The Flu

Follow the activity. We are entering peak season.

http://www.google.org/flutrends/

Study finds flu vaccine benefits for older workers
Lisa Schnirring Staff Writer


Jan 14, 2009 (CIDRAP News) – Workers ages 50 to 64 who get their annual flu shots miss less work and experience less of a productivity drop-off than those who don't, according to a new study, findings that might help public officials lift immunization rates among this age-group.

Authors from the Minneapolis Veterans Affairs Medical Center and the University of Minnesota, who published their report in the Feb 1 issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases (CID), wrote that scarce information on the impact of the flu and on the benefits of vaccination in this age-group might be one reason for low vaccination rates in this group.

This, in spite of the fact that workers in this age range have been targeted for influenza vaccines since the 2000-2001 flu season.

Kristin L. Nichol, MD, MPH, lead author of the study, said yesterday in a press release from the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) that concerns this flu season about antiviral resistance highlight the importance of immunizations. "This study is a reminder of the importance of the influenza vaccine. It's not too late to get your flu shot," she said.

http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/cidrap/content/influenza/general/news/jan1409adults-jw.html

I had to get one of those. I really, really did not want it but my doc insisted. He said coz of the cancer history. Cancer, Shmancer. I don't think flu shots do any good. By the time they've got the recipe, the flu has mutated.

I would trust this map and set of graphics a bit more than the last one from Google:

http://www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly/

North Carolina looks like it is heating up this last week.

My wife teaches college.

Every year at least one of her students is out with "the flew."

Thank god we are no longer leaving any children behind.

Workers ages 50 to 64 who get their annual flu shots miss less work and experience less of a productivity drop-off than those who don't, according to a new study, findings that might help public officials lift immunization rates among this age-group.

I wonder if workers in that age group are more confident, and in a better financial position, to miss work?

In this day and age, when many more people are going back to work or working later in life, I don't think that would be as true today as it would have been say 20 years ago.

Point taken.

The bigger issue that is missed by the average joe who fails to get the flu shot or does in fact get the flu is that lots of people die from the normal flu every year. But no one really talks that much about it. People on immunosuppressive drugs, old people, babies, etc are all people who die from it.

Activity is picking up. See the map at the bottom of the link.

http://www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly/

You know, the thing that annoys me most about flu season is when people with a simple cold go around moaning that they've got the flu. If they had the flu they wouldn't have the energy to moan!

True dat!

If you have the flu, stay the fuck home. Please stop the spread. And by all means, please wash your hands frequently!

Thank you.

Exactly...and don't touch my fucking tissues either!

Yesterday I participated in a drill in case of pandemic. The scenario involved flu (2nd wave) and routing about 15,000 people through the vaccination process. This is the first year I took a flu shot, but after going through the drill I may be getting one next year, too. It reinforced its contagiousness in my mind.

I keep waiting for the bird flu to take that special mutation turn in it's genetic makeup. Then, watch out!

Whenever I hear "bird flu" I expect it to be followed by a preposition and then continue: Bird flu out the window. If I ever caught it I would probably die with that puzzled, anticipatory expression still on my face.

Update: Virginia is getting hammered.

http://www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly/WeeklyFluActivityMap.htm

http://www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly/

TheMercenary;526835 wrote:

Update: Virginia is getting hammered.

Damn. Just what I don't need. Thanks for the head's up.

My mother got a flu shot this year. She just came home with the flu. Hilarious.

TheMercenary;526835 wrote:

Update: Virginia is getting hammered.

Perhaps they ate the tainted peanut butter and just think they have the flu?

TheMercenary;526835 wrote:

Update: Virginia is getting hammered.

http://www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly/WeeklyFluActivityMap.htm

http://www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly/

Shit.

That map is worthless though. Virginia is a big state. I'm up near DC, I'm actually soaking in it right now, and DC has "sporadic" activity, so I assume that the Virginia widespread activity is elsewhere.

The Virginia concentration could be the result of commuters to DC. People go to the doctor near home, not near work, in most cases.

Alright, who coughed on the Inauguration crowd?

I was telling people that was the perfect setting to just send in a bunch of disease vectors ...

wolf;526986 wrote:

The Virginia concentration could be the result of commuters to DC. People go to the doctor near home, not near work, in most cases.

...or we could admit the numbers are stacked.


Higher Virginia flu numbers explained
By Tammie Smith
Published: January 24, 2009

Virginia is the only state reporting widespread flu, according to a federal map that shows where flu is occurring.

But there might not necessarily be more sniffing and sneezing going on here than in other states. Virginia has switched to a more sensitive method of finding cases of flulike illness.

"I have no reason to think Virginia is experiencing more influenza right now than other states," said C. Diane Woolard, division director for surveillance and investigation at the Virginia Department of Health.

"I think the difference is really in how we collect the data. We have changed how we do flu surveillance in the last couple of years," Woolard said.

wolf;526986 wrote:

The Virginia concentration could be the result of commuters to DC. People go to the doctor near home, not near work, in most cases.

In my limited experience, people in the Northern Virginia/DC area tend to pick doctors near work. Otherwise you might never have time to actually get to the doctor between commuting and serving time for murdering people because of said commute.

Things are progressing

I hope you all got your shots.

(see the map at the bottom of the link)

http://www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly/

Updated.

http://www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly/

Texas? Looks like Bushie must've taken it home with him....

Update.

http://www.findingdulcinea.com/news/politics/2009/feb/Congress-Under-Fire-For-Travels-During-Recess.html

Influenza vaccination was not associated with a reduced risk of community-acquired pneumonia during flu season.

INTERPRETATION: The effect of influenza vaccination on the risk of pneumonia in elderly people during influenza seasons might be less than previously estimated.

source

CONCLUSIONS: The 51% reduction in mortality with vaccination initially observed in patients with pneumonia who did not have influenza was most likely a result of confounding. Previous observational studies may have overestimated mortality benefits of influenza vaccination.

source

Are flu shots effective in the elderly?

Recent excess mortality studies were unable to confirm a decline in influenza-related mortality since 1980, even as vaccination coverage increased from 15% to 65%.

source

Flu shots do not reduce flu related hospital or doctor office visits in kids under 5.

CONCLUSION: In 2 seasons with suboptimal antigenic match between vaccines and circulating strains, we could not demonstrate VE in preventing influenza-related inpatient/ED or outpatient visits in children younger than 5 years. Further study is needed during years with good vaccine match.

source

It's all about the money.

In children and adults the consequences of influenza are mainly absences from school and work, however the risk of complications is greatest in children and people over 65 years old...

It was surprising to find only one study of inactivated vaccine in children under two years, given recent recommendations to vaccinate healthy children from six months old in the USA and Canada. If immunisation in children is to be recommended as public-health policy, large-scale studies assessing important outcomes and directly comparing vaccine types are urgently required.

source

"might be";"may have"; "Further study is needed";"Influenza vaccines are efficacious in children older than two years but little evidence is available for children under two."

All pretty resonable but inconclusive results to me. It is about risk benefit. If you want to take the risk go for it. But stay home when you are sick. Unfortunately you are actually carrying the infection for 24 - 48 hours before your symptoms appear and are infectious at that point. Hence one major cause it is spread.

Update:
http://www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly/usmap.htm

My wife and son have the flu, go figure.

http://www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly/WeeklyFluActivityMap.htm

THE flu, or just the flu?

Hope they feel better soon. Wash your hands a lot.

CDC has antigenically characterized 1,817 seasonal human influenza viruses [1,049 influenza A (H1), 196 influenza A (H3) and 572 influenza B viruses] collected by U.S. laboratories since October 1, 2008, and 233 novel influenza A (H1N1) viruses.

All 1,049 influenza seasonal A (H1) viruses are related to the influenza A (H1N1) component of the 2008-09 influenza vaccine (A/Brisbane/59/2007). One hundred eighty-eight (96%) of 196 influenza A (H3N2) viruses tested are related to the A (H3N2) vaccine component (A/Brisbane/10/2007) and eight viruses (4%) tested showed reduced titers with antisera produced against A/Brisbane/10/2007.

All 233 novel influenza A (H1N1) viruses are related to the A/California/07/2009 (H1N1) reference virus selected by WHO as a potential candidate for novel influenza A (H1N1) vaccine.

Influenza B viruses currently circulating can be divided into two distinct lineages represented by the B/Yamagata/16/88 and B/Victoria/02/87 viruses. Sixty-eight (12%) of 573 influenza B viruses tested belong to the B/Yamagata lineage and are related to the vaccine strain (B/Florida/04/2006). The remaining 504 (88%) viruses belong to the B/Victoria lineage and are not related to the vaccine strain.

Data on antigenic characterization should be interpreted with caution given that antigenic characterization data is based on hemagglutination inhibition (HI) testing using a panel of reference ferret antisera and results may not correlate with clinical protection against circulating viruses provided by influenza vaccination.

Annual influenza vaccination is expected to provide the best protection against those virus strains that are related to the vaccine strains, but limited to no protection may be expected when the vaccine and circulating virus strains are so different as to be from different lineages, as is seen with the two lineages of influenza B viruses. Antigenic characterization of novel influenza A (H1N1) viruses indicates that these viruses are antigenically and genetically unrelated to seasonal influenza A (H1N1) viruses, suggesting that little to no protection would be expected from vaccination with seasonal influenza vaccine.

http://www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly/

glatt;583099 wrote:

THE flu, or just the flu?

Hope they feel better soon. Wash your hands a lot.

Thanks, we keep a large bottle of purell hand sanitizer on the kitchen counter and clorox wipes at every sink. I have felt achy but so far no real S&S. Probably a strong immunity from years of exposure to stuff at work.

And I boost my zinc intake when people in the family get sick. The placebo effect is quite strong. :D

Wow. It looks like the majority of flu outbreaks right now are Novel H1N1 (Swine Flu).

Over 99% of all subtyped influenza A viruses being reported to CDC were novel influenza A (H1N1) viruses.

http://www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly/