The Indiana State Department of Health reports there has been a total of 317 confirmed cases of the pandemic H1N1 influenza in the state, including four deaths, so far this year.

State health officials say every flu season has the potential to cause a lot of illness, doctor's visits, hospitalizations and deaths. The new H1N1 flu virus could potentially result in a severe flu season this year.

"Vaccines are the best tool we have to prevent influenza," said State Health Commissioner Judy Monroe, M.D. "I urge the public start to go out and get vaccinated against seasonal influenza as soon as vaccines become available at their doctor's offices and in their communities."

Monroe said the seasonal flu vaccine will not provide protection against pandemic H1N1 influenza. However a novel H1N1 vaccine is currently in production and may be ready for the public in the fall. The novel H1N1 vaccine is not intended to replace the seasonal flu vaccine - it is intended to be used along-side seasonal flu vaccine.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), a panel of medical and public health experts, met July 29 to make recommendations on who should receive the new H1N1 vaccine when it becomes available. While some issues are still unknown, such as how severe the virus will be during the fall and winter months, the ACIP considered several factors, including current disease patterns, populations most at-risk for severe illness based on current trends in illness, hospitalizations and deaths, how much vaccine is expected to be available, and the timing of vaccine availability.

The current high-risk groups recommended to receive the novel H1N1 influenza vaccine include: • All people from six months through 24 years of age; • Children from six months through 18 years of age because we have seen many cases of novel H1N1 influenza in children and they are in close contact with each other in school and day care settings; • Young adults 19 through 24 years of age because there have been many cases of novel H1N1 influenza in these healthy young adults and they often live, work, and study in close proximity, and they are a frequently mobile population; • Household contacts and caregivers for children younger than six months of age because younger infants are at higher risk of influenza-related complications and cannot be vaccinated. Vaccination of those in close contact with infants less than six months old might help protect infants through "herd immunity," a strategy that protects those who cannot receive vaccine by immunizing others around them; • Pregnant women because they are at higher risk of complications and can potentially provide protection to infants who cannot be vaccinated; • Persons aged 25 through 64 years who have health conditions associated with higher risk of medical complications from influenza; and • Health care and emergency medical services personnel with direct patient contact because infections among health care workers have been reported and this can be a potential source of infection for vulnerable patients. Also, increased absenteeism in this population could reduce health care system capacity.

"To best protect the public's health, given the reality that the H1N1 vaccine will arrive in stages, we are recommending certain individuals who are at highest risk for serious illness as a result of pandemic H1N1 flu get the vaccine first," said Monroe. "Normally the very young and those over 65 years of age are at greatest risk from influenza. However, that is not the case so far with H1N1. In fact only six percent of the reported hospitalizations in the United States were among persons over age 65, compared to 32 percent among those aged five to 24 years of age."

"The goal is to eventually get everyone in Indiana over the age of six months vaccinated for the pandemic H1N1 flu," she continued. "If we see changes in who is at greatest risk for hospitalizations and death from H1N1, then the recommendations would be revised, accordingly."