Weekly U.S. Influenza Surveillance Report [CDC]

CDC (U.S. Government) ^ | December 29, 2017 | Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

[Paul R.]

Yeah _ I was in a hurry, not to mention a scarf would have been hard to keep out of the way no matter how tucked in. Some sensitive passages got too “cool-dried” no doubt.

Thanks for the wishes!

[Paul R.]

One can have gastroenteritis (”stomach flu”?) and influenza at the same time, right?

I’m pretty sure that combo whacked me a few years ago...

[familyop]

"I received a quadrivalent vaccine produced in cells this year."

Those poor, little...! I'll spare you the guilt trip on that one. Don't want to spark a riot around here. ;-)

[Paul R.]

Yes, thanks - I’m back to normal activity, except that it’s so dang cold / dry (for here) outside. I’ve been deliberately doing some extra “deep breathing”, indoors.

I tend to have a lot of trouble getting my lungs completely cleared out after most any respiratory “bout”. No 2 year problems, but I’ve had it last 2 months, in a couple cases. It’s as if I get “95% better”, and can’t quite knock out the last 5%.

In this last case, with the brief kidney (?) discomfort, I wonder if I did not get enough fluids for a couple days there? Had no appetite either.

[yadent]

As a now retired healthcare provider, I have seen complications from various medications, including vaccines, ranging from mild headaches to serious allergic reactions mainly from the transporting medium. The 5-9% risk rate would include ALL complications from minor to major, with most being in the minor to mild range. As one who prescribed medications conservatively, my philosophy was to always prescribe as to achieve the greatest positive risk/benefit ratio possible given the patients unique health circumstances. Again, for me, even the possibility of a minor headache made the risk/benefit ratio negative/not positive enough....for me individually. I have seen many of my patients and fellow colleagues contract the ‘flu’ after being vaccinated simply because the vaccine ‘missed’ the strain for that season. I chose not to ‘insult’ my system for a 40-50% chance of effectiveness against this particular malady. I do that with the consideration that nearly all medications/vaccines being an insult to some degree. That could change as my body ages and my ‘systems’ become less able to defend.....or not. Depends on the risk/benefit ratio for the given ailment. As a side, I did receive the Hep B vaccine series even though the complication rate at the time was between 8-10% but the effectiveness was 80-90%. A very positive risk/benefit ratio for me given my circumstances.

[lkco]

Got it the day after Thanksgiving here in WA. First flu in 11 years (I can’t get the shot for health reasons). I was too wiped to even roll over for the first 36 hours. It took 2 weeks to get back to normal on my elliptical. I think one of my chickens had it too ... she got really weak and lethargic for two weeks ... would have died if we didn’t bring her in under the heat lamp.

[yadent]

More health hazards require more ‘solutions’. I worked for the government in CA for 25 years providing healthcare for corrections. Most problems presented ‘opportunities’.

[Mom MD]

Could be but my goodness that would be unlucky!

[trebb]

Have had several flu shots and always got sicker and had more minor illnesses in those years - being retired makes it easier to avoid high-risk areas...

[Texan5]

Yes, thank you-I read all labels so I know what is in it-and one size does not fit all-the combo of that with zinc, C and echinacea works for me and with no side effects-do I think it will work for everyone? Of course not-but I also know I have only gotten a bad case of the flu every time I decided to try the vaccine again, hoping for better results than last time-which never happened.

The doc who owns and operates the clinic in this rural area is a DO and an ethnic Chinese who is also into natural remedies, acupuncture and all other 1000’s of years old Asian stuff-he does not recommend the flu vaccine for anyone who has had a bad side effect before-he says to call him right away for tamiflu if you start to have flu symptoms.

His clinic has been open for 20+ years-several others have started up but they closed in less than 2 years-people quit going because the staff there didn’t believe in natural remedies, and wanted to write a prescription for drugs for everything/everyone. That doesn’t go over with most country people and old hippies like we are out here.

I insist on knowing all ingredients of anything-including food-it is the only sensible way to be-I don’t consume processed or frankenfoods, either-check out the ingredient list on a margarine label...

[MarchonDC09122009]

Yadent, thank you for providing a well stated rationale on flu vaccine risk / benefits. Evidence indicates it's a racket, see sources below - WHO, CDC, Pharma shisters along with programmed unquestioning drone doctors have fooled the public into believing "how valuable it is to have your flu shot". They deliberately co-mingle pneumonia AND influenza mortality rate statistics to scare public with falsehood statements that: "flu kills 36,000 Americans each year". Here's the truth of it from The American Lung Association: "Pneumonia consistently accounts for the overwhelming majority of the combined pneumonia and influenza deaths. In 2013, 53,282 people died from pneumonia and 3,550 people died from influenza." http://www.lung.org/finding-cures/our-research/trend-reports/pi-trend-report.pdf Just follow the money... WHO scientists and advisors made MILLIONS of dollars pushing BILLIONS OF DOLLARS of ineffective flu vaccines worldwide: Swine Flu Pandemic: World Health Organization Scientists Linked to Vaccine Companies - ABC News http://abcnews.go.com/Health/SwineFlu/swine-flu-pandemic-world-health-organization-scientists-linked/story?id=10829940 Scientists who advised the World Health Organization on its influenza policies and recommendations—including the decision to proclaim the so-called swine flu a "level 6 pandemic" had close ties to companies that manufacture vaccines and antiviral medicines like Tamiflu, a fact that WHO did not publicly disclose. The links between the advisors and the companies that make money from vaccines and flu treatments were detailed in a report published online by the British medical journal BMJ, which investigated the advisors' role in WHO's policy. Evidence of Bias in Studies of Influenza Vaccine Effectiveness in ... https://academic.oup.com/jid/article/201/2/186/2192007 Although studies have shown influenza vaccines to be effective in preventing death in the elderly population, these findings may be the result of sel. ... to inform health plan members ⩾65 years old that they could be vaccinated conveniently and at no cost; vaccination campaigns began after the second week of October. Flu Vaccine Efficacy Slips From Prior Estimate, CDC Says - Medscape www.medscape.com/viewarticle/882075 Jun 23, 2017 ... The vaccine worked the best among children aged 6 months to 8 years, at 61%, and the least among individuals aged 18 to 49 years, at 19%. For people aged 65 years or older — a demographic group that's especially vulnerable to the flu — effectiveness stood at 25%. The CDC reported the efficacy rates ... Why flu vaccines so often fail | Science | AAAS www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/09/why-flu-vaccines-so-o... Sep 20, 2017 ... For many decades, researchers believed the flu vaccine offered solid protection if it was a good match to the circulating strains; studies from the 1940s through the 1960s routinely showed an efficacy of 70% to 90%. But those studies relied on a misleading methodology. Without a simple way to detect the ...

[Pining_4_TX]

Ha, ha, nice!

[Pining_4_TX]

My sister-in-law once saw someone wearing a “Minnesotans for Global Warming” sweatshirt. I need to have one made for Iowans.

[yadent]

Good money to be made from illness or fear of......if one is so inclined.

[Paul R.]

Oh, I've been whacked by an allergic reaction to a "med"... an "inactive" ingredient in an Ester C tablet I took some years back thinking it would help me fight off a cold I was beginning to come down with. But I was no "pill popper" even then, as my outlook regarding medications in general is not that different from yours. Still, though, in the case of the flu vaccine, your calculation of risk / benefit ratio "escapes" me. Let's say the risk of a side effect of the flu vaccine, of the severity of a moderate headache, is 7%. The risk of getting a significant case of the flu in an average year appears to be, as best I can tell from some reading, roughly 10%, however, that # includes the approx. 46% or so of the population that gets vaccinated. This bumps the non-vaccinated population up to around 15% chance of getting the flu in an average year. So... we have 15% vs. 7%, or roughly a 2:1 ratio in favor of getting vaccinated.

However, that takes no account of the relative severity of the illnesses, nor the fact that a side effect is extremely unlikely to be communicable, whereas flu is highly communicable. Even if you don't have significant symptoms (ie., it's not a significant case for you), there is a 20-30% chance of passing influenza on. This is all hard to put a "solid" number on, but, a good case of the flu is surely 5x worse than a typical vaccine side effect, more like 10x IMO, and add on a couple points for communicability... I'll be conservative and say "7x",total.

Toss that in (multiply initial risk by severity + communicability) on both sides of the equation, and now you have a 14:1 ratio in favor of vaccination.

[AppyPappy]

“My doc told me last week that so far it’s been about 10% effective here in the states...:-(”

It is impossible to determine whether it was effective. The vaccine doesn’t not prevent you from getting the flu. If you are exposed enough, you will get it. My Dr gets it every 4-5 years because he is constantly exposed. I haven’t had it in 15 years, when I started getting the vaccine every year.
There is no way to determine if the vaccine prevented you from getting the flu

[Thibodeaux]

The peaks are during the times of lowest sunshine exposure and thus the natural defensive production of vitamin d3

if you take a large dose of vitamin d3, your will have flu resistance

[AppyPappy]

And remember, being cold does not make you sick. Being inside with sick people makes you sick.

[yadent]

Your numbers ‘add up’ IF the vaccine proves to be 100% effective against any particular year’s guessed at strain. Considering the average effectiveness of the ‘guess’ over time has been about 40-50%, the ‘numbers’ will be different based on actual effectiveness. Again, FOR ME, the risk/benefit ratio must attain a certain consistent threshold before I subject my body to ANY pharmaceutical insult. In the past I advised my patients accordingly depending on their unique health circumstances, always attempting to maintain the philosophy of DO NO HARM. If any year’s ‘guess’ was/is highly effective, GREAT! However if the ‘guess’ is a ‘miss’, why would I knowingly subject my patients to essentially a pharmaceutical placebo? Problem is the hit/miss results are sometimes not known until after the ‘season’........hence my advise was just that, advise not definitive preventative treatment conclusions.

[Paul R.]

Well, actually I took the 40-50% into account in coming up with the 15% figure for flu risk for unvaccinated individuals, as opposed to the usually published* number of cases actually occurring in the entire US population.

*So far as I can tell.

But where I think we really differ is in my factor for “severity”, and that I don’t judge a pharmaceutical risk / insult differently than a “natural” risk / insult, at least if the former has a fairly well established history.

Having said all that, I’ve been reflecting on that episode when that “inactive” ingredient in a vitamin C supplement whacked me. That was a “doosey”!

At any rate, it’s been an interesting discussion, tho’ I don’t think either of us will change the other’s outlook...

Take care.