Comments

1
Is the flu shot effective for this strain of the virus?
2
@1:

What viruses do 2016-2017 flu vaccines protect against?

There are many flu viruses and they are constantly changing. The composition of U.S. flu vaccines is reviewed annually and updated to match circulating flu viruses. Flu vaccines protect against the three or four viruses that research suggests will be most common. For 2016-2017, three-component vaccines are recommended to contain:

A/California/7/2009 (H1N1)pdm09-like virus,
A/Hong Kong/4801/2014 (H3N2)-like virus and a
B/Brisbane/60/2008-like virus (B/Victoria lineage).
Four component vaccines are recommended to include the same three viruses above, plus an additional B virus called B/Phuket/3073/2013-like virus (B/Yamagata lineage).

https://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/season/flu…
4
@3. I liked it, but there was a lot of meh in there too
5
@3 Because they said it was boring? Well, I watched all 8 episodes, and whole-heartedly agree that The OA was super boring.
6
This years flu shot did NOT cover this strain of flu... so advising people to get the flu shot if they're not yet sick w/ this nasty flu is kind of moot.
7
@6 That's incorrect. Most of the cases being seen in ERs, clinics, and MD offices are either H1N1 or H3N2. Both are covered by the trivalent and the quadrivalent flus shots.
8
My husband was the only one in our family to get the flu shot this year so far. But less than 24 hours after returning to Seattle after spending a month in Arizona, we all had the flu, including him. One of the worst we've ever had.
9
@1 woofy: Thank you for beating me to it. I was just going to ask the same question, and I had a flu shot (the egg culture kind) this last September.
So far, I have been fighting off nasty head colds going around, but not the flu, and hope I don't get it.
10
@7 RuthlessLogic: Is the egg culture flu shot the one you mean that is effective against H1N1 and H3N2? So far, I'm good, chugging water, lemon juice, and taking lots of Vitamin C.
11
Been out here for less than 4 months and am hacking through 2nd bout of flu or stomach illness or something.
Got this latest bout from family at Xmas, and I just heard they are just recovered!
A couple months back both me and a roommate got it, and we both experienced seemingly longer than usual stretches of sickness.
Whatever is going around is powerful beyond the average I can recall.
12
Sorry guys.....I tried to be upswept in the rapt attention of the sniveling sickies around me and engage OA.... this illness must affect brains and mental clarity...that show is so boring.....
13
people! Just because the flu shot is not effective against a particular strain doesn't mean you shouldn't get the shot! Limited protection is better than no protection, really. Get a shot, wash your hands, stay away from sick people. But you may still get sick anyway. That's the cost of living in a world with infectious disease.
14
@13 What (s)he said. Some protection is better than none.

A brief science input here - the reasons vaccinated people sometimes still get sick are varied. Sometimes it's because they've encountered a virus for which the vaccine is not effective. Sometimes they are infected with a virus that the vaccine is usually effective against but the virus has changed and the vaccine loses efficacy. Sometimes people are mis-diagnosed with the flu and only think they've are infected (flu symptoms are shared with other respiratory diseases).

But underlying all those "sometimes" is the host defenses; our individual immune systems. Our ability to respond to a particular virus in the context of the vaccine depends on a huge number of variables, including heredity, age and co-morbidity (other pathologies including illnesses, diseases or conditions).

That's a long-winded way of saying a vaccine doesn't necessarily protect you from illness - it just reduces the risk and severity. Wash your hands frequently and if you're sick stay home or at least do what you can to keep your bodily fluids from becoming airborne or left behind on surfaces.
15
@13 Seriously this!
16
I got the flu two years running in the 1990s, before flu shots were a thing, and I never want to go through that again. Mine came with hallucinations (I thought there were giant bats in my bedroom) which freaked me out more than the regular "just feeling like crap" symptoms. As soon as I learned that there were flu shots, I was all over that like a rash.
18
My wife didn't get a flu shot and she's been fighting the flu now for about a week. It's a nasty thing. I did get a shot and my flu was much less severe and at 72 hours, I'm about done with it. Could just be that I've got a better defense system, but I'm not discounting the shot either.
19
At the hospital where I work, we have apparently started taking flu patients from the west side because all y'all's hospitals are full (the number I was told was 50% of all patients currently in the hospital over there are flu patients). Apparently this year's flu shot is pretty effective against this year's flu virus.

That's what I've heard, anyway. I dunno. That's what people are telling me.
20
Thanks anti-vaxxers!
21
I got a flu shot and don't regret it.

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