2007-2008 Flu Season One of Worst On Record
Did it seem like everyone you knew had the flu this year? It wasn’t your imagination. The CDC reported that this year’s flu season was one of the worst in the past four years and the reason was largely due to an ineffective flu vaccine.
This year, most of the illness has been due to Type A H3N2 Brisbane strain, which was not in the vaccine. That strain tends to cause more hospitalizations and deaths, contributing to this season’s severity. Type B Florida strain, also absent from this year’s vaccine, has also been causing illness. Marshfield data showed that the vaccine was completely ineffective against the Type B virus, and was 58 percent effective against the Brisbane virus.
CDC Officials
One study in Marshfield, Wisconsin, showed that the flu vaccine, this year, was only 44% effective against influenza. Recently the last time the flu shot was such a poor match against influenza was in 1997-1998. That year the vaccine did not match the actual flu that appeared, at all.
The CDC does remind people that although it was not the most successful season for flu prevention, 44% is still better than no protection at all. It is important that people do not becomes discouraged and disregard flu shots in the future as they are still the primary, and best, form of prevention available.
CDC: Flu Season Worst in Four Years; Vaccine didn’t work well
Flu Season Most Severe Since 2004
MMWR (Morbidity & Mortality Weekly Report) from the CDC - Week ending April 18th
Flu Vaccine for 2008-2009 Flu Season
Have you ever wondered how the flu vaccine comes about? I discussed this once before in an article and now that the 2008-2009 vaccine is in the works, you can see for yourself the beginning of the process.
WHO Consultation on the Composition of Influenza Vaccine for the Northern Hemisphere 2008 - 2009
Recommended Composition Of Influenza Virus Vaccines For Use In The 2008–2009
Influenza Season
Flu Vaccines? Help or Hype?
Flu Update as of February 9th
The peak of the flu season is beginning, so there are no states unaffected. The best advice still remains to get a flu vaccine if they are still available in your area, avoid contact with infected people, be cautious about contact with groups of people and WASH YOUR HANDS frequently and thoroughly!
- Localized Outbreaks (0 states*)
- Florida
- Maine
- Washington DC (District of Columbia)
- Regionalized Outbreaks (17 states)
- California
- Illinois
- Michigan
- Minnesota
- Missouri
- Montana
- Nevada
- New Hampshire
- North Dakota
- Oregon
- Rhode Island
- Tennessee
- Utah
- Washington
- West Virginia
- Wisconsin
- Wyoming
- Widespread Outbreaks ( states)
- Alabama
- Alaska
- Arizona
- Arkansas
- Colorado
- Connecticut
- Delaware
- Georgia
- Hawaii
- Idaho
- Indiana
- Iowa
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Louisiana
- Maryland
- Massachusetts
- Mississippi
- Nebraska
- New Jersey
- New Mexico
- New York
- North Carolina
- Ohio
- Oklahoma
- Pennsylvania
- South Carolina
- South Dakota
- Texas
- Vermont
- Virginia
- Sporadic Outbreaks
- None
*Including the District of Columbia
This is a good time to review handwashing techniques and things you can do to avoid catching the flu.
- Avoid close contact with people who have the flu.
- Don’t expose others - if you are sick STAY HOME!! You will get well faster this way too!
- Be polite! Cover your mouth when you cough or sneeze! And use disposable tissues!
- Avoid touching your face - flu is spread through direct contact.
- WASH YOUR HANDS PROPERLY!!
Flu Update as of February 1st
The flu is active in all of the 50 U.S. States now and officials continue to urge common sense and proactive prevention. Some school districts have been closed to halt the progression of the illness. Wash your hands and limit your exposure to people who are infected!
- Localized Outbreaks (10 states*)
- Alabama
- Illinois
- New Hampshire
- North Dakota
- Oregon
- South Dakota
- Vermont
- Wisconsin
- Wyoming
- District of Columbia
- Regionalized Outbreaks (26 states)
- Arizona
- Arkansas
- California
- Connecticut
- Georgia
- Idaho
- Indiana
- Iowa
- Kentucky
- Louisiana
- Maryland
- Michigan
- Minnesota
- Missouri
- Montana
- Nebraska
- Nevada
- New Jersey
- North Carolina
- Ohio
- Oklahoma
- Rhode Island
- South Carolina
- Tennessee
- Utah
- Washington
- Widespread Outbreaks (11 states)
- Alaska
- Kansas
- Massachusetts
- Mississippi
- New Mexico
- Pennsylvania
- Virginia
- Hawaii
- Colorado
- New York
- Texas
- Sporadic Outbreaks
- All states not listed above
*Including the District of Columbia
This is a good time to review handwashing techniques and things you can do to avoid catching the flu.
- Avoid close contact with people who have the flu.
- Don’t expose others - if you are sick STAY HOME!! You will get well faster this way too!
- Be polite! Cover your mouth when you cough or sneeze! And use disposable tissues!
- Avoid touching your face - flu is spread through direct contact.
- WASH YOUR HANDS PROPERLY!!
Why No Flu in Southern New Jersey?
I can’t explain it and apparently the CDC can’t either. The southern half of New Jersey is virtually clear of this year’s outbreak of seasonal flu.
New Jersey does show on the report of widespread outbreak because the northern half of the state is affected. Tom Slater, the spokesman for the State of New Jersey Health and Human Services Department says, “There is still time to get a flu shot. There is more vaccine available this year than any other.” Unfortunately that isn’t true for all areas of the country. My personal residential town has been out of the flu vaccine for several weeks and they are not planning on any more arriving this flu season.
Typically 36,000 people die each year from the flu. Most of the victims are elderly people. The flu is mostly spread by children. An average of 226,000 people are hospitalized annually from infection by the flu.
Region Immune to Widespread Flu Activity So Far
Flu Update as of January 25th
Sorry Vermont, but this week flu reached your state which has been flu free until now. The flu is active in all of the 50 U.S. States and officials continue to urge common sense and proactive prevention. Wash your hands and limit your exposure to people who are infected!
- Localized Outbreaks (18 states*)
- Alabama
- Florida
- Idaho
- Illinois
- Massachusetts
- Michigan
- Minnesota
- Nevada
- North Carolina
- North Dakota
- Oklahoma
- Oregon
- South Dakota
- Tennessee
- Utah
- Washington DC
- Wisconsin
- Wyoming
- Regionalized Outbreaks (17 states)
- Alaska
- Arizona
- Arkansas
- California
- Connecticut
- Georgia
- Iowa
- Kansas
- Maryland
- Mississippi
- Montana
- Nebraska
- New Mexico
- Pennsylvania
- Rhode Island
- South Carolina
- Washington State
- Widespread Outbreaks (6 states)
- New Jersey
- Virginia
- Hawaii
- Colorado
- New York
- Texas
- Sporadic Outbreaks
- All states not listed above
*Including the District of Columbia
This is a good time to review handwashing techniques and things you can do to avoid catching the flu.
- Avoid close contact with people who have the flu.
- Don’t expose others - if you are sick STAY HOME!! You will get well faster this way too!
- Be polite! Cover your mouth when you cough or sneeze! And use disposable tissues!
- Avoid touching your face - flu is spread through direct contact.
- WASH YOUR HANDS PROPERLY!!
Needless Needles? The Latest in Flu Shot Research
A new delivery method of the flu vaccine may be coming to a clinic near you. Always on the lookout for a better mousetrap, or in this case, a better shot, researchers are working on a sublingual (under the tongue) tablet that will provide the same protection as the flu shot does now. This has got to be a kid’s dream come true!
Not only will the flu vaccine not be dreaded by the needlephobic, should this line of research prove to be effective, it would also eliminate the nasal spray vaccine which many people find just as distasteful as the injection. An added benefit would be the decreased risk through the use of needles and a reduction in disposable medical waste materials.
As a bonus, it is hoped that the sublingual approach to flu prevention will also drastically cut reactions to the flu shot, such as localized skin irritations.
Research is still ongoing but results look positive so far. It may be just a matter of time until the flu shot becomes an archaic piece of history, with better and less painful prevention methods just around the corner.
New Flu Vaccine May Not Need Needles
Flu Update as of January 18th
As the old song says, “Everybody’s doing it!” And every state, save one, has had the flu hit. In simple terms, that means every time you leave your house, unless you live in Vermont, you are being exposed to the flu.
- Localized Outbreaks (15 states)
- Georgia
- Illinois
- Iowa
- Kansas
- Maryland
- Michigan
- Minnesota
- Nebraska
- Nevada
- North Carolina
- North Dakota
- South Carolina
- South Dakota
- Tennessee
- Washington
- Regionalized Outbreaks (10 states)
- Massachusetts
- Connecticut
- New Jersey
- Montana
- Rhode Island
- Pennsylvania
- California
- Arkansas
- Arizona
- Alaska
- Widespread Outbreaks (4 states)
- Texas
- New York
- Hawaii
- Colorado
- Sporadic Outbreaks
- All states not listed above
This is a good time to review handwashing techniques and things you can do to avoid catching the flu.
- Avoid close contact with people who have the flu.
- Don’t expose others - if you are sick STAY HOME!! You will get well faster this way too!
- Be polite! Cover your mouth when you cough or sneeze! And use disposable tissues!
- Avoid touching your face - flu is spread through direct contact.
- WASH YOUR HANDS PROPERLY!!
Check back here - I will have a weekly update on how the flu is progressing through the United States.
CDC & Juvaris Partner to Create More Effective Vaccine
There is a lot of confusion about the flu. Put in a nutshell, here are the basic facts of what people mean when they talk about “The Flu.
- Seasonal Flu
- Pandemic Flu
- Avian Flu
Seasonal flu is the one that goes around every year. Each year the virus varies. It runs it course and winds down. Flu shots given at public health clinics and physician offices, are immunizations for the seasonal flu.
Pandemic flu is a new virus that appears that has not been seen before and thus when it hits the population of the world, no one has any resistance built up against it and there is no vaccine to protect anyone. It is a completely new disease. The last flu pandemic was in 1918. That particular flu killed many thousands of people worldwide, affected the economy, and ultimately played a role in the course of World War I.
Avian flu is an influenza virus that currently ONLY affects bird populations. It is contagious bird-to-bird, and there have been isolated cases of bird-to-person transmission, but by and large, it remains confined to the bird population.
So why does everyone talk about avian flu and pandemic flu in the same breath? The risk is that we are due for a flu pandemic. Experts feel that it is overdue and the time has come that it is reasonable to expect a pandemic. With Avian Flu in the equation, the risk is that Avian Flu will mutate slightly and become contagious on a new level: Person-to-person. When that occurs the likelihood of a pandemic flu epidemic is highly probable.
The CDC has partnered with Juvaris BioTherapeutics, Inc., to extend the supply of H5N1 vaccines to cover a larger population should a pandemic break out.
Because high doses of vaccine are needed to trigger an immune response to bird flu, stocks of existing vaccines could be run down quickly in a pandemic. By using JVRS-100 as a kind of booster, smaller doses could be used and the stocks of the existing vaccines might last longer, the company said.
San Francisco Business Times
Hopefully the claims of the company will prove true. It is believed by Juvaris that their adjuvant will provide greater protection and reduce the numbers of affected populations, and ultimately decrease the mortality rate of a pandemic flu epidemic.
Handwashing Prevents Colds and Flu
Most of us know that cold and flu season is upon us; it seems everyone I know has a cold, bronchitis, or pneumonia. And of course the assorted laundry list of ear infections, tonsillitis, and sinus infections are in plentiful supply as well. Some of these infections are viral and some are bacterial. Some of them are inevitable; someone inadvertently sneezes in your face at the grocery store and they have a cold starting, your going to get it. But did you know that most of the infections, viral or bacterial, that we spread around in the community are avoidable?
How? By handwashing.
Most infections are caused by direct contact. The vast majority of the viruses and bacteria we encounter that make us sick, are not airborne. There is a common misconception about what an airborne contagion is and once you understand the difference between airborne and direct contact, you can avoid catching a lot of the things “going around.”
Most diseases are transmitted by methods such as a sneeze or a cough. They are direct contact because the germs are in the droplets which rest upon a surface, on the skin, or are directly inhaled or ingested. They then are “caught” by the next victim who gets sick from the exposure. Basically that is how a cold is transferred from one person to another. The subsequent ear and sinus infections, bronchitis, and most pneumonias are secondary infections; that is why two people can catch the same cold but one will develop an ear infection and the other will display the symptoms of bronchitis.
An airborne disease travels through moving currents of air and are comparatively rare. I am not an epidemiologist, and the study of airborne diseases is very complex and far too intensive for our purposes, but these are not the diseases that are contagious like colds and flu. One notable exception is Chicken Pox which once appearing in a community spreads very quickly. Tuberculosis is also an airborne disease but the contagion factors are quite different and involve several factors.
Back to handwashing. If most of the everyday colds and flus, and the complicating secondary infections that come along with them, are not airborne and are spread by direct contact, it follows that it is very easy to prevent these infections by consistent, thorough, and complete handwashing techniques. It is the simplest and the least expensive method of infection control that exists. It is also one of the most overlooked methods.
The Hand Hygiene Resource Center has been set up to teach people the appropriate method of handwashing. Effective handwashing can help contain infections and is the first step in protecting yourself and your family from the colds and flu spreading around your community. There are instructional materials on the site as well as a slide show that can be used to teach groups of people. The site also links to the CDC’s guidelines on handwashing for a complete resource to a healthier winter and flu season!