County Prepares for Flu Season With Free Shots : Health: Shangdong, a new strain, is expected in Southern California this winter. The vaccinations are being given at more than 300 centers.

With the onset of flu season only weeks away, Los Angeles County health officials began jabbing residents with free vaccinations Monday to minimize the annual outbreak of fevers, headaches and runny noses--and sometimes fatal complications that can follow.

Influenza shots will be administered at more than 300 county health centers, hospitals and senior citizens’ centers to help battle a new flu strain--Shangdong--expected to hit Southern California this winter. The strain was first detected in China last spring.

Although most people recover from flu within a week or two, those over age 65 and people with chronic heart and lung disease, diabetes or other long-term health problems can develop serious complications, such as pneumonia. More than 130,000 people are expected to receive publicly funded flu shots this winter in the county.

And with memories of last winter’s aches, sniffles and chills still strong, flu-wary residents poured into public health clinics Monday to take advantage of early inoculation.

Bernadene Gray, a nurse at the San Fernando Health Center, said more than 40 people, most of them elderly, had been immunized at the clinic by lunchtime.

“They’ve been calling since the beginning of October,” Gray said. “Some people experienced (another kind of respiratory virus) recently, and the older people get a little anxious. They want it immediately, so they can build up an immunity.”

But Dr. Shirley Fannin, chief of communicable-disease control for the county Department of Health Services, said she expects only a mild flu season this year.

She described the Shangdong strain as a “garden variety” virus that did not result in widespread deaths in China. Two previously known flu strains that also are circulating have mutated little, and caused only a mild outbreak in the county last year, she said.

“I don’t see any of the danger signs for a heavier season,” Fannin said. “We have the same old virus, or varieties of virus, that have been cycling since 1967.”

Flu symptoms typically include fever of 100 to 103 degrees Fahrenheit in adults and higher in children, respiratory problems such as cough, sore throat and stuffy nose, as well as headache, muscle ache and often extreme fatigue.

Complications from flu can occur at any age, but the elderly and those with chronic health problems are much more likely to develop serious complications than younger, healthier people.

Flu is associated with about 20,000 deaths each year in the United States, and thousands more are hospitalized, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But flu generally affects fewer people in California, because of mild winter weather that allows for better ventilation of homes and workplaces, Fannin said.

On the East Coast, people spend much more time in the winter in rooms with closed windows and with heating and air conditioning systems that dry the air, she said. Drier air causes cracks in human mucous membranes, which provide the virus with an entry route, Fannin said.

Vaccination drives in Southern California have been aimed at those with the highest risk--the elderly and chronically ill people--who are advised to be vaccinated each year. But public health officials warn that vaccine effectiveness varies from year to year, for two reasons:

One, flu viruses mutate over time, with new strains attacking humans whose bodies have developed antibodies to old strains.

Two, vaccines are formulated nine or 10 months before flu season actually starts. That means the virus may have altered itself before vaccines are distributed, making them less effective.

Studies have shown that vaccines are 70% to 90% effective in preventing illness in healthy young adults. In the elderly and those with chronic health problems, shots are often less effective, although the vaccine can reduce the severity of illness and the risk of serious complications and death.

For the Flu For information on when and where free influenza shots are being given:

* Contact the county Department of Health Services at (800) 427-8700.

* Free shots will be administered until Dec. 9 at more than 300 health clinics, hospitals and senior citizens centers throughout Los Angeles County.

* The shots can also be obtained through many private doctors.