A Waterford GP says he believes a second strain of flu will hit in a few weeks.
There's currently an outbreak of flu across the country with elective surgeries cancelled at University Hospital Waterford and visiting restrictions in place.
Dr Dermot Nolan, a GP in Tramore and the National Clinical Lead for Asthma for Ireland, says vulnerable people should get the flu vaccine:
"There are two strains of flu, there's Flu A which we have at the moment but there's also a second strain called Flu B.
"There is a theory that we're going to be hit with the B strain next.
"The vaccine has the two strains in it so even at this stage if patients are in the at-risk group I think it would be very wise to get the vaccine from their doctor or pharmacist.
"There is a second wave on the way which we're going to see in a few weeks time."
He says the vaccine starts to work within 2 weeks so you should get it as soon as possible:
"Whilst the flu vaccine is not 100% effective, certainly, we have seen in the practice that patients who had the flu vaccine had a much milder form of the flu than patients who weren't vaccinated."
"I think it is really important to get your vaccine in time."
The out of hours doctor service in Waterford is also experiencing unprecedented levels of activity due to the flu.
Visits to Caredoc are up 30 per cent.
The message from the HSE is to avoid visiting your local GP clinic and to treat yourself at home.
But, Dr Nolan says people in at-risk groups should contact their doctors:
"If you are in the vulnerable group, for example particularly pregnant women, patients with asthma, heart disease, liver disease etc they may benefit from a medication called Tamiflu.
"We use this preferably within the first 24 to 48 hours of the flu symptoms.
"This medication has been shown to reduce the complications."
He says healthy people can treat themselves at home with bed rest, painkillers and fluids:
"They need plenty of drinks, plenty of fluids.
"Hydration is the key to this and keeping the temperature down with paracetamol.
"Patients are often concerned about not eating, you won't eat when you have the flu.
"Keeping hydrated is really important because when you have a high temperature and are shivering you lose a huge amount of fluids.
"The important thing is keeping hydrated as much as possible."
