So my college friend Cathy asks me today,
"Should I get vaccinated for influenza?"
Although I am not an clinician, judging from the medical literature, my answer is YES.
Reasons for my recommendation:
Your chance of getting influenza is not that low (5-20%)
Vaccination is the only proven way to reduce your risk of influenza (by 50-90%)
There's always a chance that a severe form of influenza could emerge, to which the vaccine could offer partial immunity
Your insurance will probably cover the cost, so why not
Okay, so which kind should we get?
There are two kinds:
1) Injection - this kind contains an inactivated form of the virus, probably less chance of side effects, but it's still a shot; so if you're the type that cringes at the sight of a needle, consider the next option
2) Nasal spray - this kind contains an attenuated form of a live virus and has the potential to cause mild symptoms of influenza; kinda sucks given that you're trying prevent influenza
There isn't enough evidence to say that one is more effective than the other. Neither are full proof, but both have been proven to reduce you chance of influenza.
Now, the more interesting question is why does influenza occur in the winter or the spring. If anybody tells you that they know the answer; don't believe it because scientists have not formed a consensus on this yet. The competing hypotheses are:
1) social behavior changes in the winter (more crowding)
2) people's immunity change with changing exposure to sunlight (vitamin D hypothesis)
3) the weather affects the viral survival
I used to be a fan of the second hypothesis, but I'm now leaning towards the third. There is increasing evidence showing that increases absolute humidity (which is inversely proportional to temperature) reduces viral survival. Therefore in the temperate regions, as humidity drops in the winter virus survives longer and can be transmitted from person to person. In the tropical region influenza peaks after rainfall, and that's probably because rain takes all the moisture out of the air.
Just speculating here, so don't quote me on any of this stuff. But we'll see what future studies show.
Okay, I'm running out of battery on my computer, so I'm gonna go.
Blog #3. Good work, Christie.
the vaccine is only really required for the immunocompromised, the young, the elderly, and the health care workers. otherwise, normal healthy adults should be able to fight off the flu ok. what's a few sick days.
ReplyDeletebut walgreens/cvs promotes it because it means $$... and there's no real disadvantage, i suppose.
jeannie :)
but the biggest defense is handwashing. wash your hands. carry around that antibiotic gel if you need to.
neurotic hand washing is my secret to not getting sick twice a year, like i did in college, in spite of being around antibiotic resistant bugs all day.
nice blog, christie. and hi jeannie!
ReplyDeletethanks cathy for bringing it up.
i'm actually going to get the shot this sat (req'd to volunteer in hospitals).
chicago & ny are on my list of places to fly to once i find a job. :)
Christie, great points. I would add the following under reasons to get vaccinated (and this is for JKL, too):
ReplyDeletePlease don't underestimate the power of HERD IMMUNITY.
Healthy adults should get vaccinated (even though they themselves may be healthy enough to fight off a mild strain), because, unless they are hermits, healthy adults come in contact every day with people who may not be able to get a flu vaccine themselves (e.g., allergy to eggs or other contraindication). For example, newborns cannot get a vaccine until they are 6 months old. Adults who have any contact with children (newborns or not) should get vaccinated. But adults also come into contact (knowingly or not) with the other susceptible groups mentioned in the first comment.
Influenza is highly contagious. Herd immunity is important to the prevention of an epidemic and to those who are unable be vaccinated.
ditto on herd immunity!
ReplyDeleteand ditto on neurotic handwashing!
BTW, jkl; is a doctor friend who among the two camps of MDs, 1) the ones who become desensitized to diseases, 2) the ones who feed hypochondriasis, she is apparently more of the former. 'what's a few sick days'... Jeannie!
lol "blog number 3. Good job Christie"
ReplyDeletelol