Mist or shot: Which is best

As the swine flu sweeps through schools and households across the state, many folks feel as if hand washing now rivals time spent playing outside.

"I remind them as soon as they come off the playground to wash their hands," said Natasha Menke, a parent of five children ages 4 to 17. "That's all we can do."

The older Menke boys have encountered H1N1 on their high school campuses. And Menke said that without question she plans to vaccinate her three younger children.

She knows she must wait a few weeks because her doctor's office plans to only administer the H1N1 shot, not the mist.

The mist arrived on the Suncoast late last week.

"They're not getting the mist form, the live virus," Menke said. "They're waiting for the shot, which is a dead virus, and I'm more comfortable with that."

"There are misconceptions, rumors running around," said Dr. Manuel Gordillo, the epidemiologist at Sarasota Memorial Hospital, about the debate over the mist versus shot.

He said the mist "won't cause influenza."

Gordillo said that before doctors vaccinate patients, specialists have already knocked out the genes inside the mist capable of causing the flu, either seasonal or H1N1. "Not only that, but it's cold-adapted so it only survives in your nose. And if it goes into other parts of your body where temperatures rise it won't survive there."

He said coincidences make the mist look bad. "When you get vaccinated anything can happen that was going to happen anyway in the next few days."

The live mist has greater success of fending off influenza, he said.

"In children, for example, at certain ages the live virus produces better antibody response than the dead virus," Gordillo said.

Still, only those considered healthy and between the ages of 2 and 49 can receive the mist for H1N1. Those more vulnerable, such as pregnant women, infants and health care workers who treat those with compromised immune systems, cannot receive the mist vaccine.

Gordillo said the reason is those with weaker immune systems may reject the live virus vaccine.

Many doctors prefer it for the simple reason a lot of folks don't like shots, he said.