the flu jab one fits all

[VeronicaF]

so if they can do one flu jab fits all, why can't they do one RA drug fits all?

[Hidden]

Now there’s a good question 😀

[helixhelix]

Except there isn't an one size fits all flu jab! There are three (for kids, under 65 and over 65) and don't have a 100% guarantee of stopping you getting the flu. It's maybe 50-60% effective.

And they sort of know what flu is, but RA is still very unknown. Research has yet to make clear what causes it, and no one is entirely clear why methotrexate works....lots of questions still to answer!

[VeronicaF in reply to helixhelix]

RA has been going for years my gran had it, she must have died 30years ago, so why can't they by now work out why?

[Simba1992 in reply to VeronicaF]

Just a lot of theories...I think what makes it hard that there are so many variations and the illness has so many different ways it manifests itself.

[helixhelix in reply to VeronicaF]

It's probably been around a lot longer than that...some say there are signs of it in skeletons of Egyptian mummies and native american indians. But clear evidence that it's been around for at least 200 years can be seen i works of art.

Cancer's been around a long time, and so has the common cold. Still can't work those one's out either. But just go back less than a 100 years and you'd probably be dead by now...no antibiotics, childhood death rates huge etc etc. So yes more to do, but medical research has done so great things!

[bpeal1]

The flu jab doesn’t cure flu! It is a vaccination which tries to stop you getting flu and even then it’s not 100% effective. They haven’t found a cure for flu yet and flu is a much more straight forward disease compared to RA. Flu is caused by a simple virus (albeit one which mutates very frequently) where as they still don’t know exactly what causes RA. They have made huge progress in understanding it but it is very complex.