<p>Are any of you dealing with an influenza epidemic in your county? It seems to be the predominant news story in my city; several children have apparently died from secondary complications who allegedly had no underlying medical problems. ERs are filled to capacity and one ER doc said he is getting nervous about having enough beds to cover the onslaught.</p>
<p>Some 10% of the cases they are seeing are due to a strain which was NOT covered in this year’s flu vaccine. DH pointed out that this is so typical of the news media to say that rather than that 90% of the reported cases were caused by strains which were indeed targeted by the vaccine. </p>
<p>DH is the only one in our family who has not gotten his vaccine. Ds and I all got ours before Thanksgiving, and DH has been saying for weeks that he will get his tomorrow.:rolleyes:</p>
<p>We have had more people die in our state this year so far then all of last year total so yes, it’s getting bad. A lot of healthy, young people in the hospital and some that have died. I checked stats on the CDC and 36% of the reported cases were from a B strain not in the vaccine, that is a big number actually. The rest of the reported cases were strains included in the vaccine–but that doesn’t help if you don’t get vaccinated.</p>
<p>It seems to have exploded in FL after the holidays. People go on vacations and come home ill. My spine doctor cancelled all appointments, and others are returning sick. Our office is on alert, trying to keep sick patients away, not letting people into kitchen, lots of cleaning. All of us have had cancellations.</p>
<p>I have chicken soup cooking now. My friend, at tail end of flu, flew north to film for Discovery channel. He’ll be exhausted and soup best medicine, besides the antibiotics.</p>
<p>I thought the B strain was in this year’s shot?</p>
<p>H and I both got flu shots in October. S1 working in Colorado got the flu last week and has recovered, he did not get a flu shot. S2, no shot and is Ok so far at his college and S3 with us at home, no shot, is getting one on Monday as long as he doesn’t come down with the flu this weekend :-)</p>
<p>I don’t believe it has reached CDC statistical epidemic level yet, but it’s really, really nasty this year. It takes about 10 days for the antibodies to work and it’s not to late for people to get a shot if they haven’t already.</p>
<p>OP, tell your DH to get down there tomorrow. Some areas are now reporting that they are running out of vaccine. We all got ours back in October… but you can still get the flu (even the same strain you were vaccinated for, it is not 100% effective), so we are handwashing and crossing our fingers. I was at the pharmacy last night to pick up an unrelated RX, and the woman behind the counter was coughing. I thought to myself that she REALLY should have stayed home, especially because people picking up RXs might have underlying conditions that could be affected.</p>
<p>^^^^There is a chance that if you have had the vaccine you will have a milder version of the flu if you do indeed contract one of the target viruses.</p>
<p>But the B version making the rounds is worrisome.</p>
<p>Wash hands, don’t touch your face, and please stay home if you are sick!</p>
<p>We have seen an exponential increase of requested flu tests in the lab where I work.
Testing kits are becoming difficult to obtain in numbers to keep pace.</p>
<p>Yes, wash hands. After I’ve been out in the real world, I always wash my hands before I touch my face. Very important. Washing hands works well.</p>
<p>Type flu trends into Google. Google aggregates data about searches to estimate severity. They are showing this is the worst in many years. You can select regions and see the current versus past.</p>
<p>I am totally kicking myself. We always get the flu vaccine but this year it got away from us. Now the ped is out of the shot, and the local drug store has it but won’t administer it to my younger D. >:/</p>
<p>It’s not bad in the DC area so far…key word, so far. Dad said Northwestern in Chicago is on bypass, and tons of people in his office are out with the flu (Chicagoland area)</p>
<p>I didn’t get the shot, I figure it can’t be worse than when I got swine flu in undergrad and was in bed for almost a week. I don’t touch my face, lysol my keyboard/mouse/chair/desk every morning, and hand sanitize any time I have touched anything communal prior to touching my pen, keyboard, or mouse</p>
<p>In So California, we don’t have a real problem yet. Spotty, I think. We all had the shots, although Dd got hers this week so it won’t take for awhile.She had to try a couple of different pharmacies before she could find it. They seem to have plenty of the “senior” shot, though, which I guess is a stronger dose.</p>
<p>This is a bit of a sore subject with me. Two of my daughters live in Boston…one works part time in a hospital so she was required to get the shot…the other has not had it it and I have urged her to get it…she is waiting for the free shots this weekend , but I worry about her because :
1 ) She doesn’t have a doctor up there yet
2 ) She has asthma</p>
<p>I offered to pay the whopping $31 to have her get it today bit she thinks I am over -reacting.</p>
<p>She tends to catch everything going around , so I am worried …she is taking the satnce of being able to take care of her own health</p>
<p>My husband had the flu last week , but he is feeling a little better now. I got the shot because he is away for the next week and feared getting it while he is gone.</p>
<p>My youngest and I both had H1N1 back in 2009 and were so sick …took us a long time to heal.</p>
<p>I have the flu (and had the shot). Both my kids had it over the holidays. I was talking with a friend who works at my kids’ elementary school; 20% of the kids and teachers were out at the beginning of the week. My mother has been hiding in her room in assisted living and still came down with it. (She is in another state, also had the vaccine.) </p>
<p>I cannot remember the last time I was sick. :(</p>
<p>Sorry 1moremom
The last time I was sick was H1N1…I think I have had every cold virus out there so when they come around, they pass me by. The year we had it , I had the regular flu shot and was on the list for the H1N1 , but got it before the vaccine was out …and there was a shortage</p>
<p>I’m a fanatic about making sure the family gets their shots. Even offered the kids $$ when they were younger and phobic about needles to get them. Thankfully the one that hates needles can get the nasal mist. </p>
<p>I’m concerned about my 84yo mother who refuses to gets flu shots, lives alone in MD, but is otherwise healthy. She always seems to get a cold every year but bounces back.</p>
<p>It can be worse, it can kill you. Or you could give it to someone with a compromised immune system or underlying problem, and it could kill them. So that would be a good reason to get the shot.</p>
<p>My mom is 82 and refuses flu shots because they don’t work. She had flu last week and it has now progressed to pneumonia. Sometimes she irks me.</p>
<p>I work in the ER and we are drowning . Wait times are tripled because the hospital is full and we can’t move people out of the emergency room. We are seeing both influenza A and B and everyone is really sick. We’re running out of flu test and the pharmacies are running out of Tamiflu. It’s a nightmare. And it’s not going to end anytime soon. Wash your hands, gargle with Listerine and use saline spray in your nose at least twice a day…and pray!</p>
I thought to myself that she REALLY should have stayed home, especially because people picking up RXs might have underlying conditions that could be affected.</p>