2021 Volume 70 Issue 2 Pages 318-324
Our hospital provides flu vaccinations to all employees with no charge. We surveyed all employees who contracted the flu and took a sick leave. On the basis of that survey, we analyzed the morbidities of the 2017–18 (first) and 2018–19 (second) flu seasons. The vaccination coverages for the first and second seasons were 97% (674/696) and 96% (663/693), whereas the disease prevalences were 8.5% (59/696) and 9.5% (66/693), respectively. In both flu seasons, more than 30% of the employees who contracted the flu had no typical symptoms of the flu, such as temperature over 38°C or muscle and joint pain. The percentages of the infected employees who were working on the day before or on the day when they were diagnosed with the flu were 68% (40/59) and 67% (44/66) for the first and second flu seasons, respectively. Among the employees, 47% (28/59) and 33% (22/66) were diagnosed at our hospital outpatient department, and among those, 50% (14/28) and 41% (9/22) had come to the hospital solely for a checkup. From our results, vaccination may be effective in reducing the severity of symptoms. This reduction may be the reason why some employees continued to work despite having some symptoms. To avoid nosocomial infection, we will continue to conduct this survey every flu season and will also ensure that all employees know that even if their symptoms appear to be those of the common cold because the vaccination reduces the severity of flu symptoms, they should consult their family doctors for the flu test, not our hospital.
