Flu Season Claims More Than a Dozen Lives in Arkansas
By: Jocelyn Tovar, KARK 4 NEWS
Updated: January 18, 2013
A total of 16 people have died from this year's aggressive virus being called the worst since the H1N1 swine flu season.
Some people have taken to wearing surgical masks to protect against the bug, but do they work?
"Generally in the public it has not been recommended," said Dr. Virgincita Fuentes with UAMS.
Both she and officials with the state's Health Department are warning Arkansans not to be lulled into a false sense of security.
They added that the medical masks you can buy in most neighborhood pharmacies don't offer much protection.
Dr. Fuentes said if you do come down with the flu you can best protect the rest of the public by simply staying away.
"If you can't stay home and isolate yourself from the community," she said. "Than you should wear a mask."
However each health professional we spoke with said they can't stress enough how important it is to get the flu vaccine.
"There's no substitute for those measures that we take," said Dr. Fuentes.
Some people have taken to wearing surgical masks to protect against the bug, but do they work?
"Generally in the public it has not been recommended," said Dr. Virgincita Fuentes with UAMS.
Both she and officials with the state's Health Department are warning Arkansans not to be lulled into a false sense of security.
They added that the medical masks you can buy in most neighborhood pharmacies don't offer much protection.
Dr. Fuentes said if you do come down with the flu you can best protect the rest of the public by simply staying away.
"If you can't stay home and isolate yourself from the community," she said. "Than you should wear a mask."
However each health professional we spoke with said they can't stress enough how important it is to get the flu vaccine.
"There's no substitute for those measures that we take," said Dr. Fuentes.
