Swine flu vaccinations

[F-4 Phantom]

True, in most cases it is a personal choice.

[MrClean]

The H1N1 flu is different from the regular flu. Therefore you must get both shots to be covered from the regular seasonal flu and the H1N1. I will hopefully be getting both when available. Also the "flu" bug changes every year- it is a different virus causing the flu each year. Researchers actually make educated guesses as to what virus will be responsible for the coming seasons flu and develop the vaccine based on those "guesses".
Last year my family missed the flu shots and my son missed 2 weeks of school with the flu. He is already preparing his bottom side for this years shot. LOL
I have been told that the 2 shots must be given at least one month apart so get your seasonal flu shot early if you plan on getting one.
The flu is not a bacteria and cannot be treated with antibiotics. It can be treated with certain antiviral medicines but they must be started soon after diagnosis and will only shorten the length of illness. And reading some of the research people are still dying even when treated appropriately-especially children and those with other preexisting conditions.
Like I said before everyone in my family will be getting H1N1 vaccine when available even my 17 year old whos is usually allowed to refuse. Not this year

[BubbleGumTiger]

yes I will

[F-4 Phantom]

Besides the anthrax series of shots, this was the most painful I have had..........Gamma Globulin (Desert Shield/Storm) I couldn't sit on my arse for 3 days....

[caglewis]

caglewis, I am not trying to argue but one thing I have wondered is how do we know that by giving the flu shots we are not the ones making the flue strain worse? Sometimes I just think things need to take their course.
The smallox and vaccine for the most part eliminated those diseases (except in 3rd world countries) but you said yourself the flue keeps evolving. it is not something we will ever totally get rid of, so in essence we are only making it worse. I am only talking about the flu, I don't really know much about this H1N1 but they have changed their monds so much about it I couldn't tell you if I should go to the Dr. and get antibiotics or if I should go to wal-mart and get some day quil. but if it going to become resistant to antibiotics then it will become resistant to the shot. there for only making things worse.

I know with my history of the flu shot I will not be getting it nor will my kids, My husband he will.

the H1N1 shot, I don't know enough about to decide to get it yet. Is it made from the same stuff the flu shot is? and just curious why wouldn't 1 shot like the H1N1 shot cover the regular flu?

mom - Vaccines never kill an organism - a vaccination causes your body to produce antibodies so you have immunity if you are exposed to the disease and either won't catch it at all or get a very mild case. Getting flu shots has no effect at all on the ability of viruses to mutate.
Bacteria, on the other hand, are killed by antibiotics, and can develop resistance to antibiotic therapy. Over-prescribing and mis-use of antibiotics can lead to the development of resistance by organisms. However, development of antibiotic resistance by bacteria and mutation of viruses are two unrelated and entirely different things.
Viruses mutate when different strains of flu co-mingle and breed new strains. Bear in mind, that a particular strain of virus in Lawrence Co may be marginally different from one in Scioto Co so when groups of people gather esp in enclosed places those different strains get coughed out and breathed in and mingle together. That's why you hear of huge viral epidemics on college campuses and military bases because so many people from distant geographical areas are in close contact with each other and different strains of flu create strains to which nobody has immunity. Vaccines do not kill organisms - they just make you resistant to certain strains, You can still have that organism in your throat, but it doesn't make you sick. If you cough it on someone who lacks immunity, however, they might get sick from it. And antibiotics only treat bacteria [strep, staph, etc] not viruses!!!!
Ordinary seasonal flu, even with the availability of flu vaccinations, kills nearly 40,000 people a year - "letting nature take it's course" will indeed cause individual immune systems to produce antibodies against a flu strain, but at a pretty high price. Way cheaper, easier, and safer to get a flu shot!

[mstangmom]

Ok cagelewis, I was always under the impression that the shots killed the virus. but I totally get what you are saying. and I appreciate the clarification. So then when some people do not catch the flu even when they live in the same house as someone who has it, or work with someone, or even touch a phone after someonw with it, is it safe to assume then that the person who did not catch it and did not have a flu shot has a natural immunity to it? and if so how do they develope that?

[mstangmom]

Let me clarify, I have not had the flu except when I got the flu shot. I have had bad head colds and such But nothing with a fever.

[caglewis]

mom - microbiology was my worst subject and worst grade I ever got in school. I gained whatever understanding of microbiology I have from 20+ years as an RN, observing patients, reading culture reports, and asking Dr's questions.
Your body is stimulated to produce antibodies that fight certain specific viral invaders on being exposed to - coming in contact with - them, and as a result you develop "immunity" - lack of susceptibility. A vaccine is tailored to provide that "exposure", in limited local form using weakened live viruses, thereby stimulating antibody production in your body and providing the ability to fight off those invaders and protect you from getting that particular disease.
However, every person's immune system is very different to start with and radically affected by certain diseases and certain medications. And viruses are entirely different from bacteria.
Having a bacterial disease [ie strep throat] confers no immunity against getting it again. However bacteria are large enough to be grown in a petri dish and readily identified microscopically, and medicine has produced antibiotics to treat/kill those bacteria.
Viruses are much smaller and can't be seen on usual microscopes, but they stimulate antibody production which can be readily identified. The way viral illnesses are specifically identified and diagnosed is not by "seeing the animal" but by finding its footprints. The "testing" done on flu vaccines involves checking [drawing a blood sample] to see if patients who have received the newly-produced vaccine have indeed produced antibodies against the virus. Of course they observe and monitor the "test" patients for side-effects as well.
But the immune system and ability to develop immunity is a funny and very individual thing - influenced by a host of fluctuating conditions: nutrition and vitamin intake status, temperature exposure, overall health, other medications, allergies, and genetics.
I think [but my knowledge in this area is a little weak] the reason polio and smallpox were more "eradicable" is because they were more "single strain" organisms that did not tend to combine and mutate. Once most of the possible host population had been immunized and rendered "unsusceptible", those organisms had no foothold medium to sustain them and promote their reproduction and therefore died out or became so rare and wide-spread as to pose no general threat.
There are many strains of influenza viruses, however, that are closely related enough to "marry and mate" and produce a whole new strain unaffected by previously developed immunity to other strains. H1N1 is actually a combination of 3 different strains - bovine, avian, and swine. TMI?
The bottom line remains - prevention is the best treatment for any disease - GET A FLU SHOT!!!