U.S. expresses concern about vaccine as flu cases up

[flashl]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The influenza vaccine given to Americans may not protect as well as expected, U.S. health officials said on Friday as the number of flu cases increased nationwide.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said slightly more than half of the influenza virus strains reported to its surveillance system are not good matches against the strains included in this flu season's vaccine.

One measure officials use to gauge the severity of the season is the number of flu-related child deaths. Bresee said the CDC has heard of six U.S. children who have died from the flu, a relatively low number compared with recent years.

Bresee said about 30 percent of the overall strains of influenza in the United States may be a Type A strain that emerged in Australia called H3N2 A/Brisbane. It emerged too late to be included in the flu vaccine offered in the United States beginning in September and October.

Reuters

[glowing]

1. And a healthy body can resist the flu... The crap they market to people

is not healthy..

[TZ]

2. Thats bullshit and you know it.

If so why is bird flu 95% lethal? Look up the 1912 pandemic sometime when the biggest victims were YOUNG ADULTS about 15-30.
Getting sick is not healthy.
Boy people in this forum are stupid.

[eShirl]

3. a live vaccinated body is healthier than a dead unvaccinated body

[stray cat]

5. I'm healthy but I get a shot because I don't want to be out of work for 2 weeks

or end up in the hospital with pneumonia as a complication like generally healthy 30-year old friends have done...

[chicagomd]

10. Yeah,

all those unhealthy army recruits that died in the Spanish Influenza outbreak that killed more US soliders than the German army.

[TZ]

4. As this article points out...there are multiple flu strains this year

The one the vaccine protects agaisnt is fine, and that strain has been not at all troublesome. FYI in the next couple of years there
will be a universal influenza A vaccine so yearly shots won't be necessary. And there are ALWAYS flu deaths, no matter how well vaccinated the populations because of attitudes like the one expressed by the respondent in the thread. The more people decline to vaccinate, the more people get sick. Its that simple.

[screembloodymurder]

6. Why don't they give a booster with the other strains?

I can't remember the last time the shot had the correct strains.

[cosmik debris]

7. It takes three or four months to produce a new vaccine

By the time it is produced and distributed, flu season is over.

[flashl]

8. Just curious ...

How is the success rate measured in forecasting the next strain of flu for a season given the only true measure seems to be the number of children deaths?

Where do you think the reporting of flu related deaths is coming from since many municipals no longer regularly perform autopsies? Hospital emergency rooms perhaps?

[cosmik debris]

9. I'm not sure, but

Hospitals routinely produce statistics on mortality. It's what they do.

Flu related deaths do not require a full autopsy.