Two years ago I got the flu after getting the flu shot. I got really sick (104+ fever) for two days, but was much better in 2 days. I know it was the flu because I was one of the people who got cultured. Éamon was just 4 months old, and I had suffered a pretty severe complication during his birth, so we were hyper vigilant to any fever type illnesses. Long story short, since I had the vaccine the duration of the flu was much shorter than it would otherwise be, and I was passing antibodies to Éamon at the start. Seriously, my regular doctor was freaking out about the baby. She even volunteered to call the pediatrician for me. Éamon never got sick, the nurse at the pediatrician was a like 'just keep breast feeding him and you'll be fie. So, get the shot. Even if it is not a perfect match (in my case the flu had started to mutate and I got that strain.) you'll recover much faster. The one time I got the flu without being recently vaccinated, I was sick for almost 2weeks
I'm reading a book on the 1918 flu pandemic that killed almost 100 million people worldwide. A flu shot doesn't protect completely, but it's still way, way better than nothing. I see my GP on Wednesday and I'm asking for the shot.
That was the swine flu! We're probably due for another swine bound pathogen (we already got the bird flu recurrence out of the way in 2007), so clearly the only real option for mankind is to render all the world's pigs into bacon and enjoy a state mandated but delicious Month of Bacon.
No, that was the Spanish flu. While it did occur in pigs as well, the available evidence suggests that it started in humans and then migrated to pigs. The swine flu pandemic happened in 2009 and was significantly less effective at murdering everyone.
My great grandfather passed from the Spanish Flu pandemic. I believe it hit him during round three. He was a strapping NH farm boy who never ever was sick. It left my great grandmother with 2 small girls (my grandmother was 2) and a rock farm. It is theorized that a number of deaths of otherwise healthy people was due to a cytokine storm reaction. Http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cytokine_storm Freaks me out. I always get a flu shot if I can. I'd rather be somewhat prepared.
I always learned the theory behind the Spanish Flu was that it basically started in birds, went to pigs, then went to humans? For what it's worth, Wiki says: Forgot about the 2009 swine flu epidemic. Fine, my bacon joke can be safely ignored! Edit: Interestingly, recent research says it appears that 1918 flu looks like it came from an avian vector. So maybe it just went bird->human?
Interesting. The theory in this book is that the first wave came from Haskell, Kansas. A couple of boys from there went to join the Army while the flu was going around, and they passed it on to their camp and it spread from there as soldiers left for other places. Author does say the theory isn't definite, though.
Oh you must be living in the US because here in Canada vaccines, such as flu shots, are free because the governments believe that it's better and cheaper to have preventive medicine than when an illness spreads through cities, gets people sick enough they can't go to work, adding up health care costs, and slows down the economy. Just sayin'...
Hey, man, it's not like we're talking about people that would be dying of the plague here, just the poors. And let's be honest: it's not like we have a shortage of them, right?
What kind of commies care about business running efficiently? This is Amuericah! We only care about employees working as much as possible.
The only argument that can be made against universal vaccination is one founded in a complete lack of understanding of the biological mechanisms of disease. You do not need to care about someone for you to be better off for their not carrying an infection. Caring is optional. Every infection is a vector for spreading the illness further - it increases the risks to you and those you care about. Vaccination is a win-win scenario. It's not like, say, food stamps; leaving aside what anyone thinks of it, "I don't get anything out of this, so why should I pay for it?" is valid reasoning. A leads to B leads to C. There is measurable - and favorable - return on investment from an individual's financial contribution to a universal vaccination program. Opposing it is like saying you don't get anything out of having roads because you don't drive.
I've also heard "Why should I pay for my local schools when I don't have any kids?", which makes my brain hurt on so many levels. (Especially when it comes from someone who attended public school herself.) People make some really dumb arguments for why they shouldn't have to help out the society around them, despite gaining huge advantages from it constantly.
Hey look! There is a book, "Melanie's Marvelous Measles": http://www.dailylife.com.au/life-an...milies/do-you-know-a-prik-20130111-2cko9.html WEEP FOR HUMANITY!
Gods damn it. I read the OP, but a while ago. Completely forgot. Sorry! But hey, have you heard about this kids book about measels? AMAZING!
I have never had the measles, because my parents were missionaries and we got vaccinated against every damn thing they were willing to vaccinate people against at every possible interval. I've kinda slacked on that as an adult, but for about eighteen years, if there was a human-approved vaccine, I was getting it. (I was over eighteen when my parents called us together to get the rabies vaccine; they pointed out that it was my choice, but the vaccine hurts a hell of a lot less than the rabies treatment you get if bitten by a rabid animal when not vaccinated. I got the vaccine.) I should go top up on these things again; it's been long enough that I bet a lot of them have expired.
Easy peasy vaccine schedule for adults, if anyone else is as clueless as I am. http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/schedules/downloads/adult/adult-schedule-easy-read.pdf Looks like the only ones I have up-to-date are my tetanus booster, MMR, and Hep A & B (assuming those don't require boosters). Arguably I don't need the HPV vacc, or the varicella vacc. 5/10 ain't bad I guess. Also I had NO idea there was a pneumonia vaccine. That would have been useful a few years ago...
It's like the flu vaccine (well, like when the flu vaccine first came out), they really only recommend it for elderly/severely obese/anyone with a compromised immune system. With all the hiking I do, I should really consider a tetanus booster. I wonder if that's something I can get from one of those pharmacy clinic visits. Aha! Googling says yes.
Walgreens does physicals now? Snap! I'm so behind on this new-fangled low-level health care provision system. I knew they did flu shots but not all that other stuff. Jeez, I really need to get a GP and pay a visit. I mean, I'm relatively healthy but who knows how long that will last? I've already lost one under-25-years-old friend to cancer (renal cell carcinoma) and another is currently fighting leukemia. And I have two friends who have had tumors removed in the last three months or so. And another friend who went through chemo a couple of years ago. AM I RADIOACTIVE? Shit! :(
Don't think I've ever gotten the Hep vaccines and I'm probably due for a tetanus. The last time I got any vaccinations was when I was applying for my green card and I had to have proof my tetanus and MMR were up to date. I had both MMRs when I was younger but no record of it so I got a third. I thought this was all silly as I had already been living in the US for about a year and half at the time. Any diseases I might bring in would have already crossed the border long ago.
My understanding of Hep is that if you're an adult and not working in food service, it's not really something you need. I'm probably really wrong about that, so feel free to dismiss that. Tetanus was required for my job two years ago unless I had proof of a booster. A week after I got it I cut myself on a cheese grater and needed seven stitches. The doc asked me when my last tetanus shot was, and when he found out he was like, "lucky, you'd have to get one now if you didn't already have it." It was a pretty painful shot, I'm glad I don't need it again for another 8 years.
Grating cheese. I actually only had one laceration, but because of where it was on my hand it needed a lot of very closely-placed stitches in order to heal properly. There's almost no visible scarring left though! I have pictures of the stitches if you want one. :)
I'm good, that just seemed like a ludicrous number of stitches for what sounded like a relatively minor cut.
It wasn't minor, that's why I needed stitches >_> Also, if you think about how a cheese grater actually cuts (I sure have...), it's not a straight line either. The grater itself was one of those box-style ones, so I had set it flat onto the counter and shifted all of my weight onto my hand to do the grating, which contributed to how deep it was. I was lucky enough to pull my weight up and hand off quickly enough to only have one cut; it easily could have been more. I don't use those kinds of graters anymore.
The "pneumonia vaccine" or otherwise the pneumococcal vaccine provides partial protection against strep pneumo. It isn't for life, the frequency of non-responders is common enough and won't necessarily protect against pneumonia, though at least if someone does respond they may be protected if it is an invasive isolate. Secondly, pneumonia can be caused by a varierty of organisms, not necessarily strep pneumo which this vaccine provides limited protection against. So it may have helped, or it may not have.
Since this seems to be the most popular place for discussions on vaccinations around here: Source. And just when it seemed like people were finally getting over the whole vaccinations-cause-autism stuff. The Pandemirx H1N1 shot was given to 30 million people; even if there turns out to be a direct link all 800 new cases of narcolepsy, it would be a bit of a bummer to see people start swearing off vaccines in great numbers.
But flu vaccines are a completely different case, though. Much less effective and much less needed, so looking at their benefits compared to cost and possible side effects is important - I read, but cannot find the link now, that vaccinating 100 people for flu will reduce the infection rate from 2,7 to 1,2, which isn't terribly efficient.
There's this: Boys are also going to start getting the HPV jab as well in order to prevent them from carrying HPV and in turn drop cervical cancer rates.
