Flu Misery and Myths or Get off Your Duff and Get a Flu Shot

fumento.com ^ | 10/9/2003 | Michael Fumento

[traditionalist]

"I once had a bird, her name was Enza!"
"I opened the window, and in flew Enza!"

Most nursery rhymes may say little to us about history and present dangers. But this one, dating back to the horrific flu pandemic of 1918-1919, reminds us that influenza is highly infectious and can fly across the country with the speed of a bird.

It's a reminder to get vaccinated against a preventable disease that reaps over 35,000 American lives a year.

[discostu]

It only immunizes you against that strain. One of the problems here is that the phrase "the flu" is a terrible misnomer that grossly alters people's perception from reality. At any given time there are dozens of strains running around, they only immunize for the ones that seem to be most prevalent this year, you get some immunity from the rest but not much. Even with the shot if you're unlucky in what you're being exposed to you can get multiple flus in a year. Influenza is a real nasty bugger.

[webstersII]

"Sure, if you've got an allergy to eggs."

Read the post again. It has nothing to do with egg allergy.

[traditionalist]

Does this immunize me for this season?

It immunizes you from the strains that public health officials believe to be the most likely to infect people this season. They're not infallible, so there's no guarantee that they won't miss one, but their track record is pretty good.

[70times7]

I once added up all those afflicted with dreadful diseases in an issue of Parents magazine. After just five, the total exceeded the entire population figures of the United States. They were mental health problems, breast cancer, arthritis, nail fungus, and asthma...

Hmmm, lets see... don't have asthma or nail fungus... ditto on arthritis; I'm a guy so negatory on the breast cancer, so that leaves... oh crap… I’m a liberal!

[webstersII]

"Does this immunize me for this season?"

It's a virus. That means you are immunized for the rest of your life against that particular strain of the flu. If your luck holds out then you won't get another strain of it this year.

BTW, some strains are worse than others.

[blackdog]

The fact that much of your symptoms from a virus are actually from your own body's auto-immune reaction to viral critters both live, and dead is what makes you feel so awful. Interesting enough, technically a virus cannot be classified as living or non-living. A virus is a phage. It enjoys a triggered life and a protein shell which encases the non-living material until conditions are ripe again. That can take a year. That can take a hundred years. The phage can wait. And wait. And wait. Some viruses are quite fragile and chemically deteriorate into stuff which can't become infectious again by temperature, UV light, caustic chemical washes, anhydrous solvents, etc......Some viruses can last centuries and return to being infectious.

That's my biology class final exam question from my hospital bed. I was hospitalized at a great distance from school and missed my last two months and graduation because I was a busted up sack-o-meat. I got an "A" on ti so I guess it was pretty much right as could be in the 70's.

[Spirited]

"Too many wierd side effects to the flu shot.."

Stopped that idea years ago when I learned the side effects and saw all kinds of people take the shots and get the flu.

Had an Aunt who died believing it was the result of the flu shot taken that year.

[blackdog]

You can't be a liberal. Your sense of humor is showing.

[shhrubbery!]

I'm not disputing that the flu shot is good and appropriate for some people.

But can anybody tell me why dogs and cats who get vaccinated (for their diseases) every year have a much higher risk of getting cancer?

[discostu]

Probably because their owners take them to the vet more often and subsequently they live longer. Cancer is the little expiration date God put on all His creatures, the longer you live the more likely it is you'll die of cancer.

[traditionalist]

Are you a dog or cat?

[webstersII]

"Cancer is the little
expiration date God put on all His creatures"

Umm, I don't think so.

Cancer is a mutation of host cells, not a way for an organism to do a pre-planned expiration. The pre-planned expiration is already part of the cell process; it's why people age normally.

[discostu]

Right and the more times your cells replicate (ie the older you get) the more likely it is they'll mutate badly and you'll get cancer. It's not pre-planned from where we sit, but it is the ticking timebomb that will eventually kick you (and your dog) off this mortal coil if you manage to avoid every other kind of death long enough.

[SamAdams76]

I've been sick maybe three times in the past 20 years. All of them for the common cold and only one of them I needed to see a doctor for because I developed a sinus infection with it. Doctor put me on antibiotics for that which is the only prescription I've ever had in 41 years of living.

I sincerely believe that many people destroy their immunity by taking excessive precautions. If you "shelter" your body too much, you become more susceptible to getting sick.

I know people who wear hats and gloves in cold weather and crank up the heat at home. They are always washing their hands are are ridiculously fussy about the foods they eat. Those people tend to get sick all the time.

I might wear a hat outside if it's zero degrees. I never turn my heat past 68 and I don't bother with air conditioning. I eat berries off bushes without washing them. I drink from a dirty beer glass. I'll wash my hands before eating - only if they are noticeably dirty (but I will wash before cooking somebody else's food out of courtesy). In short, I take very few precautions for getting sick and therefore I rarely, if ever, get sick.

I think that some exposure to germs and bacteria keep your body's immune system sharp. Just like professional sports, there's nothing like practice, practice, practice.

[webstersII]

"It's not pre-planned from where we sit, but it is the ticking timebomb that will eventually kick you (and your dog) off this mortal coil if you manage to avoid every other kind of death long enough."

You are mistaken. Developing an aggressive form of cancer (non-aggressive ones often don't kill people, they die from some other disease) is not a given, just because you live long enough. Just because cells mutate doesn't mean that they will cause a tumor to develop. The body seeks these mutant cells out and destroys them before they replicate if your immune system is in good working order.

There are people (documented) who have lived to be over 130 years old and have never had cancer. They died of other natural causes. While your theory that everyone eventually gets cancer if they live long enough sounds good, there is no evidence for it.

[discostu]

It's a metaphor work with me here. As you get older your chanced of getting lethal cancer goes up, that's a fact. Yes it never gets to 100%, can we move on.

[traditionalist]

I'm not disputing that the flu shot is good and appropriate for some people.

It's appropriate for nearly everyone.

[Rubber_Duckie_27]

Every year I develop a mild headache and slight fatigue within 30 minutes of getting my flu shot, and these symptoms last for 8-12 hours. I do experience similar reactions (although of shorter duration) with most vaccinations and always have. I wonder if it's the thimerosol that I'm actually reacting to, or if my body just doesn't like having foreign (albeit dead) organisms injected into it.

I do get a flu shot every year, since I'm prone to pneumonia and the combo of influenza and pneumonia could be bad news for me. I figure if there ends up being an epidemic, I'll be happy I got the shot.

[Palladin]

Thanks for the reminder, trad.

I'm going to get mine tomorrow.

[Agnes Heep]

You're being irrational. There's no downside to a flu shot. Only upside.

I'm curious as to how you know this. Immunity is a complicated thing. We can't say to a certainty how many times in the course of a specific period of time our systems fight off an alien invader (perhaps even cancer) that might end up killing us. It's just my personal opinion, but I don't think it's wise to take any chances compromising immunity if you don't really have to.

When I was eleven years old my mother dragged me to an allergist, who put me on an intense series of desensitizing injections; three shots twice a week. From never having so much as a common cold, I became sick constantly with strep throat, colds, and virtually anything you could think of. One day (I was 13 at the time) I suddenly came down with a horribly stiff neck and an incredibly high fever, combined with lassitude that left me falling asleep in class, unable even to hold my head up. My father was in the military at the time, so my mother took me to an Air Force doctor who diagnosed me with "muscle spasms." For the next two months I went on and on with this sickness, alternating between periods of recovery and periods of relapse, and losing many days of school. I shudder to think how this attack of "muscle spasms" might have ended. Years later as an adult, on my own volition, I cranked up the allergy shots again, with pretty much the same result: sick every other day with such things as strep, flu, bronchitis and colds. When I complained to my allergist he told me that sickness wasn't caused by allergy shots, but by germs. It wasn't the profoundest thing I'd ever heard in my life, and I gave up the allergy shots right away. Since then (20 years) I've averaged a cold per year, and two or three cases of flu. It's been two years since my last cold. I don't smoke, I exercise regularly, and I allow myself an excellent diet. That, and the natural immunity God gave me, are the best insurance against disease I can think of. You can have your artificial means if you like; I won't begrudge them. For my part, at least for now, I'll pass.