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FizzyWater · 09-07-2009, 10:59 PM

Two years ago, it seemed I spent the entire winter season fighting off one bug after another. (Before that, I seldom got anything but occasional colds).

For the first time last winter, I submitted to have my first ever flu shot at 47! I'll admit, the warning that you could get Guillain-Barré syndrome gave me pause (just checked the CDC page - last time that was officially associated with a vaccination was the 1976 swine flu vaccination!), but I did it anyway.

I read the paperwork. I understood it was a "best guess" kind of thing - that it was based on expected flu viruses and I could still be exposed to other flu viruses and get sick. Luckily, I didn't get sick last year (or get GBS, for that matter!) But I knew it could have gone the other way, too.

When I first started hearing about the swine flu - that it was making lots of people really sick, my had a low mortality rate - I thought the same thing that's been said above: it'd be better to get exposed and develop the immunity!

I recently picked up an ebook I bought last winter: "The Great Influenza: The Epic Story of the Deadliest Plague in History" by John Barry. It's been interesting reading (although I do think the author took way too long to get to the point!)

But one of the things the book discusses is that there is some conjecture that the 1917-1918 flu began in a particularly virulent strain in the midwest, where it killed young and old in high percentages. It was carried into military camps (I picture "boot camp" 1917 style), but had mutated to a milder version. It made a high number of people sick (again, young and old), but most survived it.

Then, as it continued to go out into the human population, it mutated back into the more virulent strain by 1918...where it was killing off people in high percentages. And the settings this author uses is these 1917-8 "boot camps" (not his description, just how I think of them) - the people dying were 18, 19, 20, 21 year olds! Not just the very young and very old.

One thing he did mention was exposure to the earlier, milder version did give better immunity to the nasty strain.

It all gives me a greater appreciation with the health care people who worry that seemingly innocuous outbreaks could turn into something bigger, something worse.

That said, I'm not sure whether I'll get the H1N1 virus shot. I'm not in the CDC recommended groups at this time. But I do work in a big office building - one with a built-in day care center and lots and lots of parents (and kids really are little germ incubators!). As they talk about cutting our cubicles down to a yet smaller size to cram more and more people into the building, I do worry about my increased chances of being exposed to something nasty.

Oh, and I for one worry that the current stress on "hand sanitizers" is actually hurting us more than helping. Hand sanitizers only work on bacteria, not viruses.

09-07-2009, 10:59 PM	#72
FizzyWater You kids get off my lawn! Posts: 4,220 Karma: 73492664 Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Columbus, Ohio Device: Oasis 2 and Libra H2O and half a dozen older models I can't let go of	Two years ago, it seemed I spent the entire winter season fighting off one bug after another. (Before that, I seldom got anything but occasional colds). For the first time last winter, I submitted to have my first ever flu shot at 47! I'll admit, the warning that you could get Guillain-Barré syndrome gave me pause (just checked the CDC page - last time that was officially associated with a vaccination was the 1976 swine flu vaccination!), but I did it anyway. I read the paperwork. I understood it was a "best guess" kind of thing - that it was based on expected flu viruses and I could still be exposed to other flu viruses and get sick. Luckily, I didn't get sick last year (or get GBS, for that matter!) But I knew it could have gone the other way, too. When I first started hearing about the swine flu - that it was making lots of people really sick, my had a low mortality rate - I thought the same thing that's been said above: it'd be better to get exposed and develop the immunity! I recently picked up an ebook I bought last winter: "The Great Influenza: The Epic Story of the Deadliest Plague in History" by John Barry. It's been interesting reading (although I do think the author took way too long to get to the point!) But one of the things the book discusses is that there is some conjecture that the 1917-1918 flu began in a particularly virulent strain in the midwest, where it killed young and old in high percentages. It was carried into military camps (I picture "boot camp" 1917 style), but had mutated to a milder version. It made a high number of people sick (again, young and old), but most survived it. Then, as it continued to go out into the human population, it mutated back into the more virulent strain by 1918...where it was killing off people in high percentages. And the settings this author uses is these 1917-8 "boot camps" (not his description, just how I think of them) - the people dying were 18, 19, 20, 21 year olds! Not just the very young and very old. One thing he did mention was exposure to the earlier, milder version did give better immunity to the nasty strain. It all gives me a greater appreciation with the health care people who worry that seemingly innocuous outbreaks could turn into something bigger, something worse. That said, I'm not sure whether I'll get the H1N1 virus shot. I'm not in the CDC recommended groups at this time. But I do work in a big office building - one with a built-in day care center and lots and lots of parents (and kids really are little germ incubators!). As they talk about cutting our cubicles down to a yet smaller size to cram more and more people into the building, I do worry about my increased chances of being exposed to something nasty. Oh, and I for one worry that the current stress on "hand sanitizers" is actually hurting us more than helping. Hand sanitizers only work on bacteria, not viruses.