pregnant women and the elderly or infirm should take extra precautions to avoid exposure to people suffering the flu or flu-like symptoms, which most commonly resemble a severe and debilitating cold.

Because the flu vaccine takes two weeks to take effect, travelers to the U.S. who will stay for two weeks or longer should have a flu vaccine soon after arrival.  You can find inexpensive flu vaccines at many convenient places around the country. Clinics, pharmacies and even large retail outlets like Wal-Mart and Target have flu vaccine stations. Visit flu.gov to locate the flu vaccination station nearest your destination.  If your stay in the U.S. will be less than two weeks, a flu vaccine is probably unnecessary, and you can protect yourself against the flu by washing your hands and avoiding crowds.

Other U.S. Resources:

Pan American Health Organization: http://new.paho.org/hq/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_view&gid=19776&Itemid=&lang=en.

U.S. Flu Information Center:
http://www.flu.gov/ (English/Spanish)

FluView:
http://gis.cdc.gov/grasp/fluview/main.html (interactive map of case outbreaks)

What you need to know about the 2012-2013 flu season:
http://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/season/flu-season-2012-2013.htm (English/Spanish)   

Brazilian Ministry of Health:
http://portalsaude.saude.gov.br/portalsaude/noticia/8100/785/boletim-informativo-de-influenza:-semana-epidemiologica-44.html