CDC: Flu Season Picks Up, Widespread In 5 States

ATLANTA (AP) - Flu season appears to be picking up.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says five states had widespread reports of flu last week, up from zero two weeks earlier.

A CDC report released Thursday says four of the states were in the South -- Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia and Virginia. The other was New York.

The report also says that tests of about 120 virus samples show the circulating flu strains seem to be well-matched to this season's flu vaccine.

Health officials say an estimated 23,600 flu-related deaths occur each year.

Comments

[vincealy]

09:30 AM on 01/05/2011

Vitamin d and the flu www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/scotland/article7061778.ece "The risk of children suffering from flu can be halved if they take vitamin D, doctors in Japan have found. The finding has implications for flu epidemics since vitamin D, which is naturally produced by the human body when exposed to direct sunlight, has no significant side effects, costs little and can be several times more effective than anti-viral drugs or vaccine."

[Memphislib]

03:46 AM on 01/05/2011

According to my gp, "classic flu-like symptoms" nausea = swine flu. I don't get vaccinations, but I do take vitamins, exercise regularly, etc. I don't think a sore throat, cough

[Sheldon101]

12:47 PM on 01/11/2011

Actually, the strains infecting in the US are 2009 H1N1 and the new H3N2 with a bit or influenza B thrown in. Getting one flu of one type doesn't prevent you from getting a flu of another type. The vaccine protects against all 3.

[Conk]

10:57 AM on 01/04/2011

Come on dummies, line up for your vaccine. The UK is suffering from numerous bird flu cases, in spite of all the vaccinations!!!

[Sheldon101]

03:15 PM on 01/04/2011

Influenza strains come in many different types. The current human ones doing the infecting are H1N1, H3N2 infuenza A. Current human influenza vaccine includes one strain each of H1N1, H3N2 and an influenza B.

The vaccines do not work with other types of influenza, including the H5N1 strain killing birds in the UK.
'
H5N1 rarely gets transmitted to people. But when it does, the death rate is very high. So that when it is found in birds, they are often culled. The big concern is that the H5N1 strains will evolve so they can be transmitted easily from human to human. Because of that worry, some governments have either stockpiled H5N1 vaccine (US) and/or approved dummy H5N1 vaccines that only need the usual seasonal flu timetable to be rolled out. Some of the 2009 H1N1 vaccine used last year was based on dummy vaccines of H5N1 where the antigen used was 2009 H1N1. Canada's Arepanrix and EU's Pandemirx are examples. The US instead used regular seasonal flu vaccine with the 2009 H1N1 antigen

[guasilas]

05:17 PM on 01/03/2011

There was a piece in The Atlantic Monthly last year on the subject. Conclusion, vaccines are pointless.
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2009/11/does-the-vaccine-matter/7723/

[cable1977]

06:58 PM on 01/03/2011

At best you could argue from that article that flu vaccines are pointless.

What other vaccines did the article detail in order to make the conclusion that "vaccines are pointless"?

[guasilas]

07:28 PM on 01/03/2011

The subject of this thread is flu and flu vaccines. The subject of the Atlantic article is flu vaccines. What on earth can I be referring to when talking about vaccines???

[Marsha McClelland]

01:56 PM on 01/04/2011

If the proper research is done, that is found to be exactly true, Guasilas. Anyone who says different needs sat down & read the riot act. They are pointless & can be seriously dangerous as the real facts show.

[Sheldon101]

03:32 PM on 01/04/2011

There are plenty of studies that show that influenza vaccination is effective in reducing the incidence of influenza in healthy adults in the strains that are included in the vaccine.

[drricklippin]

04:13 PM on 01/03/2011

Biggest 2009/2010 health scandal- A phony worldwide swine flu "Pandemic" and US swine flu "National Emergency"

The flu generally dosen't kill people and although you may feel horrible for several weeks you are left with no permanant sequella (aftereffec­ts). So stop obsessivel­y worrying about the flu!

The way they count "flu deaths" is not scientific

Be skeptical!

Dr. Rick Lippin
Southampto­n,Pa

[Sheldon101]

07:24 PM on 01/03/2011

You are correct. Influenza generally doesn't kill people, thankfully. But as Dr. (of whatever), most would think avoiding the deaths of thousands was a good idea.

[healthanalyst]

07:46 PM on 01/03/2011

There is a difference between flu and influenza. Influenza is only after a confirmed lab test. I bet the doc doesn't run them. CDC has sentinel docs that DO run them and numbers come from them. With a bit of epidemiology.

[vincealy]

10:35 AM on 01/03/2011

Does the flu shot save lives? Interesting piece http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2010/04/27/flu-vaccine-not-effective-in-elderly/ .... "Michael Osterholm, who directs the University of Minnesota's Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy, Tuesday told a national conference on vaccine research that it's time to be more open about the flu vaccine and its lack of protection for the elderly......

....."These 36,000 deaths that we keep talking about with the flu, that we want to get people vaccinated for so they don't happen, really is not going to occur. And we have to be honest about that," Osterholm said. .....

"The revelation has been so unsettling that public health officials have not shared the information widely with the public...'

[cable1977]

11:28 AM on 01/03/2011

Yes, the current flu vaccine is not as effective in the elderly, however, you left out some other key phrases from the article:

"Osterholm also urged his colleagues to support attempts to create a new, effective vaccine."

There were also quotes about Kris Ehresmann, who directs the Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Prevention and Control Division at the Minnesota Health Department:

"She says there is strong research showing that flu vaccines are very effective among younger people. And for those over age 65, she says the vaccine likely has some effect at preventing flu - especially among healthier older people. "

Also from another doctor who did flu vaccine research:

"Dr. Ed Belangia with the Marshfield Clinic in Marshfield, Wisconsin agrees. He studied vaccine effectiveness in the elderly and in children. While his research reported widely varying results, ranging from 10 percent effectiveness to just over 50 percent during a three-year period, he says it's clear that the flu vaccine is better than nothing.

"None of us are saying that the current vaccine is no good or doesn't work," Belangia. "It's just that it doesn't appear to work as well as we thought and we need to look at how we can improve it."

[Independent1969]

12:27 PM on 01/03/2011

How do researchers determine an effectiveness rate between 10% and 50%?

[vincealy]

01:04 PM on 01/03/2011

Since the question I asked was does the flu shots save lives ;the centerpiece of the marketing campaign I prefer to look at the science. From the same piece '...Osterholm said he knows the idea that the flu vaccine doesn't prevent deaths in the elderly sounds almost blasphemous and he admits he didn't really want to believe it at first either. But he says the new research is incontrovertible..' The research he refers to is Dr. Jackson work ..... "She wanted to see if vaccinated people had a lower rate of death during times of the year when flu viruses were not circulating. She discovered that they did have a lower rate of death during those periods too.' .......than Dr. Jackson found '....no difference in the number of pneumonia deaths between people who got the vaccine and those who didn't. ''
The fact is a recent study looked flu vaccine in healthy adults and found
".....AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS: Influenza vaccines have a modest effect in reducing influenza symptoms and working days lost. There is no evidence that they affect complications, such as pneumonia, or transmission.WARNING: This review includes 15 out of 36 trials funded by industry .....Studies funded from public sources were significantly less likely to report conclusions favorable to the vaccines......http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20614424.

[amanda mariee]

09:32 AM on 01/03/2011

This post should be in the Business Section. It's all about profits.
If the CDC cared about the Health of Americans they would be fighting all day, every day, to eliminate the 100's of toxins Americans are exposed to every day. I'd like to see some mortality rates on that subject.

[ruskie44]

11:17 AM on 01/03/2011

you took the words right out of my mouth!

[cable1977]

11:29 AM on 01/03/2011

And how does removal of "toxins" affect the flu?

[Independent1969]

12:06 PM on 01/03/2011

Toxins can depress the immune system making it easier to get sick from just about anything.

[merlinspinoza]

05:42 AM on 01/03/2011

http://www.naturalsolutionsmag.com/article-display/15801/subTopicID/176/Ask-The-Doctor-Flu

[stape45]

02:42 AM on 01/03/2011

There's such negative talk about them, the wife and I (once again) both decided not to indulge.

[palindrom]

08:18 AM on 01/03/2011

Don't confuse "negative talk" with solid information.

[Independent1969]

12:08 PM on 01/03/2011

Spoken like a true drug company stockholder who lives in denial.

[ddanimal]

01:16 PM on 01/03/2011

Solid information suggests the vaccine is ineffective and hazardous.

[ddanimal]

01:48 AM on 01/03/2011

No benefit to vaccine.

from the atlantic article, below:

"Yet while other flu researchers may not like what Jefferson has to say, they cannot ignore the fact that he knows the flu-vaccine literature better than anyone else on the planet. He leads an international team of researchers who have combed through hundreds of flu-vaccine studies. The vast majority of the studies were deeply flawed, says Jefferson. “Rubbish is not a scientific term, but I think it’s the term that applies.” Only four studies were properly designed to pin down the effectiveness of flu vaccine, he says, and two of those showed that it might be effective in certain groups of patients, such as school-age children with no underlying health issues like asthma. The other two showed equivocal results or no benefit."

[bkrider9]

08:44 AM on 01/03/2011

Excellent. Many thanks!

Notice how this scientific study causes the pro-vaccine people to go silent. Hmmm....

[Sheldon101]

02:49 AM on 01/09/2011

The article put forward the argument that influenza vaccination of the elderly was not effective in lowering the hospital complication and death rate of the elderly.

They stated that the vaccine worked well in those with a strong immune response such as healthy adults and kids.

They left out that new vaccines for the elderly were coming. The first US approved one was approved in December 2009, Fluzone HD. Others are coming soon.

[ddanimal]

01:33 AM on 01/03/2011

One part was missing:

RESULTS: The relative risk of death for vaccinated persons compared with unvaccinated persons was 0.39 [95% confidence interval (95% CI), 0.33-0.47] before influenza season, 0.56 (0.52-0.61) during influenza season, and 0.74 (0.67-0.80) after influenza season. The relative risk of pneumonia hospitalization was 0.72 (0.59-0.89) before, 0.82 (0.75-0.89) during, and 0.95 (0.85-1.07) after influenza season. Adjustment for diagnosis code variables resulted in estimates that were further from the null, in all time periods.

[ddanimal]

01:32 AM on 01/03/2011

Here is the abstract:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16368725
Evidence of bias in estimates of influenza vaccine effectiveness in seniors.

Jackson

BACKGROUND: Numerous observational studies have reported that seniors who receive influenza vaccine are at substantially lower risk of death and hospitalization during the influenza season than unvaccinated seniors. These estimates could be influenced by differences in underlying health status between the vaccinated and unvaccinated groups. Since a protective effect of vaccination should be specific to influenza season, evaluation of non-influenza periods could indicate the possible contribution of bias to the estimates observed during influenza season.

METHODS: We evaluated a cohort of 72,527 persons 65 years of age and older followed during an 8 year period and assessed the risk of death from any cause, or hospitalization for pneumonia or influenza, in relation to influenza vaccination, in periods before, during, and after influenza seasons. Secondary models adjusted for covariates defined primarily by diagnosis codes assigned to medical encounters.

estimates that were further from the null, in all time periods.

CONCLUSIONS: The reductions in risk before influenza season indicate preferential receipt of vaccine by relatively healthy seniors. Adjustment for diagnosis code variables did not control for this bias. In this study, the magnitude of the bias demonstrated by the associations before the influenza season was sufficient to account entirely for the associations observed during influenza season.

[ddanimal]

01:27 AM on 01/03/2011

The flu vaccine probably doesnt even work. Read this:

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2009/11/does-the-vaccine-matter/7723/

Excerpt:

Jackson and three colleagues set out to determine whether the mortality difference between the vaccinated and the unvaccinated might be caused by a phenomenon known as the “healthy user effect.” They hypothesized that on average, people who get vaccinated are simply healthier than those who don’t

Jackson’s findings showed that outside of flu season, the baseline risk of death among people who did not get vaccinated was approximately 60 percent higher than among those who did, lending support to the hypothesis that on average, healthy people chose to get the vaccine, while the “frail elderly” didn’t or couldn’t. In fact, the healthy-user effect explained the entire benefit that other researchers were attributing to flu vaccine, suggesting that the vaccine itself might not reduce mortality at all.

[cable1977]

01:15 PM on 01/03/2011

There is good science showing that the flu vaccine is not as effective as originally thought in a specific population, the elderly, but there is also evidence showing that it can be effective:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21044667
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20832494
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20723631

And that may very well change with the new higher dose vaccine for the elderly as well as the new cellular vaccines that are being designed.

There is also evidence showing that the flu vaccine is effective in other populations.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19095024
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20687619
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20614424

Is the flu vaccine perfect? No, it isn't. Is it efficacious? Probably to some degree. Do we need better flu vaccines? Most definately.

[ddanimal]

01:21 PM on 01/03/2011

How about using vitamins instead? They are completely safe, with beneficial side effects and they are effective. Seems like common sense to me.

If its not effective in the elderly, then whats the point? You have to vaccinate dozens or 100 people to prevent a single case of a transient seasonal illness. The risk+cost/benefit is not worth it.

[onionboy]

01:35 PM on 01/03/2011

Most of the "anti-vaccine" manuscripts focus on the incidence of a vaccinated individual getting infected. This is a flawed methodology. When more people are vaccinated (even with a success rate as low as say 30%) the entire population benefits, including those not vaccinated, because the reduced propagation of the virus (both from symptoms that spread it and from overall viral load) drops significantly. The best data is to simply look at the historical information and extrapolate to our current population density. Look how many people died in the last H1N1 epidemic (1918-1919)...low estimate is 20-million. I just don't see how someone can look at a number like that and think that vaccines don't work. Clearly, like everything else, they can be improved. But they work.

[jgarma]

12:40 AM on 01/03/2011

Well, this is all academic till H1N1, or some variant, is knocking at your door.

I write a health blog, so I'm all about building up the immune system and taking natural, preventative measures... nonetheless, it's a good idea to know where the flu is spreading, so here are some sites to track it:
http://www.garmaonhealth.com/2009/11/h1n1-flu-tracker-stay-up-to-date/

[bkrider9]

12:08 AM on 01/03/2011

Let's get out there and sell as many vaccines as we can, folks. This is the season when we have the best sales, so it's do or die - no pun intended.