Get a flu shot. Wash your hands.

AuntPeggy

AuntPeggy

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http://todayhealth.today.com/_news/...eclares-flu-emergency-700-cases-reported?lite

Boston has seen about 700 confirmed cases of influenza since the season began in October. That compares to about 70 cases for all of last year, said Nick Martin, a spokesman for the Boston Public Health Commission. While last year was an unusually mild flu season, according to government health officials, those numbers are worrisome.

"This is the worst flu season we've seen since 2009, and people should take the threat of flu seriously," Menino said in a news release. "This is not only a health concern, but also an economic concern for families, and I'm urging residents to get vaccinated if they haven't already. It's the best thing you can do to protect yourself and your family. If you're sick, please stay home from work or school."
 
Probably due to the colder wx. We had a mild couple years. You do not want to get the flu. If you've had the flu and didn't almost die or want to die, you haven't had the flu. It will thoroughly kick your six and could easily kill many of the members of our little community.
 
At our morning meeting I reminded my staff to get their flu shot. Our group insurance plan will pay for it. I had two people say they "never get flu shots". Their parents got a flu shot years (decades) ago and they both got the flu soon after. I offered to let them go get the shot "on the clock" and I was going to give them $10 each to pay for the gas. But they are young and tough. I told them if they come in to work sick they are going straight home and will not be paid. A few years ago, one person came to work sick and about a week later everyone was sick. My wife and I were the only ones working and we could barely stand up but somebody had to take care of patients and clean the litter boxes even if we couldn't see new patients. (Cat's can't catch the flu from people, but their owners can).
 
A couple years back one of the major hospital chains mandated flu vaccination for all employees. Now all the hospitals in my region require it (And apparently one of the credentialing bodies, The Joint Commission, requires all hospitals to have a vaccination program). Our current flu shot has H1N1 plus the two most likely flu strains for this year..

If you do not get the vaccination you must formally opt out, or you come off the schedule and your access to the clinical charting system is locked out. If you formally opt out, for whatever reason - allergy, objection, you MUST wear a mask at all times while on the clock. Even if you are alone and not in a patient room. My employer offers both the shot and the mist, but my department cant get the mist because its attenuated live virus, which is a risk for heart transplant patients on my unit during the two week period that the mist causes you to shed live virus. The shot (killed virus) has no such limitation.

Whatever your feelings on the matter of vaccination, I think its a prudent approach that minimizes risk to patients as well as minimizes the impact on staffing due to illness.
 
I normally get the flu shot but haven't yet this year. But here in Northern VA we have a rash of stomach flu that wouldn't have been prevented by this year's vaccine. It's relatively mild - only knocked me down for two days instead of the "usual" six or eight.

Once I'm back to normal I'll get the shot.
 
Get your flu shot AND wash you hands *right then*.

Many sick people go in and out of the pharmacy/Dr's office where you are getting your shot. Everything you are touching (doorknob, chair, whatever) has been touched by a bunch of sick people.

Don't touch your face, and thoroughly wash your hands as soon as your vaccination os complete. Many people get sick from going to the place to get their shot.
 
I got my shot back in October. I've hear how bad the outbreak is this year but I've also hear that the Flu strain that we've been experiencing this year was not included in this years vaccine.
 
Do get the flu shot. This is a bad year.

There are many, many hospitals full with flu patients, some hospitals have set up tents outside the ER because they can't handle the number of patients coming in with flu symptoms.
The flu started spreading before Christmas (unusual), and holiday travel has caused it to spread like wildfire.

The flu is not a cold, it's not a stomach bug. Most people have never had a true, full-on case of the flu. It's miserable and seriously dangerous.
An unusual number of young kids are dying from the flu (much like the 1918 pandemic, but obviously not anywhere near as bad). The virus gets onboard and replicates extremely rapidly, then when their young, vigorous immune system gets a bead on the virus, it kick in full blast. The extremely strong reaction by the immune system makes them very, very sick (it's called a cytokene storm).
 
AdamZ said:
I got my shot back in October. I've hear how bad the outbreak is this year but I've also hear that the Flu strain that we've been experiencing this year was not included in this years vaccine.
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Is that just a gut feel based on past years, or do you have any evidence that they missed the target again?
 
I spent the winter recess with the Russian Flu one year when I was in high school. I don't remember it being a lot of fun.

The thing I do remember most about it was that my whole body hurt. Not the individual parts. My whole body. Like one big pain. Until then, I didn't think that one's whole body could hurt.

The coughing, wheezing, and gasping I could have dealt with were it not for my whole body hurting every time I coughed, gasped, or wheezed. The doc finally wrote me a scrip for something that sent me right to La-La land, and I spent the next few days mercifully stoned.

Mind you, the doctor said that mine was a relatively mild case. Heh. I'd hate to know what a bad case was like.

That Russki Flu also was the only time I remember being really sick as a child or teen-ager. The next time I felt really sick was when I came down with pneumonia when I was in my 20's, and the next time after that was when I had the mother of all gall bladder attacks when I was in my 40's. Now that was an experience. I couldn't get off the floor to call 911, so I just kind of writhed around in pain on the floor waiting to die.

Oh yeah, back to the flu. Nothing to mess around with. I was a young, healthy kid -- a marathoner, a varsity wrestler and swimmer, a power lifter, and a lifeguard -- and the Russki Flu knocked me flat on my well-defined gluteus maximus for a week. It's no joke.

-Rich
 
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JOhnH said:
Is that just a gut feel based on past years, or do you have any evidence that they missed the target again?
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No not my gut feeling at all. I heard that on the news on the car radio on the way into work on Monday.
 
AdamZ said:
No not my gut feeling at all. I heard that on the news on the car radio on the way into work on Monday.
Click to expand...

I think they may have been mistaken. The papers around here are reporting that the strain hospitals are seeing now is H3N2, which is one of the three strains in this year's vaccine.

-Rich
 
JOhnH said:
Is that just a gut feel based on past years, or do you have any evidence that they missed the target again?
Click to expand...
There are actually 3 strains making the rounds this year. They got 2 of them covered in the vaccine. 65% isn't that bad.
 
I'm already hosed.

Not the flu, but a freakin' cold that won't quit. Karen kindly brought it home for me from medical land and/or hanging out with 200 of her closest friends at chorus.

Either way, it sucks. It has decided to stop messing with my head and sinuses and is attempting to migrate to lungs. Today was the first day the cough finally got productive. Oh joy.

Started Saturday night. Maybe Friday of last week.

Staying hydrated and warm ... This winter blows. Cold out, dry as heck, no snow, static zapping myself on everything metal in the house, even with wood floors, and this evil rhinovirus.

In three years it's only been this cold and one week of flu-like symptoms about that long ago, too.

I hate being sick. Grrr.

The good news? One of my co-workers kids had brain cancer at age three, found late summer of last year. The docs got all of it and have pronounced little Gus cancer free at age four after a surgery, chemo, and radiation. Thank God.

Kinda puts my little head cold to shame and keeps it all in perspective. If I could trade head cold time for pediatric oncology time, I'd have a head cold all year if it could give a four year old that cancer-free prognosis.

A cheer went up (virtually in e-mail) at the office when he told us the good news.
 
RJM62 said:
I spent the winter recess with the Russian Flu one year when I was in high school. I don't remember it being a lot of fun.

The thing I do remember most about it was that my whole body hurt. Not the individual parts. My whole body. Like one big pain. Until then, I didn't think that one's whole body could hurt.

The coughing, wheezing, and gasping I could have dealt with were it not for my whole body hurting every time I coughed, gasped, or wheezed. The doc finally wrote me a scrip for something that sent me right to La-La land, and I spent the next few days mercifully stoned.

Mind you, the doctor said that mine was a relatively mild case. Heh. I'd hate to know what a bad case was like.

That Russki Flu also was the only time I remember being really sick as a child or teen-ager. The next time I felt really sick was when I came down with pneumonia when I was in my 20's, and the next time after that was when I had the mother of all gall bladder attacks when I was in my 40's. Now that was an experience. I couldn't get off the floor to call 911, so I just kind of writhed around in pain on the floor waiting to die.

Oh yeah, back to the flu. Nothing to mess around with. I was a young, healthy kid -- a marathoner, a varsity wrestler and swimmer, a power lifter, and a lifeguard -- and the Russki Flu knocked me flat on my well-defined gluteus maximus for a week. It's no joke.

-Rich
Click to expand...
I got that one as a teen too, back in the '50s. I really expected to die. My doctor treated it with penicillin pills that I could not swallow.
 
Last year, in preparation for my vacation, I got these vaccinations: flu, pneumonia, DPT, shingles. I didn't want to catch anything and didn't want to spread anything to the grandchildren.
 
AdamZ said:
I got my shot back in October. I've hear how bad the outbreak is this year but I've also hear that the Flu strain that we've been experiencing this year was not included in this years vaccine.
Click to expand...

This is why I don't get flu shots. I prefer to make my immune system do something now and then, anyway. Keep its proficiency up. ;)
 
Ted DuPuis said:
This is why I don't get flu shots. I prefer to make my immune system do something now and then, anyway. Keep its proficiency up. ;)
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Not getting a flu shot is like not reading the POH before you fly a new airplane. You will probably live, but it is so much easier if you read the manual (got a flu shot) first.

Scared of needles are we? :eek: :rofl:
 
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Ted DuPuis said:
This is why I don't get flu shots. I prefer to make my immune system do something now and then, anyway. Keep its proficiency up. ;)
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Vaccines prime the immune system, so it can do its job more effectively. However, you're a young enough guy that influenza might not be lethal. I'm actually thinking of getting a shot for the first time ever. I'm getting on in years.
 
steingar said:
Vaccines prime the immune system, so it can do its job more effectively. However, you're a young enough guy that influenza might not be lethal. I'm actually thinking of getting a shot for the first time ever. I'm getting on in years.
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Flu just killed a healthy 60 year old here. :yes:

Get a shot now, while you still can, supplies are gonna run low.
 
PilotAlan said:
Get your flu shot AND wash you hands *right then*.

Many sick people go in and out of the pharmacy/Dr's office where you are getting your shot. Everything you are touching (doorknob, chair, whatever) has been touched by a bunch of sick people.

Don't touch your face, and thoroughly wash your hands as soon as your vaccination os complete. Many people get sick from going to the place to get their shot.
Click to expand...
Same thing with gas pump handles. I've read somewhere that they are about the germiest things to touch. I wear gloves, or if it's too warm to look dorkie, I use handiwipes after I pump my gas.
 
I just give my 2 year old a kiss when she comes home from preschool once per week. You put 100 toddlers together and it is a veritable petri dish of disease and pestilence. I figure that keeps my immune system topped up. :dunno:
 
Geico266 said:
Not getting a flu shot is like not reading the POH before you fly a new airplane. You will probably live, but it is so much easier if you read the manual (got a flu shot) first.

Scared of needles are we? :eek: :rofl:
Click to expand...

Not scared of needles - I just know enough about vaccines to know what I want and what I don't, plus why. Note: I don't tell others not to, just say that I have my reasons why I don't. If you can't respect that, then I'll resume badgering your fake, overpriced airplanes. ;)
 
If flu shots really work how come as we inoculate more and more people that we are still getting more and more outbreaks of the flu? Should we be seeing fewer outbreaks?
 
ScottM said:
If flu shots really work how come as we inoculate more and more people that we are still getting more and more outbreaks of the flu? Should we be seeing fewer outbreaks?
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Higher population densities and more personal transportation.
 
James_Dean said:
I just give my 2 year old a kiss when she comes home from preschool once per week. You put 100 toddlers together and it is a veritable petri dish of disease and pestilence. I figure that keeps my immune system topped up. :dunno:
Click to expand...

There used to be a belief, especially in Mediterranean cultures, that you could keep kids healthy by giving them a little dirt to eat once in a while. Seriously. I've heard this from more than a few old folks. I suppose there actually was some truth in it: It was probably an early form of inoculation.

Along the same lines, I believe that the current obsession with disinfecting everything in our world probably does more harm than good. I see disinfecting wipes popping up in more and more places: grocery stores, gas stations, public office buildings, even the University libraries I sometimes hang out in to justify my alumni association dues and chuckle at the young geniuses.

I think there's a lot of natural inoculation available out there that people miss out on by over-sanitizing their worlds. I don't use antiseptic wipes, lotions, or dish detergent. I used to use them after handling my turtles but I don't even do that any more. And yet I almost never get sick -- not even a case of the sniffles.

I also was kind of an unusually cruddy kid because of all the sports I played and my outdoor recreation (hiking, camping, etc.). Yet I missed only one day of school in my fours years of high school, and that was because I got my nose broken in a fight. (Hey, the other guy was a Golden Gloves boxer.) And I have missed exactly three days of work in my adult life due to illness (not counting the gall bladder surgery, which is a different sort of thing).

Another mistake I think people make is sealing their homes to the point that they become germ incubators. I always have a window cracked, even on the coldest days; and I take advantage of warm winter days (like today) to turn off the heat and open all the windows for a while to swap out the air in the house.

I also drive with my car window open all winter, and the only things I've been flying lately are open-cockpit ultralights. I freeze my 'nads off, but I never get sick. I also have DM2, which I'm told lowers your resistance; but you couldn't tell it by me.

I really think that people would be doing themselves a favor by not obsessing so much over germs. The body has its own way of dealing with them if you give it a chance.

-Rich
 
ScottM said:
If flu shots really work how come as we inoculate more and more people that we are still getting more and more outbreaks of the flu? Should we be seeing fewer outbreaks?
Click to expand...

I think a lot of it has to do with poor immune system performance.

If you always let the AP fly the ILS, you'll probably do a crappy job hand flying it.
 
bbchien said:
Ted, I see you are still in the "immortal" phase of your life..... :)
Click to expand...

I look at it as the "luddite" stage. :)

I have my philosophical as well as statistical/engineering reasons. Like I said, I do not presume to tell anyone else what to do, I just know what I choose to do and why. :)
 
ScottM said:
But those same things have been going on while we have virtually wiped out other diseases. What is different about the flu virus that makes it so hard to control?
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They have to predict which flu is going to be here a year from now based on computer models of new flu strains being discovered in remote areas. Lead times for vaccine testing, cultivation, production, and distribution. One strain of flu is not the same as another.

Okay, who is this really, and what have you done with Scott?:rofl:
 
ted believes in natural selection. unlike many he not only talks the talk he walks the walk :D

PS i haven't ever gotten a flu shot either. Mostly out of laziness I guess.
 
I don't think I ever got a flu shot until I was in my 40s. Never had the flu either. Now I get one every year with no ill effects and still haven't had the flu.
 
tonycondon said:
ted believes in natural selection. unlike many he not only talks the talk he walks the walk :D

PS i haven't ever gotten a flu shot either. Mostly out of laziness I guess.
Click to expand...

That is correct. You have hit on part of my philosophical reasoning for not getting one.
 
Geico266 said:
They have to predict which flu is going to be here a year from now based on computer models of new flu strains being discovered in remote areas. Lead times for vaccine testing, cultivation, production, and distribution. One strain of flu is not the same as another.

Okay, who is this really, and what have you done with Scott?:rofl:
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I understand what they do each year. But that does not answer the question.

Poliomyelitis is also a viral disease that was wiped out in the late 50s and 60s for all intents and purposes. We do not have a yearly polio vaccine that depends on which strain of polio we guess will be the scourge of the next 12 months. So why is the flu virus so tricky that it cannot be dealt with once and for all? Or is it that our vaccines for that virus are not up to the challenge. Of course the tin foil hat brigade could also throw out that by addressing the flu this way there is far more money to be made by big pharma.
 
RJM62 said:
There used to be a belief, especially in Mediterranean cultures, that you could keep kids healthy by giving them a little dirt to eat once in a while. Seriously. I've heard this from more than a few old folks. I suppose there actually was some truth in it: It was probably an early form of inoculation.

Along the same lines, I believe that the current obsession with disinfecting everything in our world probably does more harm than good. I see disinfecting wipes popping up in more and more places: grocery stores, gas stations, public office buildings, even the University libraries I sometimes hang out in to justify my alumni association dues and chuckle at the young geniuses.

I think there's a lot of natural inoculation available out there that people miss out on by over-sanitizing their worlds. I don't use antiseptic wipes, lotions, or dish detergent. I used to use them after handling my turtles but I don't even do that any more. And yet I almost never get sick -- not even a case of the sniffles.

I also was kind of an unusually cruddy kid because of all the sports I played and my outdoor recreation (hiking, camping, etc.). Yet I missed only one day of school in my fours years of high school, and that was because I got my nose broken in a fight. (Hey, the other guy was a Golden Gloves boxer.) And I have missed exactly three days of work in my adult life due to illness (not counting the gall bladder surgery, which is a different sort of thing).

Another mistake I think people make is sealing their homes to the point that they become germ incubators. I always have a window cracked, even on the coldest days; and I take advantage of warm winter days (like today) to turn off the heat and open all the windows for a while to swap out the air in the house.

I also drive with my car window open all winter, and the only things I've been flying lately are open-cockpit ultralights. I freeze my 'nads off, but I never get sick. I also have DM2, which I'm told lowers your resistance; but you couldn't tell it by me.

I really think that people would be doing themselves a favor by not obsessing so much over germs. The body has its own way of dealing with them if you give it a chance.

-Rich
Click to expand...

This pretty much sums up our parenting regarding communal immunity. When the kids play we WANT them to get dirty. Anti-microbials are banned in our house and we refuse antibiotics except for REAL illness. In those cases it is almost always an ear infection that necessitates the medicine. Kiss the dog? Sure. Five second rule? Eh, ten is probably fine. My wife turns them outside in the summer and they aren't allowed back in unless something is bleeding, bent, or the sun is going down(we do have a fenced in back yard to contain the littlest ones). In the winter they can come back in when they have snotcicles. Even though my wife is a domestic engineer we take the pre kindergarten kids for a regular daycare visits so they can interact socially and exchange germs.

We do STRONGLY believe in vaccination as a first line defense to keep the bad ones mitigated. We have some pretty darn healthy kids.
 
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