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#1
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Flu season could be severe this year
Looks like flu prognosticators/vaccine manufacturers might have been off
a little off this year in their guesses as to which strains would be prevalent. The Pikes Peak region has been hit hard already; ~1/3 of the kids at a nearby high school were out Monday, most, I suspect, with flu. (See article at http://gazette.com/display.php?sid=659945). Ski season really gets into full swing this weekend (thank heavens it's been snowing heavily at many of the ski areas this week!), so be prepared/careful if you're headed this way for the holidays. :-) from www.reutershealth.com; Health eLine, 11/18/03 Flu season could be severe this year Last Updated: 2003-11-18 8:23:10 -0400 (Reuters Health) By Megan Rauscher NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - This year's influenza season has started earlier in the U.S. than it has in the past three years, and the influenza viruses circulating this year have previously been associated with more severe disease, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). One strain that is circulating is not part of the influenza vaccine currently being given to prevent influenza. All this has CDC officials "very concerned," director Dr. Julie Gerberding said at a press briefing with reporters Monday. "This could be a worse than usual flu season," she said. Some parts of the country - particularly Texas and Colorado - are seeing very high levels of widespread flu infections, according to Gerberding. This year's influenza vaccine for the Northern Hemisphere will protect against three strains: H3N2 Panama, H1N1 New Caledonia, and influenza B Hong Kong. Early surveillance data suggests that a high proportion of flu this year is of the H3N2 strain, a type of influenza A. "In some previous situations, H3N2 strains have been associated with perhaps more severe disease," Gerberding said. But the strain that CDC is most concerned about right now is a "drift" version of H3N2 called the Fijian strain. "It is very similar to H3N2 Panama, it's just drifted a little from the Panama strain," Gerberding said. "Animal studies suggest that the current vaccine will provide cross protection against this strain, but we are watching that very carefully and we will know more as the flu season evolves," she continued. "It's a very common thing, as flu strains gradually evolve in people, we don't always have exactly the same strain in the vaccine that is circulating in the community and our experience so far historically has been that whatever the drift is, the vaccine will still provide some cross protection," Gerberding said. An estimated 114,000 people are hospitalized with influenza each year and 36,000 die from influenza-related complications. "We are still very early in the flu season," Gerberding said, and she strongly encouraged people to get vaccinated now. "This is the time for Americans to really step up to the plate and get vaccinated against influenza, especially because this could be a worse-than-usual flu season and especially because we have this particular strain circulating," Gerberding said. "The point is that people need to get their flu shot." |
#2
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Flu season could be severe this year
"JG" wrote in message t... Looks like flu prognosticators/vaccine manufacturers might have been off a little off this year in their guesses as to which strains would be prevalent. The Pikes Peak region has been hit hard already; ~1/3 of the kids at a nearby high school were out Monday, most, I suspect, with flu. Nice shot at the flu manufacturers. However, from another thread: "Rich Shewmaker" wrote in message ... No, the epidemiologists did not guess wrong, so wipe that sneer off your face. The strains included in this year's vaccine a H1N1, A/New Caledonia/20/99 H3N2, A/Panama/2007/99 (an A/Moscow/10/99-like virus) B/Hong Kong/330/2001-like virus strain It was known last spring that an antigenic variant of the H3N2-A influenza was beginning to circulate, but at that time, a representative virus of that strain suitable for manufacture had not been isolated. To include this strain would have delayed production of this year's vaccine, creating shortages, and caused many vaccination programs to be started late in the flu season. The news story you heard had it wrong, or you heard it wrong. The three virus strains included in the vaccine are still circulating, and are still "most likely" to cause you to have the flu. The divergent H3N2 is out there though, and, yes, this may be a bad year for flu. --Rich |
#3
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Flu season could be severe this year
"Marko Proberto" wrote in message
t... "JG" wrote in message t... Looks like flu prognosticators/vaccine manufacturers might have been off a little off this year in their guesses as to which strains would be prevalent. The Pikes Peak region has been hit hard already; ~1/3 of the kids at a nearby high school were out Monday, most, I suspect, with flu. Nice shot at the flu manufacturers. However, from another thread: "Rich Shewmaker" wrote in message ... No, the epidemiologists did not guess wrong, so wipe that sneer off your face. The strains included in this year's vaccine a H1N1, A/New Caledonia/20/99 H3N2, A/Panama/2007/99 (an A/Moscow/10/99-like virus) B/Hong Kong/330/2001-like virus strain It was known last spring that an antigenic variant of the H3N2-A influenza was beginning to circulate, but at that time, a representative virus of that strain suitable for manufacture had not been isolated. To include this strain would have delayed production of this year's vaccine, creating shortages, and caused many vaccination programs to be started late in the flu season... Time--hindsight--will tell whether it was a lousy call to start production w/o including the H3N2 *Fiji* strain. I was under the impression that flu-vaccine manufacturers rely on the advice of *gubmnt* epidemiologists (e.g., the CDC) regarding which flu strains will be most prevalent/most deleterious in a given year. As such, I don't hold the manufacturers (no shot at them g) accountable. I'm just hoping that since the flu's arrived so (relatively) early here, it might, as some are predicting (hoping?), be gone sooner. (Fat chance, perhaps; out-of-state skiers may well re-introduce it to the state 'til late spring. sigh) |
#4
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Flu season could be severe this year
According to an article on the New York Times website (and probably in
today's Times), it is a WHO committee that recommends the composition of the vaccine. I am sure the CDC has input to the committee at the World Health Organization. The article also said that there is antigens from influenza viruses that are similar to the one circulating. So,. there may be a lot of cross-reactivity, meaning that the vaccine may provide some protection.And there have been no reported cases of vaccine failure. Jeff |
#5
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Flu season could be severe this year
"JG" wrote:
The Pikes Peak region has been hit hard already; ~1/3 of the kids at a nearby high school were out Monday, most, I suspect, with flu. Ski season really gets into full swing this weekend (thank heavens it's been snowing heavily at many of the ski areas this week!) Dpoes anyone else suspect that it might be the dreaded "white flu", not the viral kind? Tsu Dho Nimh -- When businesses invoke the "protection of consumers," it's a lot like politicians invoking morality and children - grab your wallet and/or your kid and run for your life. |
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