Flu Flu


I think everyone should take the flu seriously. After all, it kills from 2000-8000 Canadians every year. And even if it doesn't kill you, it's not any fun what-so-ever. By extension I think everyone should take H1N1 seriously, go get vaccinated, but let's not get out of hand.

The H1N1 boogie man is an easy story of lazy journalists (myself included). Everyday there are 'new deaths', 'vaccine fears', 'threats', and 'pandemic' are being flung out into the public sphere, which scares people. What scares people even more is that young people, between 18 - 40, with no 'underlying health conditions' have died from H1N1. But before everyone freaks out and mobs the vaccine line, let's look at the numbers again.

From 2000-8000 Canadians die every year from flu, 90% of those of people are over 65 years of age. Most people over 65 aren't getting sick with H1N1 because the virus already came through when they were younger. So what's left over is the 10% of younger people, which works out to 200-800 deaths in Canadians under 65.
Thus, in order to have H1N1 deaths be above that of a normal flu season, there would have to be 800 or more deaths in Canada by the end of March. The current deathtoll in Canada is 250 (as off Nov 23) and some health officials are saying it's already peaked for this first wave.

So it's hard to say at this point whether more people are dying or there are different people dying from H1N1 than the normal flu. However, it is looks like there are significantly more hospitalizations and outbreaks from H1N1 than normal flu. Just compare the flu report at the height of the 2007-2008 season with the most current report for this season. 3965 hospitalizations thus far in Canada with 576 ICU admissions. Nasty.

So I advise getting vaccinate for H1N1 as soon as you can. Being sick at home with flu sucks. Being sick at a hospital with flu would be completely awful.

Replies
Vaska
25 November 09

Let's discuss the real usefulness of flu shots...shall we?

I've never had one...I am not dead yet. And I have already had swine flu (it was a very tough one too).

jroy
25 November 09

well just cause you're not dead V doesn't mean the flu vaccine isn't useful. Avoiding going through the 'very tough' infections is the primary point.

Amongst most people up to around 65 years of age, the flu shot is very effective at starting up an immune response that effectively protects the body from flu infection. However, if you're over 65, the shot doesn't do much because it doesn't activate the right part of the immune system for older folks.

Of course for seasonal flu, you're always getting the best guess of the dominate strain for that season, so sometimes it's off the mark. However, for the H1N1 vaccine, there is no guess on the strain, it's just for H1N1.

Are there some other issues?

Yes, but I don't have all the details and don't feel like prepping for a dissertation.

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