Posted on 05/01/2009 10:24:46 AM PDT by Scythian
Q: Dr. Manny: The reason that this flu pandemic seems to be less deadly than what we saw in Mexico is perhaps that the American population has some passive immunity to some portion of this new virus — and that indeed — one of the unintended benefits of the regular flu vaccine we have been administering over decades is that it’s created some protection — even from this latest virus that has popped up. Is there any truth to this?
A: Dr. Gross: In the flu vaccine — for more than the past 30 years — we’ve had an H1N1 strain in the standard flu vaccine that everyone gets… at least since 1976 when we had the last swine flu scare. So the theory goes that if you’ve had a vaccine that has a N1 in it... when you encounter a slightly different H1 (which is what the swine flu is) that you will be protected from severe illness and death, but not from getting a cold or a bad cold from that flu strain.
The other thing is we haven’t seen reports of a lot of older people getting H1N1 influenza A… so they must certainly be immune. An educated guess here would be that these older people may not be coming down with this new strain because most of them – particularly if they got the standard vaccine — would have some degree of immunity.
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I might have to look into those for my wife...although she is is finishing up her second year of teaching. I hear, and I think you mentioned that immunity can be developed the longer you teach.
I got one flu shot in 1966 because I was lined up and took it with the rest of the troops. The resulting case of flu was far the worst I have ever had. I managed to avoid it for the rest of my 4 years in the AF and have not had one since. I shall not start now, especially when the vaccine for this one is hastily rushed to market.
Flu strains circulate other than what the vaccine covered. That usually explains why someone gets the flu who took the flu shot. A couple of years back a bunch of people got sick during flu season for this very reason.
Some populations obstinately refuse hygiene as 'Western' influence. Mexico and India spring to mind as special biohazard areas.
These countries have educated medical professionals, and the authorities understand germ theory, yet they still lack basic sanitation and safe drinking water and no effort forthcoming in addressing these problems.
I travel international, A LOT. To lots of crappy places.
I get the flu shot every year, and seldom get the flu. Indeed, I get all sorts of shots for odd tropical things, too.
I do get slight fever and chills the day after most shots.
It could be related to diet also. When they come here, their diet will change somewhat. It’s just a thought.
Never getting sick is a sign of an abberant immune system.
There was research about twenty years ago regarding the “super immune”. What they found out was that people that never get sick are still getting infected by viruses just like people who feel ill, however, their immune systems weren’t reacting as strongly. It turns out that it is the chemicals released by the immune system that cause the symptoms of a cold or flu, not the virus itself.
The study indicated that there may be an increased risk of cancer in those who never get colds.
I have gotten a flu shot every year for at least 20 years and I have *never gotten the flu. Compare that to the years before I got flu shots when I got the flu every year and sometimes twice. The flu shot contains a killed virus so it cannot give you the flu, you might react to something else in the vaccine but it won’t be the flu. It is up to you whether you get the flu shot or not but I think it is dumb not to get it. The flu is not what usually kills people, it is the secondary infection that comes after it like pneumonia. Sometimes antibiotics take care of that and sometimes not.
“Perhaps the 1918 flu gave some immunity to those who survived and passed that along to the family genes.”
What you suggest is known as acquisition of acquired traits. Like if you keep cutting the wings off generation-after-generation of fruit flies, and expecting there to be a genetic change so that eventually fruit flies are born without wings. It doesn’t work.
Dr. Danger, I get sick, I just haven’t had the flu in probably 15 years, while everyone else has. I get occasional hideous colds, that put me down for the count, but not the flu. I am also borderline obsessive-compulsive about washing my hands and using hand sanitizer and not touching my face. I Lysol-wipe everything in my office two or three times a week. What a trade off for no cancer.
Well, if people around you are getting flu shots, it should cut down on the spread...
Thanks for the ping. This makes sense to me. We get the flu shot every year and it seems to work very well for us. We also got the pneumonia shot as recommended for older people.
Maybe something unknown is going on and that's causing the confusion.
If it is an engineered virus, could this be a genetically engineered virus that kills Hispanics?
Or a water borne problem?
ontaminated food that's being blamed on a virus? It's odd to have a big flu outbreak right before summer starts...
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