22 children have died so far. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2008-02-22-flu-vaccine_N.htm So much for flu shots. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
No. I only have what's in the story: ..."blamed much of the flu's recent influx on a switch in dominant viruses. The virus circulating in December and January had spread widely enough in previous years for people to build up immunity through infection or vaccination. More people in the USA were susceptible to the newer virus, she said. Another reason for the rise in cases is a mismatch in the make-up of the current flu vaccine. Only one of the three strains in the current vaccine matches those causing most of this year's cases, leaving people with less protection against two of the circulating strains. As a result of the mismatch, a Food and Drug Administration advisory panel recommended on Thursday that all three flu viruses in this year's vaccine be replaced with three others for next year's flu season, citing a major change in the mix of circulating flu bugs. Vaccine manufacturers have had a "head start" in growing viruses that will be used in next year's vaccine, Cox says, because flu officials in September recommended a similar switch for the upcoming flu season in the Southern Hemisphere".... http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2008-02-22-flu-vaccine_N.htm
please dont take this as me being heartless. I do feel for the killed kids but atleast it hasnt started killing the healthy adult population If that happens we are in BIG trouble
You win some, you lose some. Creating a flu vaccine is not flawless. Educated guesses are the best that can be done as to which virus will be a likely culprit for a pandemic. But, hey, cheer up. Given the numbers, at least a few of the dead will either be criminal aliens or demonic muslims. Always a silver lining if you look hard enough.
Can you imagine the chaos and devastation of a strain with the virulence of the Spanish Flu happening today? With the speed of modern travel, it could spread around the globe in possibly as little time as a few weeks. If it hit some of the large population centers with inadequate public health infrastructure, it would have the potential for unprecedented numbers of dead.
I have been suffering with the Flu for the past week. It's pretty much gone now, except for a sore throat, but my God, I've never felt so sick in my life, and for so long! It was horrible. I'm definately getting the shot next year.
I stopped getting the flu shot the last couple of yrs. I also stopped giving it to the kids. It seems like the yrs we got the flu shot (3-4) we got sick alot more frequently than in the last yrs we didn't. We actually got wickedly sick (like full blown flu, vomitting and all) I know alot of ppl who used to get it, that don't anymore.
I'm really surprised I haven't got the flu yet this year. I ride a city bus to work, and touching all those public surfaces with my hands....then smoking, touching my lips with those fingers....I really should carry some hand sanitizer with me.
They didn't say how old the "kids" were. Must've been babies? I haven't heard of anyone dying of flu around here and I can't remember getting injections to them. We were pretty worried about bird flu transforming into a dangerous (since I've actually never heard of flu being considered dangerous before) disease last spring.
The flu can be very dangerous to the very young and the very old...but there have been strains, like the 1918 strain: http://virus.stanford.edu/uda/ that were very deadly... It killed millions of healthy folks in their prime.
Flu shots are always for last year's flu. Nonetheless, last year's flu is still out there. If you're in a demographic group that's especially vulnerable to the flu, it's probably worth getting a flu shot. It will reduce your risk, even if it can't reduce it to zero. Don't forget that one of the reasons the Spanish flu was so devastating was that it happened during World War I. Neither the Allies nor the other side (whatever we called them in that war) dared to admit that there was an epidemic ravaging their countries because they feared it would embolden their enemies to attack them while they were weak. This prevented the free international exchange of information that might have helped mitigate the epidemic. Travel was not even curtailed the way it should have been because it would have been a sign that something was wrong. In fact the only reason we call it the "Spanish flu" is that Spain was a non-combatant so they announced their problem to the world and pled for help or at least warned everybody that this disease was out there. Flu is rarely a deadly virus. It's the second-order effects that kill people, such as opportunistic bacterial infection. Antibiotics hadn't really been invented yet in WWI. Yes, something like this could certainly happen today, but it would not be as devastating--especially in the developed countries--because we have far superior medical technology ready to treat the second-order effects.
But I'll already know whether it was a more dangerous brand or not, right? Not that I'd be likely to need it, but still.
I've had it for 3 weeks now. When I first realized I was coming down with something I started taking Coriciden every 6 hours which reduced its impact on my body but didn't prevent the "bug" from gaining a foothold in my system. It settled in my upper respiratory area and I've had a hacking cough for 3 weeks. It seems to go away somewhat they comes back after a few days. I haven't been feverish or bedridden but have felt rather tired and rundown. I just hope I don't get the full impact of it for a few of my friends did and they haven't been out of their houses for over 2 weeks now. They are all older people who really don't need this and they all took the flu shot as they were asked to do. I never do and for the most part I've not gotten the flu over 80 percent of the time.
a spanish flu type pandemic WILL happen its just a matter of when. One of the things i have studyed at uni was epidemology and as part of that we went through the pandemic flu responce plan When pandemic flu hits there is only enough tamiflu stock piled to tread essential services for a week (im not even sure is this covers govermental services or only hospital staff and emergency services) there WILL be mass panic and alot of people WILL die, a fair percentage of these will be health care workers. The flu is a deadly disease and should never be ignored, it cant be contained because of how it spreads and it cant be stoped. Shutting down travel and buinesses would happen in the first week but by then it would be to late to stop. Even ignoring the human toll the economie would suffer irepaple damage and a depression is an almost certinty. Schools would close down, shopping centers ect and all food would have to be distributed by the army who would also suffer huge losses There isnt one sector of the comunity which would be spared Oh and when pandemic flu hits there wont be time to develop and releace a vacine either Why am i posting this? Because flu is often taken to offhand, its a VERY serious problem N5H1 is already clasifide by the WHO as having pandemic potentual, if it makes the jump from person to person it will instantly go to the WHO's highest level of corse when it comes it will be something we probably wont even have on the radar
The Spanish flu was unusually virulent, and often killed people within days. The peak mortality occurred in people between the ages of twenty to forty. From the CDC: Even with modern antiviral and antibacterial drugs, vaccines, and prevention knowledge, the return of a pandemic virus equivalent in pathogenicity to the virus of 1918 would likely kill >100 million people worldwide. A pandemic virus with the (alleged) pathogenic potential of some recent H5N1 outbreaks could cause substantially more deaths. http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/EID/vol12no01/05-0979.htm When I think about a bug this nasty getting loose in countries such as Bangladesh, it sends a chill down my spine.
forget bangladesh look up, I was taking about a FIRST WOLD country. Oh one thing i forgot to put in there is that within the first week every hospital A&E would be closed because the hospital system would be overwhelmed. We would be reliying on St Johns volenteers to staff the isolation camps with maybe one doctor and one nurse per camp (a camp holding 1000's of people) other medical surplies like O2 would run out pritty fast as well and with no workers there would be no way to resurplie them
