Devonviolet Acres

[Bruce]

You have to @Mini Horses !! Nothing so likely to get one sick than being with a bazillion strangers all day.

 

[greybeard]

My question is . . . since we are having a major push to get the flu shot (from the doctor's office to pharmacies to the grocery store), and so many people are getting flu shots (DH and I NOT included), why are they expecting a world wide epidemic????

The answer is obvious, and the replies here at BYH are indicative of where the concern is coming from. Less than 1/2 the US population got flu shot last flu season (winter of 2016/2017). It's only a matter of time before that practice comes back to haunt us, especially considering no vaccine is 100% effective and because this (or any) year's vaccine makeup probably offers little or no protection against next (or any other) year's influenza variant--nor does getting the flu this year offer any real protection against getting it any following year, or even later this same year.

Do viruses mutate? Of course..some of them anyway, flu virus included. DNA virus have a self correction ability when replicating themselves...repairing mistakes when copying their genetic code cell to cell. RNA viruses (Flu is an RNA virus) do not have this correcting ability, so when replicating, they often mutate, sometimes in a very short period of time.
We were (for the most part) able to stamp out chicken pox & smallpox, because they are both dna virus or rna which uses a dna strand to replicate. HepB is also a rna virus that uses dna replication s and is on it's way to being controlled in the US if enough people get the vaccine.

RNA viruses like influenza can and do mutate relatively quickly, and since it takes months (4-6) to make the vaccine for any given year, the flu variant for that year can and sometimes does mutate between the time CDC identifies which variant they think we will see and when the vaccine is actually ready for the public.
Retroviruses are another type that it is extremely difficult to make a vaccine for, but not for lack of trying. HIV and Human T Cell Leukemia are 2 examples of retro virus.

I tend not to give much medical advice regarding humans for the same reason I don't advise NASA or SpaceX on how to put satellites into orbit, tell Musk how to build an electric car, or Siemens how to build nuclear power plants. Not qualified and don't want to be responsible for anyone taking my advice or my own results and anecdotal evidence anywhere near seriously.
I have taken the flu shot for the last 3 years and have not gotten the flu. The year previous to that, 2013, I did take the flu shot and got what I'm pretty sure was the flu and it put me down hard for a week..worst part was, I gave it to my wife as well. Mutated between the time the vaccine was made and the time I was exposed to it after getting the flu shot.

I've heard of "chickenpox parties" where parents sent their children to an infected friend's home to get exposed to the illness in hopes of becoming immune. All well and good assuming the child isn't one of 10 thousand children that ended up in the hospital with it as recently as the early 90s....back before the vaccine was readily available to the general public and mostly mandatory for school age children.
Of course, there's also that shingles thing, as the chicken pox virus stays with you for a lifetime and later has the nasty habit of mutating into herpes zoster (Shingles). Fortunately, there is now a vaccine for shingles. I've taken it as well.

 

[Devonviolet]

Well, as a retired RN, who has studied natural medicine for the past ten years, I believe in many ways, conventional medicine has it wrong. With a lot of the meds out there, they treat the symptoms and don't go to the root of the issue . . . The immune system. By eating non-GMO, non-toxic foods, as well as fermented foods, to keep the probiotic numbers up in our gut, we heal our gut and allow our immune system to work, so our body can fight the disease, rather than try to find a drug to treat the symptoms.

If you watch the ads on TV, for cold and flu remedies, they clearly say they treat the symptoms, which makes you feel better, so you can get back to your life. The problem with that is you feel better, but are still sick. You go back about your daily life, going to work, to the store, the kids go to school, and make everyone else sick.

As far as the chicken pox go, many of us had chicken pox, as children, before the medical community went crazy with all those mercury laden vaccines, that they force our children to take. That Mercury weakens the immune system. We all survived having the chicken pox.

Yes, it is possible to get shingles, which is a vicious secondary infection. However, if we would focus on building up our immune systems, by eating fermented foods (natural probiotics) and eliminating toxins from our environments, we would be less likely to get shingles. When I worked, in Area Internal Medicine, at Mayo Clinic, I saw patients, who had the shingles vaccine, but still had shingles. So, the vaccine is not a guarantee that you won't get shingles.

I couldn't get the quote option to work, so I will have to paraphrase what you said, @greybeard, about why doctors should expect a flu pandemic. I don't know where you got you numbers that less than half the US population got the flu shot last year. I know more people that did get it than didn't. You then go on to talk about flu variants mutating and last year's vaccine not working this year. As I have said before, therein lies the problem. The flu virus is very capable of mutating almost instantly, so putting all kinds of effort into developing vaccines is like spitting into the wind. It's really a waste of time and money.

Several years ago, we had a similar situation to this year. The most virulent strain mutated so quickly, the vaccine wasnt effective against the flu. But, wait! Big Pharma spent millions developing the vaccine and they stood to make billions in profit, from selling the shots. So, they put a big push on telling people to get the shot anyway! Later it came out that they pushed the public to get their flu shot, because they didn't want to miss out on their profits.

So, the moral of the story, is to eat as natural as possible, eat natural probiotics, to build up your immune system and stay home when you have a cold or flu.

 

[Baymule]

 

[greybeard]

If you watch the ads on TV, for cold and flu remedies, they clearly say they treat the symptoms, which makes you feel better, so you can get back to your life. The problem with that is you feel better, but are still sick. You go back about your daily life, going to work, to the store, the kids go to school, and make everyone else sick.

There is no 'cure' for the common cold, (a rhinovirus) for the reasons I stated regarding viruses. It is an rna virus, so all that can be done is treat the symptoms. Whether that is chicken soup or an OTC or physician prescribed medication is irrelevant...they all serve the same purpose and function..treat the symptoms.
http://www.erkbiz.com/commoncold/

As far as the chicken pox go, many of us had chicken pox, as children, before the medical community went crazy with all those mercury laden vaccines, that they force our children to take. That Mercury weakens the immune system. We all survived having the chicken pox.

No "we" didn't. People did die from chicken pox and thousands were hospitalized.

Chickenpox used to be very common in the United States. In the early 1990s, an average of 4 million people got varicella, 10,500 to 13,000 were hospitalized (range,8,000 to 18,000), and 100 to 150 died each year.

https://www.cdc.gov/chickenpox/surveillance/monitoring-varicella.html

Yes, it is possible to get shingles, which is a vicious secondary infection. However, if we would focus on building up our immune systems, by eating fermented foods (natural probiotics) and eliminating toxins from our environments, we would be less likely to get shingles. When I worked, in Area Internal Medicine, at Mayo Clinic, I saw patients, who had the shingles vaccine, but still had shingles. So, the vaccine is not a guarantee that you won't get shingles.

I believe I clearly stated from the onset that no vaccine is 100% effective, but with the shingles vaccine, your chances of getting it are reduced by 1/2 by CDC authorized and accepted studies and the newer shingles vaccine is even more effective.
Originally posted by Greybeard:

It's only a matter of time before that practice comes back to haunt us, especially considering no vaccine is 100% effective

The new study found that the experimental vaccine protected about 90 percent of adults age 70 and up. And the effects were still apparent four years later. By comparison, the existing vaccine, Zostavax, cuts the risk of shingles by about half. And immunity wanes within five years, according to the CDC.

https://www.webmd.com/skin-problems...hingles-vaccine-looks-quite-effective-study#1
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/04/well/live/new-shingles-vaccine-is-cost-effective.html

I couldn't get the quote option to work **, so I will have to paraphrase what you said, @greybeard, about why doctors should expect a flu pandemic. I don't know where you got you numbers that less than half the US population got the flu shot last year. I know more people that did get it than didn't. You then go on to talk about flu variants mutating and last year's vaccine not working this year. As I have said before, therein lies the problem. The flu virus is very capable of mutating almost instantly, so putting all kinds of effort into developing vaccines is like spitting into the wind. It's really a waste of time and money.[/B]

I didn't state that less than 1/2 the US population got a flu shot last year. I said less than 1/2 got it last 'flu season' which generally runs from late fall thru early spring, in this case, fall 2016 thru late spring 2017.

Regarding those you 'know'...
In mid 2016, there were approx 324 million residents in the US. The demographics, according to US Labor Dept show that the number of those under age 6 was approx 11.5 million. (closest demographic I could find regarding 'those over 6 months)
324 million minus 11.5 million=312.5 million in the 'over 6 months old' age group that is recommended to get the flu shot, providing their general health allows them to.
I suspect your anecdotal/personal sampling size is woefully too tiny to yield any meaningful results.
Example:
If you 'know' 1000 people, that is only 0.00032% of the 312.5 million people over age 6 months. . Pretty tiny sample size from which to gauge any results.
For realistic and accepted quantitative research, there is a fairly complicated formula used to determine what sample size is need for any given margin of error.
You can find it here and determine if your sample size reflects what actually happened with the 312.5 million population that the flu shot was designed for.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2876926/

Less than half of all Americans ages 6 months and up got their flu shots last year, leaving a majority of people unvaccinated against a potentially serious illness, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

About 47 percent of Americans got a flu vaccine during the 2016-2017 flu season, Dr. Tom Price, secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, said at a news conference today (Sept. 28). If that rate had been 5 percent higher, another 490,000 illnesses and 7,000 hospitalizations could've been avoided, according to CDC estimates, Price said. Rates of people getting their flu vaccine, however, have appeared to level off, he added.

https://www.livescience.com/60547-flu-shot-2017-season.html

Where I went to school, 47% is less than 1/2 of any total.

**
'quote option...
Don't select quote. Simply highlight the text you want to reply to and 2 options will appear below the highlight. 'quote' and 'reply' .
Chose 'reply'...not quote.
See screenshot below:

For me personally, the moral is don't get the flu to begin with or at least take every option to lessen the chances...including getting the flu shot.

 

[Southern by choice]

@Devonviolet you are awesome!

 

[Devonviolet]

Thanks @Southern by choice. So are you!

 

[Baymule]

I thought about you this afternoon. We had a "neighbor party" and invited 4 couples over to visit. One couple is new to the neighborhood and we wanted to help them get acquainted with other neighbors. Unfortunately, they were sick and couldn't come. So we just had a good time without them.

I made eggnog! I used 18 eggs and made a batch and a half. I only used 6 shots of bourbon because we were a bunch of practically non drinkers. I had that punch bowl full. There was less than a quart jar left. LOL

I made zucchini bread, deviled eggs and jalapeno poppers stuffed with sausage. But the real hit was the egg nog!

We all decided that we need to have neighborhood get togethers and build a better sense of community. So when it warms up, we'll do it again, but outside, and invite more people.

 

[Mike CHS]

We do that quite often and it makes for an environment that is much like family

 

[Bruce]

But the real hit was the egg nog!

Quelle surprise!