http://www.eswi.org/Social_Economics_of_influenza.cfm
Influenza hits us hard in the USA.
and vaccination does help!
Wow, saves lives and money?
As for the risk of dying young and healthy of influenza? Small, but not zero. Guesstimates are that about 500 otherwise healthy people under age 50 die of the flu in the US each year.
Modern medicine wouldn’t have saved you from the Spanish flu. It killed many of its victims within hours of showing the first symptom. 200,000 Americans died from the Spanish flu in a single month (1918-10). Some villages in Alaska suffered 50% mortality. With the right sort of mutation in the influenza virus, it could happen again.
Is the Spanish flu one of the ones in the vaccine?
Two young children died in my city last year from influenza. Neither had any previous health problems.
Each year, the vaccine is matched to those strains of flu that have appeared recently. From www.cdc.gov:
The so-called Spanish Flu hasn’t reappeared since 1918. Given the way the flu virus mutates, I suppose it’s unlikely that it ever will.
Well, hey! If they’re in New Mexico (and I believe you’re in Santa Fe, right, NinjaChick?) the state Health Department has issued a public health order reserving the vaccine for those in high-risk categories. Until those people are vaccinated, healthy college students have no business getting flu shots, and the school’s health department could very well face sanctions. Private healthcare organizations - hell, even grocery stores - have been cooperating with the Health Department’s order, and some have even donated vaccine to the state for people in assisted living facilities. I’m shocked that the college health department would defy the order.
I’m all for widespread vaccination against the flu, and I know how devastating the illness can be. However, when there isn’t enough vaccine for people who are the most likely to die from complications, those of us who can reasonably expect to survive the illness should not be using up any of the short supply.
So it’s a little disengenuous to invoke the Spanish flu in vaccination debate, no?
I mean, it was a shame that so many young, healthy people died from it, but influenza is overwhelmingly not dangerous to young, healthy people normally. And if the virus mutated into a new, more virulent and deadly form like the Spanish flu this winter, even those who recieved the vaccine wouldn’t be protected from it, as it wouldn’t have been in the batch brewing for this year.
Both of QtM’s quotes show a clear benefit to seniors, but say nothing concrete about the effects the vaccine or inluenza has on young and healthy folks. In fact, he states that young, healthy folks are unlikely to die from influenza. I think we should get the heck out of the way and let Granny get her shot.
Manda JO, for what it’s worth, I think you did the right thing, and I hope my kid’s teachers made similar decisions. Yes, most years I think teachers should be able to get a flu shot if they want, but this year it just doesn’t make sense. It would totally suck if you missed a week or more of work, but the children’s academic careers won’t be ruined forever.
Incidently, I am in one of the so-called “higher risk” groups, as I am pregnant, but I’m choosing not to get the shot. There’s just so many other people at higher risk than I. (Plus, I’m not entirely comfortable with pre-natal exposure to such a new vaccine, so I’m being ultra-conservative.)
Could be a delusional. ugly state. brochure could use some work.
Like all of the world. Who even got a flu shot? Certainly wasn’t all thoses people that died from enfluezma in the late 20th century and beyond.
(Of enfluenze) which not to under emphasize the empact of the death of dying.
Do you think you are going to live forever? I’m certainly not. Lets look at my remaining brain cells after I’m dead and not while I’m alive, thank-you!
Spanish Flu epidemics in the 191x’s killed more people than World-War I. Did WW-I suck? Yes. So does the flu potentially suck even more? I’d tend to say so.
Yes, I should have noted that the flu is much more dangerous for the under 6 years old age set. Even when said kiddies are otherwise healthy.
I totally agree that those who are in danger of dying, or getting serious medical problems as a result of the 'flu should have precedence. However, an awful lot of people will claim that they should get it because they had 'flu last year, and they don’t want to get it again, when what they had was a horrible cold. I could start my own rant about people insisting that they had 'flu, but they staggered into work regardless, or people being off work with 'flu for three days: sorry, but that’s not the 'flu.
I don’t get the shot: I’ve had 'flu twice in 41 years, so I don’t think my chances of getting it are high. Yes, I may well get a truly terrible cold, a sinus infection, or a virus, but 'flu is unlikely. If I do get it, I can be pretty sure it’ll take me more than a couple of days to get over it, and that I won’t be bravely soldiering on at work. On both previous ocassions I was bedridden for weeks, and in one case had to have twice daily penicillin shots for two weeks after that.
People need to know that the shot will not stop them getting sick with what they think is the 'flu, but it may well stop someone else dying from what really IS the 'flu.
So what is the flu?
This site by a pharmaceutical company does a pretty good job of explaining influenza.
Okay, then I really don’t understand this. I live in OH, too, and my company is getting flu shots. We’ve all signed up for them, and according to HR, we are still getting the shots.
Some of us have gone to HR to ask them if we can give up our own for elderly or sickly family members - I’ve asked my husband’s great aunt if she wants mine. I don’t think HR has said no, but I still don’t understand why we aren’t providing the 100 or so flu shots that we have to those who really need it.
Maybe things have changed since we last discussed this with HR, but I don’t know. All I know is that I’m going to do my best to make sure my husband’s grandma or great-aunt gets the shot before I do.
Ava
So, I’ve prob’ly had it a couple times. Or maybe it was something with similar symptoms. Pretty pathetic. No food for three days. There was one whole day when I don’t think I even got out of bed to pee. No, I didn’t piss the bed, I just didn’t have to pee. Prob’ly because I didn’t get out of bed to eat or drink anything.
So, how does it compare to the common cold? How can us lay people make the distinction from the comfort of our own home?
See Table 1 in this article. http://www.aafp.org/afp/20030101/111.html
Briefly, imagine a happy little model train, chugging annoyingly around a hobbyist’s track in his basement, blowing its little whistle and actually puffing out real smoke. How irritating!
Now imagine the biggest 3 grillion horsepower diesel engine in the world, bearing right down at you, throttle wide open, earth rumbling, blasting its whistle so loud your ears bleed.
That’s cold vs. influenza.
I know all about the flu pandemics, thanks though. I still don’t see the big need for the shot. This is the way of things, the way of the world and the way of disease.
Sam
Will you be turning down those antibiotics when you get bacterial pneumonia? That’s the way of disease too.
There is a reason life expectancy has been increasing steadily for the last 100 years, you know.
The thing is, guys, we never know if this year’s flu strain will be another Spanish Flu. The mutations are random, so the one that brought about the influenza that killed 20-50 million (some estimates range towards 100 million) could be repeated. I refer you to The Great Influenza by John M. Barry, a book that will scare you half to death.
The reason the pandemic killed so many young people was because their immune systems went into overdrive in response to the influenza and subsequent pneumonia infections. Their lungs filled with lymphatic fluid, cellular debris, and white blood cells, stretching out and hardening the alvaeoli and making it impossible to get oxygen. A doctor called into one of the first influenza wards said he couldn’t tell if his patients were white men or black, as they had turned a uniform blueish-purple color from oxygen deprivation. The condition is referred to as Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrom, and even with today’s ICUs, medical knowledge, and expertise, 80% of those who come down with ARDS die.
Couple that with the fact that there are so many easy breeding places for influenza. Anytime you have people living in close quarters with pigs or fowl, you have an efficient viral laboratory. Even worse, we’ve learned that two different strains can infect a host at the same time, and recombine their genes, making mutations much more quickly and effectively. Worst of all, we used to think that new strains were hampered by transmission from pig/bird sources to human sources and had to mutate again before they could be easily transmittable person to person. That’s no longer the case. Epidemiologists have discovered strains that emerge from zoonotic sources already capable of quick and easy person to person transmission. With that barrier gone, an epidemic could emerge in a matter of days, instead of weeks.
Granted, most of the populations that still live with pigs, chickens, ducks, or other carriers are in Asia, but if you think that protects you, you’ve forgotten about our international airlines. Remember SARS? SARS is baby stuff compared to a real flu epidemic. Our society is designed around the notion of easy travel, and a virulent strain that causes ARDS in the young and healthy could spread like wildfire.
During the Spanish Flu epidemic, towns that were hit pretty much shut down for the duration. Hospitals refused to take new patients. Doctors and nurses, in some instances, were kidnapped by families desperate for someone to treat their loved ones. In some cases, civil order very nearly broke down.
So, you know, show some respect for the flu virus. There’s a reason Stephen King choose it to wipe out humanity in The Stand