<p>Is it just me, or did the US have a practically non-existent flu season in 2011-12? >>>>>>>></p>
<p>You are correct. We brace outselves every year for the onslaught of flu going to pneumonia. It did not happen last winter. Yay us!</p>
<p>Yes VaBluebird to all of your posts. I also have had true influenza once, and boy, people bat around the word “flu” all the time, for bad colds or stomach bugs, and BOY, they’re nothing compared to influenza. You kinda really do want to die. </p>
<p>So during winter in the office, I try to talk about “true flu” all the time, to try to educate patients about the differences.</p>
<p>Yes VaBluebird to all of your posts. I also have had true influenza once, and boy, people bat around the word “flu” all the time, for bad colds or stomach bugs, and BOY, they’re nothing compared to influenza. You kinda really do want to die. </p>
<p>So during winter in the office, I try to talk about “true flu” all the time, to try to educate patients about the differences. >>>>>>>>>>>></p>
<p>"You kinda really do want to die. "</p>
<p>I describe it as feeling like you’ve been hit by a Mack truck and every second is a minute, every minute an hour and every hour a day, as you PRAY to get through it.</p>
<p>Sorry, but I didn’t have time to read all the replies. But, if you are worried about a government conspiracy, looking at the CDC (a government agency) for “impartial” information would not be your first choice.</p>
<p>For reliable information not from a government agency, how about the Mayo clinic:
[Flu</a> shot: Your best bet for avoiding influenza - MayoClinic.com](<a href=“http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/flu-shots/ID00017]Flu”>Flu shot: Your best bet for avoiding influenza - Mayo Clinic)</p>
<p>Or a non-USA government agency:
<a href=“http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/Flu-jab/Pages/Introduction.aspx[/url]”>http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/Flu-jab/Pages/Introduction.aspx</a></p>
<p>If you really want the research, then here is a search link for Google Scholar that avoids government (.gov) sites:
<a href=“Google Scholar”>Google Scholar;
<p>I had the Hong Kong flu back in 1968 - true influenza. I remember being so sick that I would sit drooling saliva out of my mouth, because swallowing was agonizingly painful due to the severe sore throat the disease had produced.</p>
<p>Also, “stomach flu” is a total misnomer. In humans influenza is solely a disease of the lungs. The flue virus cannot infect the stomach. You may have a stomach virus, but it won’t be flu virus.</p>
<p>Thank you for the links Luminiz. These provide the type of stuff I am hearing from the no flu shot (no vaccine) people. The claim in the trailer was that as the number of vaccines have gone up so has other health problems in kids. I understand that association is not causation.nI also understand that we are better able to identify certain illnesses now and this causes it to look like there is an increase when in fact there isn’t.</p>
<p>Are other things taken into account when looking for possible explanations? Like maybe the amount of toxins we are exposed to daily. How about the chemicals in baby bottles, baby toys, shower curtains, the things we build our houses out of, the list goes on and on. </p>
<p>Can someone please comment on the links Luminiz provided?</p>
<p>The flu shot is not mandated. It is recommended especially for the elderly or immuno-compromised people that could die if they get sick. You can chose to get the inoculation or not. This is an entirely different situation than the vaccines that prevent our population from getting polio or other serious, serious illnesses that do not discriminate based on physical health or washing one’s hands. Already the consequences of people arbitrarily deciding that they don’t need diphtheria vaccines, measles vaccines, etc. have spawned outbreaks. There is no “government conspiracy” to hide anything and it’s rather sad that people get sucked into the urban myths that circulate.</p>
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<p>This was in one of the links given above (ant-vaccine). There was no scientific research given to verify this claim. Can it happen?</p>
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<p>I don’t know, but I googled the quote and it showed up on a website called “Truth is Scary” which tells you much about the origins.</p>
<p>" It is recommended especially for the elderly or immuno-compromised people that could die if they get sick."</p>
<p>True – but the #1 transmission vector is schoolchildren. They rarely die of flu, they just transmit it to people who DO die. This is plenty of reason to vaccinate one’s child.</p>
<p>^^I agree with your statement, I was trying to appease the “vaccines are baaad” crowd. I have been getting flu shots the past decade or so. I have very elderly parents that I see everyday, my dad age 90 survived pneumonia last winter fortunately, and my H takes a drug that compromises his immune system so we do consider flu shots important. I’m actually getting mine on Monday at work.</p>
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<p>The is a confusing jumble. To begin with, activation of “killer cells” (a nickname for cells more properly named “CD8+ cells”) is part of the normal immune response. not something that you get instead of the normal response. CD8+ cells are the key cells in detecting and destroying cells infected by viruses to prevent the virus from multiplying and spreading to other cells. If they were not activated for some reason you would very quickly succumb to just about any viral infection that came along.</p>
<p>The vaccines and their adjuvants frequently do induce tissue damage - local damage at the site of injection. That’s what causes the pain, redness, and swelling that so frequently accompany immunizations - and that almost always stays minor an goes away within a few days.</p>
<p>The part about blocking airways and causing death appears to be referring to anaphylaxis - a severe hypersensitivty (allergy) that some certain types of antigens can sometimes produce. The well-known deadly bee string or peanut allergies are examples of anaphylaxis. I’ve never heard of a vaccine or vaccine adjuvant causing such a thing. Indeed, vaccine scientists spend a lot of time and money in the development process making sure that such hypersensitivity is not induced. </p>
<p>That’s not say that no one was ever injured by a vaccine. Like any medicine, vaccines can have side effects. But vaccine development and production is one of the most heavily controlled, regulated, and monitored processes that the FDA gets involved with. All that testing and oversight is to ensure that the side-effects are mild and rare.</p>
<p>Thank you coureur, I have learned so much from you! I appreciate the facts.</p>
<p>Thank you for all your clear explanations and responses, coureur.
I have one chicken pox related question…do you know of any studies on severity of the disease and the likelyhood of shingles, or the possibility of re-infection with chicken pox later? One of mine had a Dr confirmed case of chicken pox in pre-school ( before vaccine was easily available and covered by ins.). Mildest case ever…like less than 30 pox on entire body.<br>
Is there a correlation between disease symptoms and immune response?</p>
<p>^^Even a very mild case of chicken pox will result in a long-term latent infection. So the risk of later getting shingles is there. Whether the risk of shingles or severity of shingles is affected by the severity of the original case of chicken pox, I do not know. To the best of my knowledge no studies have been done on this question.</p>
<p>Once you’ve gotten shingles, are you at a higher risk for getting it again?</p>
<p>^^Second and even third cases of shingles in one person sometimes happens but it’s relatively rare.</p>
<p>^^^^^^I hope so. I had shingles last spring and it was pretty miserable, especially during the five days or so before the rash arrived. Terrible pain, and sans rash, no earthly idea what was going on. When the rash finally showed up, the light bulb went on.</p>
<p>Thanks, coureur, for posting. I have given up arguing about this subject.</p>
<p>What would explain this?:</p>
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<p>[Vancouver</a> researcher finds flu shot is linked to H1N1 illness](<a href=“Home | Vancouver Sun”>Home | Vancouver Sun)</p>