Got your flu shot

Gonz

Gonz

molṑn labé
Staff member
Next flu pandemic could wreak global havoc, scientists warn
By Anita Manning, USA TODAY

The warning sirens are screaming: A deadly, contagious strain of flu will emerge, possibly soon, flu experts say, and the world is not ready to deal with it.

Pandemic influenza occurs periodically throughout history, causing widespread illness and death, overwhelming medical systems and wreaking chaos in societies. These viruses are highly contagious, and because they are new, no one is immune.

Influenza is serious enough, killing an average of 36,000 people in the USA every year, but because it is caused by strains of the virus that are known to be circulating in the world, vaccines can be prepared to prevent it. This year, a strain that doesn't match up exactly with those in the vaccine has emerged and raised serious concerns, but experts believe the vaccine will still offer some protection.

Using current technologies, it takes as long as six months to create flu vaccines.

"The world will be in deep trouble if the impending influenza pandemic strikes this week, this month, or even this year," write international flu experts Richard Webby and Robert Webster of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis.

In an article in Friday's Science, they argue that new methods to produce flu vaccines rapidly are known, but have not yet been tested. "What's necessary is to do trial runs and demonstrate these (new vaccines) are safe," Webster said during a press briefing.

Also needed is a stockpile of anti-viral drugs that can be used to treat or prevent the spread of flu. Current supplies would last only days in a pandemic, Webster said, "but no country has yet invested in stockpiling."

It was international flu surveillance that helped alert the world to SARS this past spring.

In addition to new vaccine technologies and anti-flu drugs, he says, "you need the best surveillance possible, particularly in places where you think a virus might emerge."

It has been more than 30 years since the last pandemic, and "we're overdue," Webster says.

"Flu keeps knocking on the door. We've seen enough incidences over the past three or four years to make us very alarmed."
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my mom's been at me to take myself and the boys...I guess I'd better get moving on it...people have died of it here in Ontario already this season, including one child.
 
I've never had a flu shot, and I've never gotten the flu. One of the guys at work wasn't feeling well before he left on a week's vacation right before Thanksgiving and was sick the whole time. And of course his 2 year old, infant, and wife are all now sick too. That must be horrible, being sick but having to take care of your sick kids at the same time.
 
Hmm.... I feel quite strongly about this one. The people that actually die of the flu are generally the elderly, the VERY newborn, and /or those who suffer from respiratory problems. And I'm not talking the occasional need for a puff on a blue inhaler.

I am strongly against the idea of anyone who is not in one of these risk groups - or working closely with them (eg midwives or elderly care doctors) - having a vaccine for the flu.

Pros of a flu vaccine for a 'low risk' person:
May avoid a fortnight in bed. (That's a fortnight off work, folks)

Disads of vaccines:
Immunity given by vaccine is not passed on in breast milk - it will not protect your newborn baby, unlike actual disease exposure.
The long term effects of vaccines have not yet been studied - we already believe that some vaccines have permanently damaged children's brains at around the time of administration (trust me - you do NOT want to get me started on this one :D) - who knows what effects could manifest themselves 30 years down the line.
Vaccines do not confer lifelong immunity, even to those diseases that can only be caught once, let alone to something like the flu.

Every person vaccinated with the flu vaccine represents another chance for a vaccine-resistant strain to proliferate in preference to the strain that we know how to deal with. This encourages random mutations to prosper (could result in the disease developing more serious effects) and means that the vaccines administered to the people who actually NEED them will be effective for less time, before they will need another. IF we can develop another in time.


Those people who are suggesting that we put more money into vaccinating against a continuously changing virus that kills a tiny proportion of that small proportion of the population that has specific co-existing diseases, should instead be campaigning for more money to be invested in looking for a vaccine against HIV - which has infected about a THIRD of the population of South Africa and Botswana, and will wipe out approximately 15% of their workforce by 2020 - a disease that kills nearly 90% of its victims within 15 years if they aren't treated (and the ajority of the population of the world that has it can't afford the treatment that exist) and kills everyone in the end, even given everything that current science can do. Or a vaccine for MS - something they are suprisingly close to developing - which destroys young people in the prime of their life. And so on and so forth. There are so many more important things than FLU!!

*disengages rant mode*

Sorry.....got a bit carried away there!!
 
allergic to flu shots...rather take me chances with the flu, it may last longer than my reaction to the shot but it feels better.
 
Never gotten a flu shot, and very doubtful I will. I don't get sick often, and if I do get sick during the winter, it's one really bad cold that lasts a couple of days and it's over. If you get your rest, keep fit, take precaution, eat healthy etc, there's chances you won't catch it. You have to keep your immune system up in order to fight off any virus coming your way.
 
Sam said:
we already believe that some vaccines have permanently damaged children's brains at around the time of administration
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I know more about this one than most :( luckily we got hit not too badly :eh:

I do however feel that the flu shot is important...if it keeps me from spreading it to one of those in the high risk groups, then it's worth it :shrug:
 
it's free...so why not bother?

i'd rather do it than know i had a hand in killing someone's grandma :shrug:
 
Well, having the vaccine doesn't completely eliminate the chance of you carrying it Grandma - and it vastly increases the chance that if you do pass 'flu' on, it will be a form that there IS no vaccine to, so she will not be protected against it. Far more sensible for Grandma herself to have the vaccine, and everyone else to rely on their natural immunity.
 
I just got back from the doctor. I have pneumonia now cause of the flu I had earlier in the month. I feel like I'm dying. Go get your flu shots.
 
It's looking like all the hooting and hollering earlier in the season about there not being enough vaccine to go around will now result in a surplus because people listened to the propaganda and didn't try to get the shot.
 
i'm allergic to the flu shot. so i don't get it. sometimes i get the flu. it sucks. but it's not fucking malaria. if you are a relatively healthy individual you can get by without modern medical science holding your hand on this one.
 
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