View Single Post
Old 03-04-2008, 12:18 PM   #85 (permalink)
TotalMILF
Delusional... but in a funny way
 
TotalMILF's Avatar
 
Location: deeee-TROIT!!!
Yeah, I'm not gonna waste my time or money.

CDC: Flu Vaccine Ineffective This Year, but Still Worth Having

Quote:
Flu vaccine being used this winter is not as well matched to the strains of flu starting to appear across the United States, but the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention still said people should be vaccinated.

“Getting a flu vaccine may reduce the risk of death or hospitalization from the disease. While vaccination is the best way to prevent flu, good hand hygiene and flu etiquette are also effective in preventive flu transmission,” Dr. Joe Bresee, chief of epidemiology and prevention at the Influenza Division said Friday, according to WebMD Medical News.

According to a report released by the CDC, this year’s vaccine does not match two of three main flu bugs knocking people down. Despite this mismatch, the CDC recommended getting a flu shot because it will lessen the severity and protect against potentially serious complications.

The CDC’s latest weekly influenza season report, 31 states reported widespread flu, 17 states reported regional activity and two states and the District of Columbia reported local influenza activity.

“I don't think we are peaking yet. If you look at hospitalizations or outpatient illnesses or mortality, everything still has an upward slope. I wouldn't be surprised if we continue to trend upward for the next few weeks,” Bresee told WebMD.

The CDC also discovered that the predominant type A flu virus this year is the H3N2 strain; 87 percent are the “Brisbane” strain and 93 percent or this year’s type B flu bugs are from the “Yamagata” lineage.

The current flu vaccine’s H3N2 component is the “Wisconsin” strain. The type B component is from the “Victoria” lineage. This means reduced protection against the Brisbane and Yamagata bugs.

“Protection may not be optimal, but flu vaccination can still protect enough to make illness mild and prevent complications,” Bresee said.

Reports indicate that each year, more than 35,000 Americans die from influenza, which is especially dangerous for those who are young, old, or have weakened immune system.
I spent the last week in Wisconsin and they are in the middle of a nasty flu outbreak that we in Michigan have ingeniously coined "The Wisconsin Flu." It's NOT one of the strains the shot protects against and even the people that got the shot still got hit HARD. A friend of mine was laid up for over a week and almost had to be hospitalized, and she'd received the flu shot. My mother also received a flu shot and ended up getting the flu anyway.

Also, live vaccines (most of the flu shots) are known to often cause some symptoms of the disease they are meant to prevent. It's part of the body's natural immune response to having a live virus enter your bloodstream. My brother got the flu immediately after receiving his flu shot last year. He refused it this year and is perfectly healthy.

Meh, I'll save my money.
__________________
"I'm sorry, all I heard was blah blah blah, I'm a dirty tramp."
TotalMILF is offline  
 

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335 336 337 338 339 340 341 342 343 344 345 346 347 348 349 350 351 352 353 354 355 356 357 358 359 360