Posted on 02/04/2018 11:58:40 AM PST by BenLurkin
Experts say it is possible to catch the flu twice in one season. That's because there are multiple strains of flu viruses circulating at any one time, said Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious-disease specialist at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville. So getting sick with one strain of flu won't necessarily protect you from a different strain.
But the good news is that it's pretty rare to catch the flu twice in a single season. Having this happen would be "quite a stroke of bad luck," Schaffner told Live Science
Most people who get the flu this season are getting sick with the H3N2 strain. But a smaller portion of people (around 10 to 15 percent) are getting the H1N1 strain or the influenza B virus, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (H3N2 and H1N1 are both strains of influenza A.)
Seasonal flu shots contain three to four strains of flu virus, because there isn't much "cross protection" between strains, Schaffner said. It's possible that getting sick with one type of influenza A virus would offer some modest protection against another type of influenza A, but it probably wouldn't give you any protection against the influenza B virus, Schaffner said.
(Excerpt) Read more at scientificamerican.com ...
Coulda woulda shoulda
YOU ‘promised’ me an agonizing death.
How do you know I won’t get struck by a train and be dead before I hit the ground?
On the other hand, that train could hit me and I may land in a crumpled mess with every bone in my body broken yet still survive.
Best thing about life is we don’t know how or where or when it is going to end.
A little draconian/morbid declaring how another is going to die UNLESS you are planning to have a hand in the proceedings.
My vet gets ‘mad’ at me when I tell him I am not going to spend thousands of dollars on a cat no matter how much I may care for him. When I start going to Drs, I may take my cats to Drs.
Remember the ONLY certainty of life is death.
Interesting you bring up an electronic device for communicating. I was communicating when you picked up a phone and TOLD the operator who you wanted to talk to, then I advanced to Morse Code and am now in the mode that is most convenient.
Time marches on and yes, no one knows what the future may hold - except death..we all know that is coming.
BTW, I am ready now, so bring it on.... But, seeing as how I am ‘different’ I may just have a trick up my sleeve to deter the grim reaper.....then again....
I had the flu when I was 19. Two weeks acutely ill in bed or on the sofa, followed by two weeks of coughing. I had the high fever, body aches, etc, just as you described. Once you experience it you never forget it.
I used to work at City Hospital, Hon! Maybe we crossed paths in Balmer.
Hey dare Hon! : ),
No. I was never a patient at the old City Hospital in Balmer.
But I did have my tonsils taken out at Maryland General, a week after graduating from HS in 1979. That was back when doctors were treating tonsillitis with codeine and antibiotics instead of taking them out. But after years of getting sick all the time and having nearly constant sore throats and finally much difficulty swallowing, our GP finally recommended that my parents take me to an ENT. When he examined me he was appalled how it had been allowed to have gotten that bad and feared that I was on the verge of getting sepsis, said my tonsils were extremely infected and admitted me to the Maryland General a day later for surgery. I was miserable for a few days afterward but it was great as I stopped getting sick all the time and could finally swallow without feeling like I had two oranges lodged in my throat.
The old City Hospital later became Johns Hopkins Bayview.
Both my mom and my dad were patients there.
My mom was admitted on December 30th of 1995 for what at first was thought to be a heart problem but was soon diagnosed as acute pancreatitis. And I have to say while my mother succumbed to it, the doctors and nurses at Bay View were exceptional in every possible way. They did everything humanly and medically possible to save her life and were so compassionate and understanding to her and our entire family.
My mother was in the ICU when the blizzard of January 6-7 1996 hit and my husband and I dug out our 4WD pick up and made our way to the hospital and my husband volunteered for the next 24 hours to shuttle doctors and nurses and other staff who otherwise couldn’t make it back home after working triple shifts or other to get to work while I stayed at my mother’s bedside because the blizzard hit on her birthday and I wasn’t going to not be with her on her birthday, even though by now she was in a coma.
A year and a half later my dad was admitted to Bay View for what turned out to be bacterial resistant pneumonia. He was in the ICU and on a vent for 8 weeks. And again, while my father died, I have nothing but good things to say for the doctors and nurses.
Some of them remembered me from when my mother was in the same ICU and basically let me come and go, any time of the day or night as a pleased. I even used to come early in the morning and sit in my father’s room so I could catch the medical team when they came on their morning rounds.
At first I would just sit and listen and of course I never interfered with the staff in any way, but after a time, the doctors would engage me and let me ask questions. Several doctors and nurses thought I was in the medical profession because I asked such thoughtful and intelligent questions and was knowledgeable and conversant in medical terminology.
A few days after my father passed, in the mail I got a beautiful condolence card in the mail, personally signed by all the doctors, nurses and techs in the ICU. That really meant a lot to me.
I did Dilantin and Tranxene for 13 years after a head injury in 72. It made me stupid. When I finally got shut of it it took me another decade to return to mental status quo ante. The injury had likely healed several years prior to getting shut of the stuff. It put a lid on my will power so that even though I knew had to quit I couldn’t go against what the doctor said.
The first med she was on put her into rages. (Keppra) Then we switched her to lamictal. The side effecrts are a life threatening rash, striping out Vitamin D, and insomnia.
We slowly upped her med to make sure she didn’t get a rash, added vitamin D supplements, and gave evening dose early and then gave her melatonin.
After 1p years, she finally got off it this past August.
I hate anti’seizure meds. Too many side effects.
I’m reading lots of promising reports of using CBD oil from marijuana as helping without the bad side effects. Hope it helps.
You are near 80 and I’m 67, so I have been down a few of those same roads. I usually follow the road less traveled, or no road at all. I have a couple of cats and am reluctant to spend great sums of money on them, but the family dog is another matter. Do you plan to be buried with the money you save?
You can and also reinfect yourself with unwashed sheets or a toothbrush.
Nah....I am leaving my bones to science to see what made me ‘tick’.
I was ‘normal’ through 17,
joined the USN, did 8 yrs, moderate to heavy drinker-heavy smoker
from 25-51 was basically ‘drunk’ the entire time, heavy heavy smoker (Camel Regs 4 or so packs a day). I was a functioning drunk, NEVER missed work, had ‘everything’ (I needed), raised two girls who DON’T smoke or drink -all Grandkids(5), 1/great GS born under marriage license -
At 51 I put down the Budweiser/assorted daily shots etc/Camels, Cold turkey and have touched neither since.
The ONLY thing that ‘cured’ me was that bone between the ears.
If I ‘last’ long enough, ‘they’ should be able to SELL the remains....at least trade the experimentation for a quiet funeral and/or cremation with remains going to a National Cemetery.
My wife (after 43 years I figured the ONLY thing keeping us together was my being ‘drunk’) once told me I was so miserable that no one would come to my funeral.
I responded with
“That can only ‘embarrass’ you because I won’t really give ‘flying F’ who is or isn’t there”.
You probably knocked no more than 10 years off your lifespan. I went through the drinking, smoking, and a few light illicit drugs till I was in my late 20s. My dear Mother and father never drank or smoked anything. Never smoked more than a few cigs a day myself, but here I am to offer my thoughts.
I’m a bit of a philosopher, so What do you think of life?
Life is a magazine that had plenty of pictures so everyone would be able to buy it.
Life is also a cereal but since it is considered ‘healthy’, I want nothing to do with it.
I take the old ‘one day at a time’ and put it to a different meaning....you made it through today, IF you wake up in the morning you get to start all over again.
I never did dabble in ANY drugs (until our ‘wise’ government declared alcohol and tobacco drugs....)
I still consider A&T&D to be self inflicted maladies.
Actually alcohol and tobacco are drugs, but I drink heavily of caffeine, which is also a drug.
Granted by decree of US Govt BUT they weren’t officially classed till the 80s or so (I think around the ADA act) ... I had said at the time that the only reason they were put in that category was so they could spend govt funds to ‘cure’ them and make the users eligible for disability... I do believe that prior that declaration the govt was treating drug abusers.
As to cigarettes there was a movie made in 1957 that starred Robert Mitchum called ‘Heaven Knows, Mr Allison’ and they mention cigarettes as being coffin nails etc etc.(book took place in 41, movie 44 - so I don’t really know if that was a throw in or did people ‘talk like that in 41’?? but I remember calling cigarettes coffin nails in early 50s....
I bring this up because the ‘do gooders’ in the 60s and 70s were acting like they just invented ‘bad’ cigarettes.
People still sue over tobacco sickness but it isn’t like there was no warning.
I shouldn’t qualify for tobacco ‘problems’ because growing up WE referred to them as coffin nails and knew they caused problems.
When I grew up in the 50s and 60s, my Dad always referred to tobacco, alcohol and even caffeine as drugs to be avoided.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.