# Flu epidemic? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 6, 2003, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flu-epidemic/217305 "2003-12-06T03:09:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![artemis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/91b2a8/32.png) [@artemis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/artemis)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2003, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flu-epidemic/217305/21 "2003-12-08T19:40:33Z")
**beajerry** , you’re right on both counts. There are always multile strains of influenza A and influenza B in circulation, but typically only one or two of each type will become the “major players” during a typical flu season. Production of flu vaccine requires an educated guess about which strains will end up being the major ones (since work on the vaccine has to begin months before flu season is underway); this year everyone guessed wrong, and one of the most prevalent strains isn’t included in the vaccine (although another strain it bears some antigenic relationship to is, so the vaccine may still offer some partial protection). ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2003, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flu-epidemic/217305/22 "2003-12-08T21:19:14Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by beajerry \*\*\*Just some personal evidence. > \*\* Nitpick, but that isn’t **evidence**. It’s just an anecdote. And it seems to me that there are other likely ways to explain this. For example, are people who know they are more likely than average to be exposed to the flu therefore more likely to get a flu shot? That seems quite possible to me. And their increased exposure would explain their increased incidence of catching the flu, regardless of whether or not they got a flu shot. And I would expect “workers on a hospital floor” to be in the group of those ‘more likely than average’ to be exposed to flu. ---
**Author:** ![beajerry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@beajerry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beajerry)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2003, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flu-epidemic/217305/23 "2003-12-08T21:57:35Z")
Yes, anecdotal evidence. And I was talking about patients that were admitted with flu complications. It is possible that they were exposed to the virus BEFORE getting the flu shot. As for more anecdotal evidence: none of my co-workers have gotten the flu so far, just a few colds here and there. ---
**Author:** ![JungleLove](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/839c29/32.png) [@JungleLove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JungleLove)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2003, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flu-epidemic/217305/24 "2003-12-08T22:13:31Z")
If doctor’s offices & clinics start running out of flu shots, there’s always [FluMist](http://abcnews.go.com/wire/Living/ap20031208_1372.html), which _does_ contain active flu virus & can cause a weak version of the flu. But on the plus side, it’s a nasal spray, not a shot. [http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/502335/](http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/502335/) [http://www.cnn.com/2003/HEALTH/conditions/12/08/cnna.gerberding/](http://www.cnn.com/2003/HEALTH/conditions/12/08/cnna.gerberding/) But people with allergies to eggs can’t use FluMist since the virus used in it is grown in eggs. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2003, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flu-epidemic/217305/25 "2003-12-09T01:13:42Z")
I appreciate what you’re saying **beajerry**. But you should know that both in the scientific community, and here in GQ, “anecdotal evidence” is an oxymoron. ---
**Author:** ![kspharm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ebca7d/32.png) [@kspharm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kspharm)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2003, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flu-epidemic/217305/26 "2003-12-09T03:11:18Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Fat Marrow \* > \*\*. > > My advice, keep drinking plenty of water and take some Echinacea. \*\* Bad advice. [Echinacea](http://www.cnn.com/2003/HEALTH/parenting/12/02/echinacea.children.ap/index.html) Echinacea, vitamin C, and zinc are popular remedies for cold and flu relief yet there is no evidence that they actually work. ---
**Author:** ![Toaster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@Toaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toaster)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2003, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flu-epidemic/217305/27 "2003-12-09T07:02:58Z")
Are the folks making the flu shots making new ones that cover the current, active strain? Or just still doling out all the older, less-effective ones? ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2003, 10:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flu-epidemic/217305/28 "2003-12-09T10:53:55Z")
Since it takes 4-6 months to manufacture flu vaccine for a typical strain, there simply hasn’t been time to make vaccine for this year’s Top Contender for Flu Scares. Thus, the vaccine is the not-quite-perfect-match they’ve been doling out all along. Stilll, it is believed to be better than nothing. ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2003, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flu-epidemic/217305/29 "2003-12-09T13:55:43Z")
A number of illnesses pegged as ‘the flu’ aren’t the flu. Here in the Philly area, everyone is running to the doc with ‘the flu’ when they have bad colds which are nastier to people in poor health. It’s widespread, making many offices empty, but it ain’t always the flue. The flu is brutal. You’ll never forget having it. Like being run over by a truck. Worst headaches you’ve had, pain all over, sets in the throat were it develops and beats the hell out of your chest. Fever that causes the headache and nightmares to loom for days, despite taking pain meds, and then you find yourself sweating when you break the fever. After days you climb out of bed, only to find you have a cough that will beat you up for a week or more yet. Runny noses and being in poor health makes people say, “I have the flu”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flu-epidemic/217305.md?page=1)