Autumn is a period when many people resort to flu vaccination. Vaccination makes it possible to avoid a dangerous disease in winter due to its many complications. But before you go to the clinic, you need to find out what consequences may occur after the introduction of the drug for vaccination.
Vaccination
In order to understand why the temperature rises after a flu shot, you need to know how the shot works.
The human immune system is necessary for the detection of pathogenic organisms and their neutralization. When a virus or antigen enters the body, the immune system reacts to it by releasing antibodies into the bloodstream. It is at this moment that a person is faced with a rise in temperature. After the immune system has overcome the infection, it develops a certain resistance to it.
It is resistance to the virus that is produced after the introduction of the vaccine into the body. Why is stability not maintained for life, and a person is forced to come to the treatment room every year? The main reason for this is the fact that the flu strain changes every year. Moreover, it is impossible to develop a vaccine that will completely destroy the future strain of the virus. But through the efforts of epidemiologists, the likelihood of vaccine effectiveness is very high.
Can I have multiple vaccinations at the same time? Quite. Together with the flu vaccine, you can inject vaccines against rubella, measles, mumps, polio. But all of them should be put into syringes and in different parts of the human body.
Fever after vaccination
If the temperature rises after a flu shot, there is nothing strange or pathological about it. Despite the fact that the virus in the vaccine is inactive, killed, or very weak, the organ perceives the drug as a foreign protein that needs to be fought.
This is how the mechanism of the body’s natural defense against the influenza virus is formed: when the virus enters the body naturally from the source of infection, the immune system can quickly overcome antigens.
Does the temperature always rise after vaccination?
The reaction to vaccination depends on many factors, as well as the severity of symptoms against the background of a disease. Adaptation systems weakened by the introduction of serum for vaccination of the body can behave differently.
Therefore, one person will not experience any discomfort after vaccination, while the other will experience an increase in body temperature.
But it is important to know that various factors can play the role of the reason that the temperature has risen after the flu shot. And in order to properly assess their well-being, you need to consider all these factors.
Vaccination against a cold
Among the rules for preparing for vaccination, the main one is the absence of contraindications. And a viral disease, including a cold, does not allow serum to be introduced into the body. But the fact is that any disease has an incubation period, and a cold can exist in a latent form for up to a week. And a person, not realizing the existing pathology, can be vaccinated and in the near future feel the symptoms of malaise, which include an increase in temperature.
Stress after vaccination
Sometimes a fever after a vaccine is a reaction to stress. For example, if a person experiences emotional discomfort when visiting a medical institution, the activation of the sympathetic nervous system and, as a result, an increase in temperature will become a natural physiological response to stress.
For an adult, this situation is rare, but in a child, the temperature after a flu shot is quite common.
What can be the temperature?
In a healthy person, an increase in temperature can occur 1-3 days after injection, while the indicator on the thermometer should not exceed 37.5 degrees. The temperature is easily lost medically if necessary. But in most cases, a rise in temperature occurs in the evening, so a person just needs to go to bed to wake up the next morning with normal health.
Troubling signs
The temperature after a flu shot in an adult or child is not the only alarming sign that you should pay close attention to.
Symptoms that indicate a pathological reaction to the flu vaccine include:
- nausea and vomiting;
- diarrhea and abdominal pain;
- weakness;
- dizziness and fainting;
- itching and rashes on the skin;
- discoloration of the skin to yellowish, blue or green;
- a lump appears at the injection site.
If such signs appear, you should immediately consult a doctor. The most likely cause of such somatic manifestations is a latent infection that was already present in the body.
How to avoid complications?
To avoid situations when, after a flu shot, the temperature rises above 37 degrees, you need to know the list of contraindications for vaccination :
- acute period of any disease, including exacerbations;
- serious pathologies of the internal organs (lungs, liver, kidneys, heart) in a chronic form;
- immunodeficiency;
- autoimmune diseases;
- atherosclerosis and hypertension;
- allergy to chicken protein;
- pregnancy in the last trimester.
Why can not a vaccine be given during an exacerbation of the disease? The fact is that any active pathology in the body is always accompanied by an increase in the activity of immunity. Therefore, the reaction to the injected serum can be brighter and more pronounced.
Precautionary measures, contraindications and side effects should be discussed by the attending physician to the patient before vaccination. If there is any doubt about the advisability of vaccination against the background of certain diseases, you should definitely discuss this issue with your doctor.
Fever prevention
In order for the temperature not to skyrocket after a flu shot, you should adhere to some recommendations, and generally know how to prepare for vaccination. These tips are especially relevant for young children, whose body reacts to such medical manipulations more sensitively.
- 2nd generation antihistamines, taken according to the instructions for three days before the day of vaccination, and then 1 day after, reduce the risk of unpleasant consequences after injection.
- On the day of vaccination and within a day after it, you can take an antipyretic drug, for example, ibuprofen. It is better for the child to put a candle with an antipyretic effect, for example, Viferon.
- After vaccination, it is recommended to rest, lie down in a relaxed atmosphere. It is better for the child to create conditions that will allow him to escape from a visit to the hospital and relax. Learning, active play and sports are best replaced by calm games, reading books.
- After vaccination, you need to monitor the diet, excluding from the menu all allergens and new products that have not been tested before.
If for a couple of days a high temperature after a flu shot has not occurred, you can return to your usual pastime.
If there is a temperature, what should I do?
If the fever has nevertheless begun, it is necessary to assess the magnitude of the problem. Temperature up to 37.5-38 degrees is absolutely normal. It indicates that the immune system works well, sensitively reacts to viruses entering the body and seeks to quickly destroy them.
You can alleviate your condition in the following ways:
- take paracetamol or ibuprofen (aspirin during an elevated temperature is undesirable, especially for children);
- wipe the body with a sponge with cool water, paying attention to the armpits, neck, inner and back of the thighs;
- drink more fluids;
- ventilate the room;
- rest and sleep.
In the event that after a flu shot the temperature is 39 or higher, you need to immediately call a doctor. Most likely, after the examination, the doctor will prescribe antibacterial therapy, based on the available symptoms. Do not worry and think about the exceptional harm of vaccination. According to statistics, fever after vaccination in 6 cases out of 10 is a consequence of a viral or bacterial infection in the incubation period. That is, the disease would have occurred regardless of whether the person was vaccinated or not.
When will the temperature drop?
If the body temperature did not rise due to the latent course of other diseases, but was a reaction of the body to serum, as a rule, it rises on the first day, can last the second day and normalize on the third day.
That is, if a person complains that he has a high temperature a week after the flu vaccine, it is highly likely that fever and vaccination do not correlate with each other.
But there are exceptions to any rule, because the body of each person is individual.
Is post-vaccination prophylaxis necessary?
There is an opinion that influenza vaccination has such a pronounced effect that throughout the season a person may not bother with measures to prevent infectious diseases.
In fact, this opinion has nothing to do with reality.
Firstly, vaccination against influenza protects exclusively against influenza, and a person will catch a cold, catch the ARI virus, SARS and others.
Secondly, vaccination is not so much a way to completely protect yourself from the virus, but to minimize the risk of developing life-threatening complications. That is, flu after vaccination can occur, but the disease will be transferred quickly and easily, since the immune system “knows” the mechanism of struggle specifically with this virus.
And finally, there are several strains of influenza, so there is still a small risk of getting sick.
This means that during the period of the epidemic, a vaccinated person, like a person who has not been vaccinated, must avoid a large crowd, wear gauze dressings, use oxolinic ointment, wash his hands and ventilate the room.