On the eve of the flu season Italy has an insufficient stockpile of vaccine doses, Health Undersecretary Ferruccio Fazio warned on Thursday.
''We currently have enough vaccine to cover 25% of the population which is far below our target of 75%,'' he said.
''Although flu shots are available for some 65% of people over 65, there is a shortage for children and people at risk,'' the undersecretary added.
''Getting a flu shot is important and is free for those over 65 years of age, infants, adults with chronic illnesses, pregnant women, hospital patients, doctors and health workers,'' Fazio recalled.
However, according to the influenza department chief at the Italian Medical Society, Aurelio Sessa, too few doctors and health workers are getting flu shots and risk spreading the virus.
A similar situation exists with care-givers, who look after the elderly who often have weak immune systems, and civil service employees who come into daily contract with the public, Sessa added.
According to the World Health Organization, this year's flu epidemic will be more aggressive than those of the past two years.
''While last year some 2.8 million people caught the flu, this year we expect that number to range from a minimum of three million to a maximum of seven,'' Sessa said.
''Every year flu is looked at as a seasonal phenomenon and little attention is paid to it. The fact is that it has an enormous impact on the national health system and the economy, if one just considers the number of working days lost to illness,'' he added said.
''Influenza is the third cause of death from infectious disease after AIDS and tuberculosis and every year in Italy some 8,000 deaths are attributed to flu, many of which could have been avoided through vaccination'' Sessa recalled.
According to University of Milan virologist Fabrizio Pregliasco, ''influenza is a viral illness caused by a virus which provokes high fever, shivering, coughing, sore throat, head and muscle aches in most adults, while the elderly and the very young are also subject to intestinal disturbances''.
Real influenza, he added, ''must not be confused with the common cold which sometimes has the same flu symptoms''.
Pregliasco observed that the best way to treat 'real' flu was to rest and let it run its course.
Because there is no medicine which can cure the virus, he added, medicines should only be used to treat common flu and cold symptoms like fever, runny noses, stomach problems and aches.
These symptoms, Pregliasco explained, were in fact the reaction of the body's immune system to the flu virus.
Antibiotics, the expert warned, should be avoided because they are effective against bacterial infections and not against viral infections.
The only times when antibiotics should be used is when there are bacterial complications from flu, for example in the respiratory system, he said.
