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your looking at normally between 150 kids will die each year from Flu. Sometimes a lot less, but in the US it hasn't been less than 40 for some time. This is just kids. . not grandparents, who make up the majority of deaths.
Still. . .140-150 average. . .might be higher this year. Looks like we should invest in flu shots for every kid entering school prior to investing in arming teachers
I got pertussis two years ago. Nasty bug, that. But I was able to shake it off in a couple of weeks and it never got bad to the point where it was really debilitating. So I did opt for a booster shot, I think it was called T Dap, diptheria, pertussis and tetanus. I wasn't enthusiastic about getting it but tetanus was the biggest concern. No flu shot. The last flu shot I had was back when the swine flu was going around. Never had the flu.
You get many people up from southern hemisphere countries, asian countries, and third world countries and they bring diseases with them. Open borders, ya gotta love it.
Wash your hands before you eat and a few times during the day. Thats the best way to prevent catching the flu.
I usually pick up one cold a year but its usually at the start of summer.
I think the issue with Pertussis isn't for your sorry ass
I'm deathly afraid of the low levels of Pertussis immunity, and with my 3-month old. The thing about Pertussis isn't that it will hurt you. . .but it will kill infants. Sucks they dont' have a way to boost immunity in a 0-6month old.
your looking at normally between 150 kids will die each year from Flu. Sometimes a lot less, but in the US it hasn't been less than 40 for some time. This is just kids. . not grandparents, who make up the majority of deaths.
Still. . .140-150 average. . .might be higher this year. Looks like we should invest in flu shots for every kid entering school prior to investing in arming teachers
Armed teachers would give off too graphic an appearance of prisonism, albeit good conditioning for their world to come.
It would be shifting student cognizance from truancy to tyranny.
Respiratory droplets that adhere to surfaces, where they can live up to 8hrs. If they can live up to 8hrs on a door knob, you better bet they can live 8hrs on your hand without impact.
Its not like the respiration goes right into. Normal vector is droplets to hand, hand to nose/eyes/mouth
However, it's unlikely that even the biggest slob will not wash their hands in 8 hours. There are all sorts of theoretical ways that a non-ill person can transmit flu, but the fact is the majority of flu spread is airborne from sick people.
I've been lucky enough to not get the flu for the last few years and had never gotten a seasonal shot. I've considered getting it for myself and my son this year, but decided against it at the end. My reasoning is a simple risk-benefit assessment. None of us has any health concerns or risk factors like asthma, knock on wood, that would make the flu more or a risk - especially considering it's only about 60% effective. Yes, it sucks, yes you feel like crap, and yes it has the potential for complications - but for a healthy person, this is nothing like polio. The vaccine has its own risks, however small - there have been many adverse effects and even deaths. Meanwhile, we have all grown up without the shot and survived just fine - and I was a sickly child, and have had the flu many, many times throughout childhood, but while miserable it was nothing life-altering that a week in bed couldn't fix. So while I really really don't want myself or DS to come down with it, I know that if we do, it's not the end of the world. On the other hand, I know that if I take him in for a shot and he reacts badly to it, I'll never forgive myself. I did get the H1N1 shot in 2009 as I was pregnant in my third trimester in the worst of the epidemic and everywhere they were saying pregnant women are at a very high risk - at that point, I felt the risks of the disease far outweighed the risks of the vaccine, especially as it was a novel virus.
In personal experience, I have known a number of people who had gotten very sick the one year they had the shot; my mom's friend had it only one year, and was extremely sick later on with pneumonia; she has never gotten the shot since, and has never been that sick before or after. Yes, the shot is a dead virus and can't "give" you the flu - but there is the theory that it undermines your immune system in general, and therefore makes you more susceptible to other things out there, including flu strains not covered by the vaccine. There was actually an article about that back in 2009 I think, where kids who received the seasonal flu vaccine were much more likely to come down with H1N1 as they somehow produced less antibodies.
If you have underlying health issues that make the flu extra dangerous - by all means, I think the vaccine is warranted. For a healthy person, though, my belief is that it's a risk that's unnecessary, especially for children. For young children, like under 2, the best protection is to try and stay away from crowds during flu season and not to bring sick kids to daycares etc. I've seen parents letting infants crawl around on the floor at the crowded mall during holiday season, and even at the doctor's office - and then they wonder where kids are picking up viruses and infections like mrsa...
However, it's unlikely that even the biggest slob will not wash their hands in 8 hours. There are all sorts of theoretical ways that a non-ill person can transmit flu, but the fact is the majority of flu spread is airborne from sick people.
well its a somewhat arbitrary distinction, I grant you. . . but why do you think they tell you to "wash your hands frequently" in order to prevent flu.
I'm not sure if we really know 100% how the flu gets in. Does it go through your nose, do you breath it in, etc. Its hard to really tell. . .yet most evidence suggests that maybe most of the time you get flu inhaled, but you also get it from hand to mouth. . .
But its a guess. . how popular one vector is versus the other.
I may grant you the majority. .. seems likely. . .but its hard to say with absolute confidence.
well its a somewhat arbitrary distinction, I grant you. . . but why do you think they tell you to "wash your hands frequently" in order to prevent flu.
I'm not sure if we really know 100% how the flu gets in. Does it go through your nose, do you breath it in, etc. Its hard to really tell. . .yet most evidence suggests that maybe most of the time you get flu inhaled, but you also get it from hand to mouth. . .
But its a guess. . how popular one vector is versus the other.
I may grant you the majority. .. seems likely. . .but its hard to say with absolute confidence.
A few years ago there was a poor match between the circulating flu strains and that year's vaccine. The CDC came up with this "wash your hands" to avoid the flu, IMO, just so people would feel like they were doing something. It's since become a mantra. Certainly washing one's hands is ALWAYS a good thing, though the "dirt theory" people will probably disagree.
I think it's been well established that flu is mainly airborne, with the hand to mouth spread being secondary.
CDC - Seasonal Influenza (Flu) - How Flu Spreads
**People with flu can spread it to others up to about 6 feet away. Most experts think that flu viruses are spread mainly by droplets made when people with flu cough, sneeze or talk. These droplets can land in the mouths or noses of people who are nearby or possibly be inhaled into the lungs. Less often, a person might also get flu by touching a surface or object that has flu virus on it and then touching their own mouth or nose.
the only that makes people get the flu shot is fear.
And since fear has no logically and or science needed and the media to keep telling us and the government to keep creating the flu strains and releasing them and then funding the flu shot.
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