# The flu symptoms this year are confusing and deadly. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 4, 2015, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-flu-symptoms-this-year-are-confusing-and-deadly/708921 "2015-01-04T02:27:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![chiroptera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@chiroptera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chiroptera)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2015, 8:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-flu-symptoms-this-year-are-confusing-and-deadly/708921/21 "2015-01-04T08:50:03Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > 20+ years ago was the vaccine even available? Yes it was. In '95 or '96 when I was volunteering at a hospital I had the vaccine. So almost 20 years ago, anyway. ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2015, 8:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-flu-symptoms-this-year-are-confusing-and-deadly/708921/22 "2015-01-04T08:53:37Z")
Public flu vaccinations have been available in the US since sometime in the 1950s. I am… surprised that someone might think that flu vaccine was a novelty introduced within the last decade or two. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2015, 9:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-flu-symptoms-this-year-are-confusing-and-deadly/708921/23 "2015-01-04T09:01:43Z")
Shrug, it may be because it was never part of the vaccination calendar. The first flu vaccination campaigns I remember are from the very-late 90s. ---
**Author:** ![chiroptera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@chiroptera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chiroptera)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2015, 9:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-flu-symptoms-this-year-are-confusing-and-deadly/708921/24 "2015-01-04T09:05:42Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > A lot of people say they have “the flu” when it’s really just a bad cold, too. There’s a big difference. So then when they hear that people die from the flu they think, “Wait, people die from THE FLU??? That’s crazy!” > > They don’t realize how bad the flu really is, and think it’s just like a severe cold. Yes indeed! People who say they have flu when it’s just the common cold, or a brief stomach bug, annoy me. Three years ago I had, for the first and hopefully only time in my life, the flu, for real. It hit me like a freight train. I was fine in the morning - by 3 pm I was in bed, sweating, shivering and hurting all over. I lost my voice for three days. I was running a very high temperature. The 20 feet from my bed to the bathroom was like the Battaan death march (ok, not really.) But moving hurt. I couldn’t eat for several days. I have never been that sick in my life, and I didn’t even go get treatment but if this would have been a child or a friend I would have insisted. ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2015, 9:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-flu-symptoms-this-year-are-confusing-and-deadly/708921/25 "2015-01-04T09:08:58Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > Modern medicine is probably just ignoring it, and sitting around raking in tons of dough instead. . . It’s hard to wipe out any disease - it’s only been done a couple of times that I know of (smallpox and rinderpest). It would be next to impossible with influenza. The disease mutates a lot - that’s why they have to come up with a different vaccine every year. It also crosses species barriers, and infects animals like chickens and pigs that, on farms, are in contact with humans. And where did you get the idea that modern medicine is ignoring the flu? In the industrialized world they produce enough vaccine to cover just about everybody, and they engage in publicity campaigns to encourage people to get vaccinated. It usually works pretty well. This year it didn’t. By the way, I find it really annoying that people like you accuse the medical establishment of allowing people to get sick and die in order to line their pockets. The field is full of doctors, nurses and researchers who truly care about people and want to alleviate suffering. Not only that, but these same medical professionals (and their friends and families) can get sick just like anyone else. It is in their interest to treat serious diseases like influenza. ---
**Author:** ![SeaDragonTattoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@SeaDragonTattoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeaDragonTattoo)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2015, 11:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-flu-symptoms-this-year-are-confusing-and-deadly/708921/26 "2015-01-04T11:21:11Z")
Hey **Jeff**. Ever heard of sarcasm? **Zipper** whooshed you good. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2015, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-flu-symptoms-this-year-are-confusing-and-deadly/708921/27 "2015-01-04T12:16:33Z")
> [@SeaDragonTattoo](#): > > Hey **Jeff**. Ever heard of sarcasm? **Zipper** whooshed you good. Hard to be sarcastic when real people actually believe things even dumber than that. Look up ‘black salve’ some time. Sarcasm is lost when people literally burn their own skin off for no good reason. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2015, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-flu-symptoms-this-year-are-confusing-and-deadly/708921/28 "2015-01-04T12:44:10Z")
> [@chiroptera](#): > > Yes indeed! People who say they have flu when it’s just the common cold, or a brief stomach bug, annoy me. > > Three years ago I had, for the first and hopefully only time in my life, the flu, for real. It hit me like a freight train. I was fine in the morning - by 3 pm I was in bed, sweating, shivering and hurting all over. I lost my voice for three days. I was running a very high temperature. The 20 feet from my bed to the bathroom was like the Battaan death march (ok, not really.) But moving hurt. I couldn’t eat for several days. I have never been that sick in my life, and I didn’t even go get treatment but if this would have been a child or a friend I would have insisted. I think it must vary by person and virus. I had my first confirmed case of the flu last year and I was absolutely stunned that it was the flu, after reading the myriad descriptions of the flu here. I had the classic symptoms: fever, body aches and pains, chills, congestion, etc., (but no nausea or vomiting) but nothing that would have distinguished it from a severe cold (except maybe the fever, which I don’t usually get with a cold.) I was able to scrape the ice off my car, drive myself to the doctor on literally the coldest day of the year. My doctor checked me out, tested me, and confirmed I had the flu. So just because you feel generally miserable but not like you’re dying doesn’t necessarily mean you don’t have the flu. ---
**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:** [January 4, 2015, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-flu-symptoms-this-year-are-confusing-and-deadly/708921/29 "2015-01-04T13:18:01Z")
> [@PastTense](#): > > So Aceplace57 why are you blaming modern medicine when it is the general public more at fault? I frequently hear people say “I’m healthy, I don’t need the flu vaccine”. They either don’t understand that the flu can make even the healthiest people sick or even, in some cases, kill them (the Great Flu of 1917-1918 was particularly brutal to young, healthy people), or a too selfish to get a jab for the benefit of the rest of society. Occasionally I’ve seen such people bitch when other people take off time for being sick, but Og forbid they do anything to help stop the spread of something making other people sick. Of course, not everyone skipping the shot is selfish or ignorant, there are other reasons it doesn’t happen. > [@Nava](#): > > 20+ years ago was the vaccine even available? Yep. I had a very severe reaction to a flu vaccine about 35 years ago, which is why docs don’t want to vaccinate me these days. > [@aceplace57](#): > > I don’t understand why they can’t get an update vaccine produced. They’ve known for months that this years vaccine isn’t effective against this strain of flu. It takes almost a year to manufacture the vaccine. By the time they found out the strains they picked out weren’t quite the right one it was too late to start manufacturing an updated vaccine in time to get it out the door. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2015, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-flu-symptoms-this-year-are-confusing-and-deadly/708921/30 "2015-01-04T14:28:25Z")
We’ve also gotten much better at treating the flu. In 1918 you were unlikely to get IV fluids - we didn’t understand the importance of even just staying hydrated with an electrolyte balance. Our homes are cleaner, our doctors offices are cleaner. ---
**Author:** ![GrumpyBunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bc8723/32.png) [@GrumpyBunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrumpyBunny)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2015, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-flu-symptoms-this-year-are-confusing-and-deadly/708921/31 "2015-01-04T14:31:19Z")
> [@PastTense](#): > > What exactly can doctors do for treatment? Treat any underlying conditions made worse by the flu. For example, I’m asthmatic, so that was also FUBAR. I got prednisone. Verify it \*is \*the flu and give you a note to be out of work, if needed. Tamiflu. It reduces severity and length of the flu. Make sure you don’t have a secondary infection (sinusitus, bronchitis, pneumonia). If you do, the doc can treat it. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2015, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-flu-symptoms-this-year-are-confusing-and-deadly/708921/32 "2015-01-04T14:55:04Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > I guess we’ve come to expect too much from modern medicine. They’ve come so far and learned so much. It’s a bit of a jolt to realize there’s still illnesses that can kill a healthy person in just a few days. Maybe in another hundred years we’ll be better equipped to prevent sudden deaths from disease. > > I’ve seen news reports that our local health officials are doing everything preventive possible. Going into the classrooms. Teaching the kids to wash their hands, don’t come to school with a fever and so on. They’re trying hard to keep this in check. Did you get your flu shot this year? ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2015, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-flu-symptoms-this-year-are-confusing-and-deadly/708921/33 "2015-01-04T14:59:29Z")
Yes, I got my shot in late October. I’ve been getting them free at work since the mid 1990’s. Our insurance covers them 100%. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2015, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-flu-symptoms-this-year-are-confusing-and-deadly/708921/34 "2015-01-04T15:08:02Z")
> [@chiroptera](#): > > Yes indeed! People who say they have flu when it’s just the common cold, or a brief stomach bug, annoy me. I know a pediatrician that, if you bring your kid in with one of those problems, the word ‘flu’ won’t be brought up. She’ll just say ‘you’re son just has a stomach bug’. She’s trying to do what she can to help people understand the difference between a bug/24 hour virus and influenza. The biggest difference is that if you’re throwing up, you _probably_ don’t have the flu. If you feel like you got hit by a truck, you probably do. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2015, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-flu-symptoms-this-year-are-confusing-and-deadly/708921/35 "2015-01-04T15:20:46Z")
> [@PastTense](#): > > What percent of the population gets the flu vaccine? > > [Who Needs to Get an Annual Flu Shot?](http://www.healthline.com/health-news/everyone-get-a-flu-shot-091814) > > So Aceplace57 why are you blaming modern medicine when it is the general public more at fault? I’m not blaming the doctors. They are doing as much as they can. That’s the frustrating part. A 100 years of modern medicine and the flu shots have made a big difference in preventing influenza. We’re just as vulnerable as previous generations when a particular years vaccines aren’t effective. It tears my heart out that kids are dying. Wiped out before they even got a good start in life. Influenza has always been more fatal to the young and very old. ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2015, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-flu-symptoms-this-year-are-confusing-and-deadly/708921/36 "2015-01-04T15:23:32Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > I know a pediatrician that, if you bring your kid in with one of those problems, the word ‘flu’ won’t be brought up. She’ll just say ‘you’re son just has a stomach bug’. > She’s trying to do what she can to help people understand the difference between a bug/24 hour virus and influenza. > > The biggest difference is that if you’re throwing up, you _probably_ don’t have the flu. If you feel like you got hit by a truck, you probably do. we’ve done ourselves a disservice by coming up with the term “stomach flu” for what is usually norovirus. > [@aceplace57](#): > > Here it is 2015 and modern medicine is still this helpless against influenza? 😕 WTH is going on? you ever notice how the treatment for most viral diseases is “supportive care?” It’s incredibly hard to kill viruses once they’ve entered the body, so for the most part the best we can do is keep people alive so their own immune systems can get rid of it. add in the fact that the influenza viruses adapt and change all the time, and you’ve got an even harder problem to solve. ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2015, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-flu-symptoms-this-year-are-confusing-and-deadly/708921/37 "2015-01-04T16:55:41Z")
> [@SeaDragonTattoo](#): > > Hey **Jeff**. Ever heard of sarcasm? **Zipper** whooshed you good. Sorry if that’s the case. What **ZipperJJ** said is pretty much identical to what you can find posted all over the internet by people who aren’t being sarcastic. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2015, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-flu-symptoms-this-year-are-confusing-and-deadly/708921/38 "2015-01-04T17:20:40Z")
> [@Dangerosa](#): > > We’ve also gotten much better at treating the flu. In 1918 you were unlikely to get IV fluids - we didn’t understand the importance of even just staying hydrated with an electrolyte balance. Our homes are cleaner, our doctors offices are cleaner. The 1918 flu was also categorically more severe than other strains. Previous to 1918 people got the flu and survived in predictable numbers. The 1918 flu wiped out a disproportionate number of people, and in particular the youg and strong, rather than the old and weak. Viruses are hard to fight off since they infect your own cells and can mutate very rapidly. Bacteria, being a very different type of cell, has biological characteristics antibiotics can target while leaving the body’s cells unharmed. It is an area where medicine does struggle because of these innate characteristics. While many viruses have effective vaccines, flu, in part because of how it evolves is a bit trickier. ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2015, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-flu-symptoms-this-year-are-confusing-and-deadly/708921/39 "2015-01-04T17:28:04Z")
This is gonna sound stupid but I thought sepsis was due to bacteria from a localized infection getting into the bloodstream and spreading throughout the body and producing toxins which just makes things worse. How does influenza caused sepsis work? ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2015, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-flu-symptoms-this-year-are-confusing-and-deadly/708921/40 "2015-01-04T17:30:27Z")
> [@Jeff\_Lichtman](#): > > Sorry if that’s the case. What **ZipperJJ** said is pretty much identical to what you can find posted all over the internet by people who aren’t being sarcastic. I was just taking the piss out of the OP who always seems to want to know why, whyyyyy hasn’t anyone DONE something !?! (As if “they” haven’t.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-flu-symptoms-this-year-are-confusing-and-deadly/708921.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-flu-symptoms-this-year-are-confusing-and-deadly/708921.md?page=3)