Some of my co-workers were just arguing about this, so I decided to see if the 'millions had the answer.
It’s fairly common knowledge that unnecessary or incomplete use of antibiotics can help produce stronger, more resistant strains of bacteria.
One of my co-workers argues that flu vaccinations do the same thing. By making people resistant to an ordinary flu virus, he claims, we’re inadvertantly creating an “uber-flu” virus. That is, instances of a virus that aren’t as easily killed by human immune systems are the ones that are more likely to reproduce, and eventually there will be flu strains too virulent for our bodies to handle.
Is this true? Can viruses (viri?) be made stronger from vaccination just as bacteria can be made more resistant as a result of antibiotics?
Thanks, and please excuse any statements above that too obviously show my lack of knowledge of biology.
Short answer: No. The influenza virus mutates constantly anyway, and different strains are always banging around in the community. Each annual vaccine is made up of 3 or 4 different viral antigens representing the strains that the Center for Disease Control thinks will be the most likely strains to hit us this year. They base this on the viral strains they see developing in east Asia earlier in the year. So your body ends up making antibodies to the antigens in the flu shot.
That’s the short scoop on influenza vaccines. There are dozens of other vaccines, for viruses and bacteria, each with their own story. But on the main, the answer to your question for all of them is still no.
What Qadgop said. Plus, you can think of it this way. Antibiotics kill susceptible strains, leaving behind the resistant survivors - possibly producing a new resistant strain. Vaccines don’t really kill the viruses, they prevent them from infecting you in the first place. Well, OK, it’s not quite that clear cut, but my point is that we’re talking about different processes, so different rules apply. So, no.
Fezzik
Check out this site for everything you ever wanted to know about Influenza and more! Page down near the bottom to learn more about the potential for the “uber-flu” of which you speak.
