Posted on 12/04/2014 12:52:21 PM PST by Patriot777
A sampling of flu cases so far this season suggests the current flu vaccine may not be a good match for the most common seasonal flu strain currently circulating in the United States, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Wednesday.
The U.S. health agency issued an advisory to doctors noting that flu virus samples the agency took from Oct. 1 through Nov. 22, showed that just under half were a good match for the current influenza A (H3N2) component contained in flu shots for the 2014-2015 season, suggesting the virus has drifted.
According to the CDC, flu activity has been low but is increasing and influenza A (H3N2) viruses appear to be the predominant strain, with cases having been detected in almost all U.S. states.In past seasons when the influenza A (H3N2) strain had mutated from the vaccine strain, flu shots were less effective, the CDC said in the advisory.
Flu seasons dominated by influenza A (H3N2) strains tend to have higher overall hospitalization rates and more flu-related deaths, especially among older people and very young children compared with flu seasons dominated by the influenza A (H1N1) virus or influenza B viruses.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
In the last two weeks I have diagnosed 4 patients with the flu. None of them have had the vaccine.
Just a data point.
It’s the CDCs job to mix the most probably flu strains, usually about 6 for each flu season. Why were THEY out to lunch?
It takes time to make, test, and distribute the vaccines. It happens incredibly fast in the case of influenza vaccines, because we have the benefit of several decades’ of experience with developing and testing flu vaccines. But it still requires time. The WHO has to meet months ahead of time—typically in February for the Northern Hemisphere—and uses their best educated guesses as to which influenza strains will predominate, then makes recommendations on the composition of the vaccines that will be needed in the fall. Doing this is something like weather forecasting, since no one can actually know that far ahead which strains will predominate.
By the time flu season rolls around and we know which strains are circulating, it is too late to develop, test, and make vaccines for that season.
Still, even if the vaccine is not a perfect match and you still get the flu, the disease will probably be less severe than if you had received no vaccine at all.
Took a flight to Hartford, CT this past February with a connection in Baltimore. By week’s end, I was in the ER with a temp above 104. Took about 10 days to get fully back on my feet and 1 month before I felt 100%. It was miserable.
not to worry....... Walmart sells Vitamin D3 cheap
There’s a virus making the rounds in Florida. I know many folks who have had it, myself included. I, as well as my friends, were tested to see if it was flu, and it wasn’t...but it felt every bit like the flu (mine led to pneumonia.) Many of the others I know with the virus are ending up in the ER or a walk in for nebulizer treatments and then being Rx’d inhalers because it messes with your airways, big time.
“There’s a virus making the rounds in Florida. I know many folks who have had it, myself included. I, as well as my friends, were tested to see if it was flu, and it wasn’t...but it felt every bit like the flu (mine led to pneumonia.) Many of the others I know with the virus are ending up in the ER or a walk in for nebulizer treatments and then being Rx’d inhalers because it messes with your airways, big time.”
Had something like that back in September. 102 fever, muscle aches, the whole nine yards.
Wonder if it was the 68 virus.
I hope that trend holds, sir.
I’m taking D3 every day to help with my exhausted adrenal system and help me sleep better, and if it will make (God forbid!) a case of the flu not be so absolutely harsh, that is a welcome plus.
Yep, an airport and airplanes are perfect incubators for flu. And it’s astounding how fast the symptoms hit you and literally flatten you out on your back, and then wipe you out physically for weeks. Had you received a flu vaccine before you became ill? If you did, then what happened to you is quite alarming.
Same in my family, mother had 104.8 and was admitted, I was not febrile but just about as sick. We both had flu shots; I believe it was mutated H3N2.
Didn’t do us a bit of good.
I personally don’t trust the WHO any more than I would trust a school of sharks, case in point: a doctor once told me that a certain medication would not cause cancer because WHO said it wouldn’t—even though solid research evidenced that it was causing cancer in literally thousands of people a year.
The problem is lead time. It takes long enough to produce and distribute enough vaccine to do any good that doing it in the middle of an epidemic means always struggling to catch up to a faster-moving target. Improvements in process science will help. We're just not really that good at it yet, and it would be nice if the CDC would honestly admit it.
Well, I just popped another D3 and gave another one to each of the kids.
Same here. For everyone of course.
But the last thing I need is to catch the flu from a patient as a result of mine not being the “right” vaccine.
They were going about the task that Leader Obola assigned them: verify the Ebola strains, and so on and so forth. Little time for anything else....
A lot of my patients have a virus that causes a 5-7 day sore throat, severe nasal congestion and a lingering cough.
I caught it and wound up having an ear infection on top of it. Probably 10% of my patients are getting an ear infection or sinusitis. Nasty stuff.
Absolutely, Dr. You are in my prayers that you remain safe from flu infection.
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