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Badmovies.org Forum  |  Other Topics  |  Off Topic Discussion  |  Flu shots! « previous next »
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Question: Do you get your flu shot every year?
Yes
No

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Author Topic: Flu shots!  (Read 9322 times)
Andrew
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« Reply #15 on: October 20, 2007, 06:24:36 AM »

Of course, I have to get my flu shot every year.  Not much of a choice for a Marine.  The amusing part is that the Navy always seems to put us last on the supply list, so we end up getting them around January (which is a little past the prime time for the shots).

I also had the entire first series of Anthrax shots, though those always made my gums bleed.
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« Reply #16 on: October 20, 2007, 07:17:24 AM »

I started getting them a few years ago because I work in a hospital.  Although I find the best rememdy is keeping your hands clean and out of your face during flu season. 
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« Reply #17 on: October 25, 2007, 11:53:40 PM »

The flu shot contains 'killed' virus: it does not inject you with live germs.  OK?

When was the last deadly flu pandemic - 1918?  Someone must have noticed that we are overdue for a nasty one.

All the same, I don't get a shot.   The shot available in any given year is targeted at the strain of flu that 'they' projected was most likely to be a problem this year - a decision made a year or two back, to allow time to manufacture the vaccine.  As AndyC said: based upon an educated guess.  As such it does not cover all strains of the flu and one can still get sick, shot or no.  I'll wash my hands and take my chances since I am not in a high-risk category - not that old yet! 

(Edited to add Friday morning: I just heard it mentioned on our news that this year's shot is expected to be "only 40 to 50% effective" since the strain it was concocted for has mutated.   TongueOut )
« Last Edit: October 26, 2007, 06:36:55 AM by Newt » Logged

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« Reply #18 on: October 26, 2007, 08:30:16 AM »

Wasn't the SARS a flu pandemic? I remember they shut down hospitals and airports up here over that. I can't remember if that one hit the states.
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« Reply #19 on: October 26, 2007, 12:37:06 PM »

Wasn't the SARS a flu pandemic? I remember they shut down hospitals and airports up here over that. I can't remember if that one hit the states.

SARS had some flu-like symptoms, but I recall it was something else. The whole SARS pandemic was completely blown out of proportion. In Canada, we had fewer than 300 cases and just over 40 deaths. I remember getting the press releases, and seeing the advanced age of most who didn't recover. That was never really emphasized in news reports. A regular flu season can be worse than that.

What all that bad press did to Toronto's economy was ridiculous.
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« Reply #20 on: October 26, 2007, 01:15:06 PM »

i don't for several reasons.  The flu shot only protects against a specific strain of the flu, usually they select the most common. If the flu mutates, changes it's genetic structure or you get another strain it's not going to protect you.

Also a lot of the people who come out to administer shots and draw blood are sorta..nurses in training. I'm not uber trusting on the cleanliness factor of strangers outside of a clinic poking needles in me.

I've never had the shot and never had the flu. I've been exposed to the flu, too. there's also a risk of having an allergic reaction ..knowing my luck

It's really ideal for people who can't fight off the flu, like the elderly.

The best defence against getting contagious illnesses is to try and keep clean, wash your hands in hot water with soap. But use hand sanitizer, I have some on my desk at work and during cootie season I always Lysol my desk, chair and everything else down (particularly that people touch). I also try not to use pens at supermarkets and banks (god knows how people people have touched them). During flu season I tend to open doors with my shoulder, foot or sleeve. It's when you bring the germs to your face that you're in trouble

so no picking your nose
« Last Edit: October 26, 2007, 01:48:34 PM by Susan » Logged
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« Reply #21 on: October 26, 2007, 01:35:44 PM »

Compared to influenza, SARS was a mere blip on the radar.  Have we become such wimps?  Lookingup  Yes, my poor beloved Toronto is still recovering from the SARS frenzy.

Some quick info: (coobled together from various sources)
SARS is caused by a previously unrecognized coronavirus, called SARS-associated coronavirus (SARS-CoV). It is possible that other infectious agents might have a role in some cases of SARS.

Coronaviruses are a group of viruses that have a halo or crown-like (corona) appearance when viewed under a microscope. These viruses are a common cause of mild to moderate upper-respiratory illness in humans and are associated with respiratory, gastrointestinal, liver and neurologic disease in animals.

In general, SARS begins with a high fever (temperature greater than 100.4°F [>38.0°C]). Other symptoms may include headache, an overall feeling of discomfort, and body aches. Some people also have mild respiratory symptoms at the outset. About 10 percent to 20 percent of patients have diarrhea. After 2 to 7 days, SARS patients may develop a dry cough. Most patients develop pneumonia. The very young, the elderly or those with already compromised health are at greatest risk.

The influenza pandemic of 1918-1919 killed more people than World War I, at somewhere between 20 and 40 million. It has been cited as the most devastating epidemic in recorded world history. More people died of influenza in a single year than in four years of the Black Death (Bubonic Plague) from 1347 to 1351. Known as "Spanish Flu" or "La Grippe" the influenza of 1918-1919 was a global disaster.
 
The effect of the influenza epidemic was so severe that the average life span in the US was depressed by 10 years. The influenza virus had a profound virulence, with a mortality rate at 2.5% compared to the previous influenza epidemics, which were less than 0.1%. The death rate for 15 to 34-year-olds of influenza and pneumonia were 20 times higher in 1918 than in previous years. People were struck with illness on the street and died rapid deaths. One anecdote shared of 1918 was of four women playing bridge together late into the night. Overnight, three of the women died from influenza. Others told stories of people on their way to work suddenly developing the flu and dying within hours. One physician writes that patients with seemingly ordinary influenza would rapidly "develop the most viscous type of pneumonia that has ever been seen" and later when cyanosis appeared in the patients, "it is simply a struggle for air until they suffocate,". Another physician recalls that the influenza patients "died struggling to clear their airways of a blood-tinged froth that sometimes gushed from their nose and mouth,". The physicians of the time were helpless against this powerful agent of influenza.

The influenza pandemic circled the globe. Most of humanity felt the effects of this strain of the influenza virus. It spread following the path of its human carriers, along trade routes and shipping lines. Outbreaks swept through North America, Europe, Asia, Africa, Brazil and the South Pacific. In India the mortality rate was extremely high at around 50 deaths from influenza per 1,000 people.

The origins of this influenza variant is not precisely known. It is thought to have originated in China in a rare genetic shift of the influenza virus. The recombination of its surface proteins created a virus novel to almost everyone and a loss of herd immunity. Recently the virus has been reconstructed from the tissue of a dead soldier and is now being genetically characterized. The name of Spanish Flu came from the early affliction and large mortalities in Spain where it allegedly killed 8 million in May alone.

- Sounds like there is reason to respect the potential of the influenza virus.  Wash those hands people!


(Aside: funny how we Canadians on here seem well-represented in these responses.)
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« Reply #22 on: October 26, 2007, 01:52:56 PM »

yes, the bird flu that surfaces in the news now and again really is a potentia threat because they believe it is of relation to the spanish flu. Both being bird strains, high mortality rate and no vaccine. The regular flu which circulates annually are often mutations of a prior strain or a new strain but once in awhile will have just the right combination to make it a strong virus (such as the hong kong flu) I truly hope the avian flu that is making it's rounds doesn't find the genetic click to open the lock in making it highly transmitable or we're all in big trouble - and that ain't no hype
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« Reply #23 on: October 26, 2007, 08:17:29 PM »

I had a little bird,
Its name was Enza,
I opened the window,
And in-flew-enza.

-American Skipping Rhyme circa 1918

I watched a program on The History Channel recently about the flu outbreak of 1918, that offered the theory that particular flu bug came from a passing comet's tail.  The theory was largely based on the fact the outbreak happened almost simultaneously across the globe, even in very isolated areas such as Alaska.

 Other very unusual aspects of that particular epidemic was the segment of the population most likely to die from the infection was young, otherwise healthy adults, not the usual children and elderly and that it peaked during the summer and autumn months. They somehow thought this also linked the bug to outer space, but I don't recall their logic on those particular points.
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« Reply #24 on: October 26, 2007, 10:32:06 PM »

As I understood it, the 1918 flu killed more people in their prime because it so thoroughly set off their immune systems, which would seem to go with the descriptions of symptoms coming on fast and hard. The fluids start running, the membranes swell up, your temperature skyrockets - all part of your body fighting the flu. And these things can hurt you if they go too far. So, somebody with a healthy, responsive immune system would have gotten it worse than someone who was old, or even someone weakened by a recent illness. What would normally put you most at risk was actually a good thing.

I've also read something about people's teeth rotting out due to the Spanish flu. Anybody know why that happened?
« Last Edit: October 26, 2007, 10:34:52 PM by AndyC » Logged

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« Reply #25 on: March 22, 2020, 07:40:54 PM »

A timely bit of thread rebirth here.
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