Flu Season

[Smoove_B]

Had my quadrivalent shot last night. Feeling fine; I wouldn't expect it to go any other way - that's the benefit of the mind control chip.

[Daehawk]

Got ours last week. A tad little sore for a couple day but fine now. Wanted to get it before I go to the hospital this Friday and it wouldn't interfere with my procedure.

[Kraken]

Didn't we just do this thread last year?

As is my wont, I've complicated matters for myself by deciding that I need a shingles vaccination, too, and I'd like to do it as one-stop shopping. So far that's kept me from sashaying into CVS for the flu shot.

[Isgrimnur]

Didn't we just do this thread last year?

As is my wont, I've complicated matters for myself by deciding that I need a shingles vaccination, too, and I'd like to do it as one-stop shopping. So far that's kept me from sashaying into CVS for the flu shot.

CVS does shingles shots now.

[Isgrimnur]

CNBC

Flu cases this year have doubled those from last year, validating experts' fears that this season could be particularly bad.

Between Oct. 1 and Nov. 25, 5,070 clinical lab tests were positive for the flu, up from 2,510 in the same period last year, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The number of Americans who have contracted the illness is likely even greater, an agency spokeswoman cautioned, since most people don't go to the doctor and get tested.

This year's flu vaccine may not be as helpful as in years past. The one used in Australia was only 10 percent effective, according to research published in October in the journal Eurosurveillance.

Researchers warned the implications for the Northern Hemisphere may not be the same, although the vaccine Australia used has the same composition as the one the U.S. is using. As of Nov. 24, about 148.2 million doses of the vaccine have already been administered in the U.S., according to the CDC.



*Estimate from Nov 2, 2015–April 15, 2016. **As presented at the June 21, 2017, Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices meeting.

[Kraken]

Didn't we just do this thread last year?

As is my wont, I've complicated matters for myself by deciding that I need a shingles vaccination, too, and I'd like to do it as one-stop shopping. So far that's kept me from sashaying into CVS for the flu shot.

CVS does shingles shots now.

I need to see if my insurer covers them. My doc said most won't. I also read that there's a new vaccine on the market, so need to know which one CVS is giving.

Nothing's ever easy.

Getting a flu shot was, though. Went to a town hall popup clinic and got it within 5 minutes, FWIW.

[dbt1949]

I was sure glad I got my flu shot this year. That way I could catch it easier a month later.

[LordMortis]

Feeling the after effects of my flu shot now. The world has been spinning for two days. Still it's better than the flu proper.

[Isgrimnur]

CDC

The recommendation to not use the nasal spray flu vaccine (LAIV) was renewed for the 2017-2018 season. Only injectable flu shots are recommended for use again this season.

Flu vaccines have been updated to better match circulating viruses (the influenza A(H1N1) component was updated).
...
Live attenuated influenza vaccine (LAIV) – or the nasal spray vaccine – is not recommended for use during the 2017-2018 season because of concerns about its effectiveness.
...
For 2017-2018, three-component vaccines are recommended to contain:

* an A/Michigan/45/2015 (H1N1)pdm09-like virus (updated)
* an A/Hong Kong/4801/2014 (H3N2)-like virus
* a B/Brisbane/60/2008-like (B/Victoria lineage) virus

Quadrivalent (four-component) vaccines, which protect against a second lineage of B viruses, are recommended to be produced using the same viruses recommended for the trivalent vaccines, as well as a B/Phuket/3073/2013-like (B/Yamagata lineage) virus.

[Isgrimnur]

WaPo

According to the CDC, more than 6,000 people have tested positive for the flu so far this year, more than double the number of people infected at this time last year.

“The H3N2 strain tends to make for a more severe disease, particularly among older people and people with underlying illness,” Schaffner said. “But it can affect any child or adult and literally make them gravely ill within 48 hours, to the point where they have to be in the hospital, in intensive care. This can and does happen.”

[William Schaffner, a physician and infectious diseases specialist at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville], a self-proclaimed proselytizer of the flu-shot gospel, told The Washington Post flu shots can cut the chance of infection in half. For vaccinated people who end up getting the flu, it typically makes the symptoms milder. Lastly, getting the shot decreases a person’s chances of passing the flu on to other people, including vulnerable groups such as children and the elderly.

[Isgrimnur]

Georgia

Flu season is officially underway and Channel 2 Action News has learned Georgia is already topping the nation in cases.

The CDC takes in data from all over the country starting the first week in October all the way through May. They list the proportion of doctor’s visits where people show flu-like illness on a scale of 1 to 10.

A map from CDC shows Georgia at a level-three, in the minimal range, like the entire country. But the state tops the U.S. on the first flu report for the season.

CDC Weekly Map

[LawBeefaroni]

Under emergency rules, IDPH has eliminated the "philosophical or moral reluctance" exemptions for flu vaccines for healthcare workers.

I find it amazing that there are nurses and doctors (and other healthcare workers) who don't "trust" flu vaccines.

[Smoove_B]

I find it amazing that there are nurses and doctors (and other healthcare workers) who don't "trust" flu vaccines.

Good news for your state. There was a CDC report from about 4 years ago that found doctors and nurses (I think primary care staff) had annual flu vaccination rates of ~50%, which is absolutely astounding. I get that you don't think you need it. But it's not about you - especially those in health care.

EDIT: I was mostly right - from the prior page, it was the NIH.

[Daehawk]

If they'd rather die up to them. I dont plan to die because of stupid.

I go to my doc Tuesday and then when I go pick up my medicine Wednesday we will both get our shots at the pharmacy. Free for us.

[Kraken]

We got ours a week ago at Town Hall. Short walk from home, 10 minute wait, no cost.

[jztemple2]

I'm getting mine this week as our local supermarket is not only giving them for free, but throwing in a $10 gift card too .

My wife refuses to get one nowadays because she has had bad reactions to them in the past (she takes a lot of meds). I worry about her, but after 39 years together I've learned that if she really doesn't want to do something, nothing will convince her otherwise .

[Isgrimnur]

But the flu spray is good this year.

[Daehawk]

I try to take it arm about so to speak. Last year was my right arm this year it will be the left. It always gets a little sore and I think ahead to pc gaming. It will be a little sore but at the same time I need to use it to work that soreness out.

Ive had the flu multiple times in my life. The last was in the 90s as I recall. Stayed in bed for a week nearly. I didn't feel like sitting up to pc game for 3 days which was very unusual for me at the time. But I've never thought about dying from it or going to the hospital. In the mid 90s I stopped getting the flu shot. I never got the flu in those 10 years I passed on the shot. But I started back mid 2000s. No point in taking a chance and though the shot is not 100% by any means its better than nothing.

[Paingod]

One benefit of our online shopping lifestyle should be that we're exposed to fewer people, giving diseases fewer ways to get to us. Are there any stats on infection rates vs. the rise of Amazon.com?

I had the flu once when I was a young kid, and have been sick with things that may have been the flu a few times as an adult (being miserable for a couple of days), but I've never been vaccinated for it. I get the need if you're in a high-risk category; I've just never though I was high-risk.

I had something last year that didn't just knock me on my ass - it leveled me - and it was very short. I was fine in the early morning, felt terrible before noon, was weak and unable to move for 3 or 4 hours in the afternoon, and was fine by the evening. No vomiting or anything - it was just like my body stalled for a while.

[Smoove_B]

I get the need if you're in a high-risk category; I've just never though I was high-risk.

That was the message prior to 2009 from the CDC - high risk people should get the shot. Others, if you can get it super. Now the message is that everyone over the age of 6 months should get the shot because it's not about you.

[The Meal]

everyone over the age of 6 months should get the shot because it's not about you.

Thank you.

[pr0ner]

I get the need if you're in a high-risk category; I've just never though I was high-risk.

That was the message prior to 2009 from the CDC - high risk people should get the shot. Others, if you can get it super. Now the message is that everyone over the age of 6 months should get the shot because it's not about you.

This is how Fairfax County in VA has been advertising flu shots for years. It's not just about you, it's about protecting your community at large.

[Paingod]

How does the flu come back year after year in a cycle? Does it just take a year to cross the globe and return, or is there some unstoppable asshole on some small island in the Pacific releasing new versions every year?

Article

Genetic sequencing shows that from 2000 to 2010, 87 percent of the most successful, globally-spreading strains of H3N2 originated in east, south and southeast Asia.

Sounds like the way it works is that these areas are cesspools of viral infection, and each year the strong break out and spread. I still don't get why it's a seasonal thing, though. I'd think a virus would want to spread all the time.

[Smoove_B]

How does the flu come back year after year in a cycle? Does it just take a year to cross the globe and return, or is there some unstoppable asshole on some small island in the Pacific releasing new versions every year?

Flu viruses are rather unique in the pathogen world. Without getting into too many details, there's opportunities for influenza to change it's genetic code each year, which in turn changes how it presents itself to a new host. These changes impact not only how your body recognizes it(or doesn't) but how it impacts your health.

Influenza isn't really a disease of human beings - it originates in water fowl. However, it can jump species (because nature is awesome) and in doing so, that allows it to pick up and exchange lil' bits of genetic code. The biggest problem (and where the greatest risk of genetic manipulation comes from) is that the flu virus can not only jump from birds to pigs and birds to humans but then back from humans to the pigs. Every time it jumps genetic information can be exchanged and the jumps back and forth between humans and pigs is nature's laboratory.

But yes, every year the new flu virus likely spawns somewhere in Asia, fueled by agricultural contact with birds and pigs, and then spreads around the globe. The vaccination you obtain is a "best guess" as to the likely variants of the flu virus that the world will see every year based on statistical modeling and the ability to manufacture enough vaccine.

Historically (i.e. the great Flu Pandemic of 1918) it absolutely took much longer for the virus to spread across the globe. However with the highly mobile nature of our population, it spreads much faster.

This is how Fairfax County in VA has been advertising flu shots for years. It's not just about you, it's about protecting your community at large.

Good to know. I wish I'd see similar ads here in NJ as I think that's an excellent message to promote.

[Z-Corn]

I find it amazing that there are nurses and doctors (and other healthcare workers) who don't "trust" flu vaccines.

Good news for your state. There was a CDC report from about 4 years ago that found doctors and nurses (I think primary care staff) had annual flu vaccination rates of ~50%, which is absolutely astounding. I get that you don't think you need it. But it's not about you - especially those in health care.

EDIT: I was mostly right - from the prior page, it was the NIH.

I would be very curious if that astoundingly shitty percentage of health care workers who were vaccinated does indeed just include primary care workers or if it may include all staff in a hospital.

My observation is just anecdotal but I had contact in the past with a few Healthcare IT dipshits who were HAPPY to wear masks for flu season in lieu of vaccination. I'm assuming this is the kind of dipshitery that would no longer be granted an exception.

One dude was working his way to, "At least 10 kids, whatever the Lord grants us!"

At least they will be home schooled. Keep the virus among themselves.

The other guy lived on a boat year 'round. In Michigan. On Lake Michigan. Obviously doesn't make the best decisions.

[Daehawk]

Those poor kids may get 'taken by the Lord' before they make adulthood. Its his way ya know.

[Jeff V]

I still don't get why it's a seasonal thing, though. I'd think a virus would want to spread all the time.

In Asia where they pack about 4700 people in an area equivalent to my suburban lot, it probably always is flu season. In the US, though, lower population density presents a challenge. That challenge is mitigated when we hunker down indoors for the winter; it's the close proximity to infected humans that helps it spread. We're not so close in the summer when doing outdoorsy things.

When I worked for a hospital, the employee nurse was like a drill sergeant when it came to flu shots. She would come into our office and stab us at our desks. When my boss flinched, she said loud enough for the whole office to hear, "come on, Duane, stop being a pussy." I don't doubt that the vaccination rate for clinical and administrative staff was close to 100%. Not sure about the doctors though.

[Holman]

I still don't get why it's a seasonal thing, though. I'd think a virus would want to spread all the time.

In Asia where they pack about 4700 people in an area equivalent to my suburban lot, it probably always is flu season. In the US, though, lower population density presents a challenge. That challenge is mitigated when we hunker down indoors for the winter; it's the close proximity to infected humans that helps it spread. We're not so close in the summer when doing outdoorsy things.

Schools.

Offices.

Shopping centers.

Parents from infected offices and shopping centers sending their kids to schools.

Vice-versa.

Vice-versa.

Vice-versa.

[Smoove_B]

In the biz, we call kids "super spreaders". The idea that someone wouldn't vaccinate a child (to me) is like walking around with a pocket nuke.

[Jeff V]

In the biz, we call kids "super spreaders". The idea that someone wouldn't vaccinate a child (to me) is like walking around with a pocket nuke.

My son would probably like "super spreaders" better because he's at the age where super-anything is good. I just affectionately call him "my little disease vector."

[MHS]

I find it amazing that there are nurses and doctors (and other healthcare workers) who don't "trust" flu vaccines.

Good news for your state. There was a CDC report from about 4 years ago that found doctors and nurses (I think primary care staff) had annual flu vaccination rates of ~50%, which is absolutely astounding. I get that you don't think you need it. But it's not about you - especially those in health care.

EDIT: I was mostly right - from the prior page, it was the NIH.

As someone who is immunocompromised, thank you for this.

I started traveling for work again the first week of September. I got sick 3 days after my first work flight. 101 fever, body aches, the whole 9 yards. I wear a mask once I exit my car to get on the shuttle, all through the airport, and on the plane. I carry sanitizing wipes and wipe down everything on and around my seat on the airplane and in the hotels. I get lots of weird looks.

Everything that can help, I appreciate. I’m one of the transplant patients who ended up with the BK virus, so I really, really appreciate any effort to make the world a less dangerous place.

[Isgrimnur]

I’m one of the transplant patients who ended up with the BK virus, so I really, really appreciate any effort to make the world a less dangerous place.

I hear it’s ... a whopper.

[MHS]

I’m one of the transplant patients who ended up with the BK virus, so I really, really appreciate any effort to make the world a less dangerous place.

I hear it’s ... a whopper.

Har har. As long as it's not the BK Killer.

[Isgrimnur]

At least it dropped the torture part.

[Isgrimnur]

Mass Live

Another eight flu-related pediatric deaths were reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for the week ending March 2.

This brings to 64 the number of influenza-associated pediatric deaths reported to the CDC so far in the 2018-2019 flu season.

An additional death that occurred during the 2015-2016 season was also reported to the CDC during week nine of the new year and brings the total number of reported influenza-associated deaths during that season to 95.

[Isgrimnur]

Stat

Twice a year influenza experts meet at the World Health Organization to pore over surveillance data provided by countries around the world to try to predict which strains are becoming the most dominant. The Northern Hemisphere strain selection meeting is held in late February; the Southern Hemisphere meeting occurs in late September.

The selections that officials made last week for the next Southern Hemisphere vaccine suggest that two of four viruses in the Northern Hemisphere vaccine that doctors and pharmacies are now pressing people to get may not be optimally protective this winter. Those two are influenza A/H3N2 and the influenza B/Victoria virus.

The strain selection committee concluded the H3N2 and B/Victoria viruses needed to be updated because the ones used in the Northern Hemisphere vaccine didn’t match the strains of those viruses that are now dominant. Influenza epidemiologist Dr. Danuta Skowronski described the significance of those two changes in one word: “mismatch.”
...
Scott Hensley, an associate professor of microbiology at the University of Pennsylvania, agreed. But Hensley cautioned that at this point it’s too soon to know what versions of the viruses will be circulating. And even if there is a mismatch, its impact may be not be massive, depending on which viruses are causing the most illness this winter.
...
There was great uncertainty around which version of H3N2 to choose for the Northern Hemisphere vaccine when the committee met last February — there was a lot of variation between the strain the U.S. was seeing and the H3N2 viruses sickening people in Canada and Europe. There was so much uncertainty, in fact, that the committee delayed making the choice of the H3N2 strain for a month to try to get a clearer picture.

[Daehawk]

I get my flu shot in a couple weeks. Ill have a sore arm alone this year.

[Isgrimnur]

ABC 7

Los Angeles County health officials confirmed Monday the county's first flu-related death of the 2019-20 flu season.

The patient was a middle-aged person with underlying health conditions, according to the county Department of Public Health. During the 2018-19 flu season, there were 125 flu-related deaths in the County.

[Isgrimnur]

Who had Louisiana in the pool?



CDC

[coopasonic]

mid·dle-aged
/ˌmidl ˈājd/
adjective
(of a person) aged about 45 to 65.

Crap!