Flu vaccine 'barely effective' against main viral strain - BBC NEWS

[Suzym2u]

This link was posted in the VUK FB Group and has created some lively debate, so I thought I would post the same link in the HU community. bbc.co.uk/news/health-31145604

[Albasain]

Because of this mismatch due to the flu virus morphing again (apparently this happens quite often) I would advise all who have an auto-immune disease and are being medicated for it to ensure that they avoid, if possible, crowded places where there is more chance of coming into contact with air borne viruses at least until the Spring. It is also a good idea to wash and antibac your hands, especially when coming back from public places.

[PMRpro in reply to Albasain]

This was known a few months ago but this is the first time I have heard about it in the UK media. It has been particularly unfortunate this time that it was the "biggest" bug that morphed rather than one of the secondary ones.

I do wonder if people become blase about flu when they have had the jab - It remains that the best protection for anyone, including immunocomprised patients, is avoiding other people and handwashing. Handwashing that approaches OCD levels is not always a bad thing!

While gels are useful, nothing replaces good old soap for washing hands (many bugs survive gels) and handwashing using the correct technique (wet hands, add soap, remember between your fingers) for long enough (two sings through of "Happy Birthday..") makes a big difference.

Use a paper towel/some loo roll to touch all the door handles. Use heavier weight disposable handkerchiefs and dispose of them properly after a single use - into a bin with a lid/down the loo.

[orsen-trapp in reply to PMRpro]

To avoid all germs we'd have to live in a bubble like that millionaire chappie (Howard Hughes??). Fortunately I'm probably not all that much immunosuppressed as I'm only on Pred, but I refuse to spend my life worrying about what might happen if I come into contact with someone with flu or whatever else. Just as likely to pick something up in the surgery when I go for my blood tests!

[PMRpro in reply to orsen-trapp]

I'd suspect the surgery is probably the most dangerous place to visit - maybe the telephone consultations do have some upsides Blood tests are a bit more of a problem!

My daughter has been ill most of the time since October - I keep telling her she needs to keep away from poorly people. Bit difficult though given her line of business: paramedic on a car.

[piglette in reply to orsen-trapp]

I try and book surgery and blood appointments right at the beginning or end of the surgery "shifts". I also try to avoid going in during half term! I am not sure if it actually makes any difference.

[Chris-Bromsgrove in reply to PMRpro]

Thanks for the tips PMRpro. However I think I'll avoid singing out loud in public so as to avoid being diagnosed as completely barking on top of everything else.

Chris

[PMRpro in reply to Chris-Bromsgrove]

I dunno - might as well be hung for a sheep as a lamb I always think! It would work well to keep people with colds etc away...

[hamble99b Volunteer]

they said on the news that anti-virals are available to people with long-term health conditions.

anyone been offered any?

I don't know what they might be.

regards,

hamble (wg/gpa)

[PMRpro in reply to hamble99b]

Tamiflu, and there is another one as well, Relenza. These are the drugs that were stockpiled at great cost in the mid-2000s - on the basis of evidence supplied by Roche and GlaxoSmithKilne claiming them to be of great benefit in viral illness. Personally I wouldn't trust either company as far as I could throw them.

Both of the drugs have been suggested by a Cochrane review to be less than miracle cures. They cut the length of the illness - by half a day or so (OK, I'll be accurate, 17 hours, it is more in children, up to 29 hours). There is no evidence that they reduce the number of hospitalisations of immunosuppressed patients who get flu. They have unpleasant side effects which tend to dissuade patients from taking the full course unless they are in hospital.

Their supporters amongst "flu researchers" are probably being paid by grants from Roche or GSK - hardly unbiased you might suspect. I know plenty of healthcare professionals who have chosen not to use them for themselves/their children.

nature.com/news/tamiflu-rep...

[Suzym2u Moderator Vasculitis UK]

This posted by Gareth in the FB group, it does make interesting reading. cdc.gov/flu/professionals/a...

[AndrewT]

I think the advice was that the vaccine was ineffective but should be used anyway! Now I'm not an expert, in our fair language, but isn't this rather a contradiction? I have had the 'jab', I always do but have also had one 'stinker' of a cold- just like everyone else! Was it effective? I don't know and, to be honest, I don't care...I'm alive at fifty-three, some eighteen years after I was 'certain' to die. This is also true of anyone reading this. So forget the 'does it work', 'is it helping', 'do I really need this', 'but I red somewhere', 'my auntie had...' and all the rest of the utter 'twaddle' that is out there, now really! If you listen to anyone make it your own doctors/consultants, that actually know you and your case. Clearly you can read these pages-I know that this is also an apparent contradiction, the difference being, that we only advise and always that you recommend consult your own 'team'.

Finally I'll make you smile...I opened the window, this morning, and 'in flew enza'!

Very best wishes AndrewT

[orsen-trapp in reply to AndrewT]

Nice name for a robin: Enza. Would be fun explaining the joke to anyone who asked I had a tame one called Prentice once because I trained him from his youth to fly onto my hand for food ... short for apprentice

[tintinrob]

Had the flu jab late last year. Following this, I met the bug from hell just before Christmas: ear infection = lost hearing in one ear, bad gastro effects and bad cough / breathing probs all at once. Don't know if it was the flu that let the other bugs in, but at least it probably shows that the immunosupressant treatment is working. Anyway, doxycycline didn't get rid of the bad cough (proper bronchitis) but Clarythromycin did the trick. Breathing again now but the hearing is still missing - some 30 dB down apparently, plus tinnitus plus some balance issues I could do without! Going for an MRI of me head soon, hearing doc reckons it all adds up to a lump on the eighth nerve (acoustic nervy bit I think), wondering if it's one of the Churg Strauss granulomas there... Anyone got any ideas? He said it could also be an acoustic neuroma but it did come on suddenly during all the ear inflamation so I reckon its not.