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H1N1 Flu Advice
Box Hill Women’s Care LLC
Dr. Eileen Coelus
Dr. Jana Kaplan
Donna Kern PA-C
100 Walter Ward Blvd., Suite 200
Abingdon, MD 21009
443-512-8484
Pregnant women care deeply about doing what’s best for their babies. During this unprecedented flu season, one of the best things they can do is get an H1N1 flu shot.
“It’s a good idea to protect your health and the health of your baby,” says Dr. Eileen Coelus of Box Hill Women’s Care, LLC in Abingdon.
Pregnant women are considered to be in a higher risk group to suffer complications from H1N1 (also known as the swine flu) due to their slower immune systems and diminished lung capacity, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“Pregnant women are at much higher risk to become very ill,” says Dr. Coelus, “requiring ICU care and ventilator support.”
Pregnant women who become ill can put their developing babies at risk, she says. In some cases, pregnant women might have to deliver their babies early in order to save their own lives.
The CDC reported that as of October, 100 pregnant women had been hospitalized with H1N1 and of those 28 had died.
“As health care providers, the office staff and I have all been vaccinated,” says Dr. Coelus, who is distributing the vaccine to her patients.
“Almost everyone is anxious to get it. We’re going through our supply quickly.”
Dr. Coelus tells patients who are concerned about taking the H1N1 vaccine that it is made in the same way the seasonal flu vaccine is created.
“The risk to your baby of you getting H1N1 is greater than the risk of the vaccine.”
H1N1 can cause severe pneumonia that can lead to respiratory failure. The anti-viral drug Tamiflu can lessen symptoms.
Dr. Coelus believes the safest thing for pregnant women to do is to get both the H1N1 vaccine and the seasonal flu vaccine, which can be administered at the same time. People who are allergic to eggs, who have had a reaction to the seasonal flu vaccine or who are running a fever should not take the H1N1 vaccine. In the event a pregnant woman does develop flu symptoms, Dr. Coelus recommends she contact her physician right away to discuss if the antiviral Tamiflu is indicated to moderate those symptoms to protect the health of mother and baby.
Box Hill Women’s Care, LLC is accepting new obstetrics and gynecology patients and offers in office treatment of abnormal bleeding and hysteroscopic sterilization in its new surgicenter.
Vital Statistics
Eileen Coelus, M.D.
Obstetrics & Gynecology
• Board Certified 1995, Obstetrics & Gynecology
• B.S. Columbia University, New York
• M.D. Georgetown University School of Medicine
• Active Staff: Franklin Square Hospital
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