Only 40% protection this year from Flu vaccine

U.S. & World
Flu Season Getting Worse, CDC Says

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Flu Season Getting Worse, CDC Says
Officials Site Ineffective Flu Shots
ATLANTA (CBS News) ?

     CBS News

The flu season is getting worse, and U.S. health officials say it's partly 
because the flu vaccine doesn't protect against most of the spreading flu bugs.

The flu shot is a good match for only about 40 percent of this year's flu 
viruses, officials at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said 
Friday.

The situation has even deteriorated since last week when the CDC said the 
vaccine was protective against roughly half the circulating strains. In good 
years, the vaccine can fend off 70 to 90 percent of flu bugs.

Dr. E. Yoko Furuya of NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia Hospital told CBS News 
medical correspondent Jon LaPook that this doesn't mean people should avoid the 
vaccine.

"I think that 40 percent is better than 0 percent protection," she said, "so I 
would still recommend my patients to get the vaccine."

Infections from an unexpected strain have been booming, and now are the main 
agent behind most of the nation's lab-confirmed flu cases, said Dr. Joe Bresee, 
the CDC's chief of influenza epidemiology.

It's too soon to know whether this will prove to be a bad flu season overall, 
but it's fair to say a lot of people are suffering at the moment. "Every area 
of the country is experiencing lots of flu right now," Bresee said.

This week, 44 states reported widespread flu activity, up from 31 last week. 
The number children who have died from the flu has risen to 10 since the flu 
season's official Sept. 30 start.

Those numbers aren't considered alarming. Early February is the time of year 
when flu cases tend to peak. The 10 pediatric deaths, though tragic, are about 
the same number as was reported at this time in the last two flu seasons, 
Bresee said.

The biggest surprise has been how poorly the vaccine has performed.

Each winter, experts try to predict which strains of flu will circulate so they 
can develop an appropriate vaccine for the following season. They choose three 
strains- two from the Type A family of influenza, and one from Type B.

Usually, the guesswork is pretty good: The vaccines have been a good match in 
16 of the last 19 flu seasons, Bresee has said.

But the vaccine's Type B component turned out not to be a good match for the B 
virus that has been most common this winter. And one of the Type A components 
turned out to be poorly suited for the Type A H3N2/Brisbane-like strain that 
now accounts for the largest portion of lab-confirmed cases.

Over the years, the H3N2 flu has tended to cause more deaths, Bresee said.

This week, the World Health Organization took the unusual step of recommending 
that next season's flu vaccine have a completely different makeup from this 
year's. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is expected to make its decision 
about the U.S. vaccine next week.

H3N2 strains are treatable by Tamiflu and other antiviral drugs, but the other, 
H1N1 Type A strains are more resistant. Of all flu samples tested this year, 
4.6 percent have been resistant to antiviral medications. That's up from fewer 
than 1 percent last year.

"This represents a real increase in resistance," Bresee said.
The U.S. flu season is getting worse. And U.S. health officials in Atlanta said 
it's partly because the flu vaccine doesn't match most of the circulating 
viruses.

Infections from an unexpected flu strain have been booming. Scientists at the 
U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the current vaccine is a 
good match for only about 40 percent of the spreading flu viruses.

This week, 44 states reported widespread flu activity, up from
31 last week.

( 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be 
published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press 
contributed to this report.)


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It is RARE to have a fever with a cold. However,
80% of Flue cases have a fever.

It is comment to have severe aches and pains with the flu. It is rare with a
cold.

Chills are uncommon with a cold but common with the flu.

Tiredness is mild with a cold but common with the flu.

The flu is usually rapidly occuring and will include soreness, tiredness,
--- Unexplained tiredness can be a symptom of the flu.

Hacking cough with a cold. Not so with  the flu. Dry cough with the flu.

Sneezing is common with a cold. Not so with the flu.

Sore throat through with the flu. Not common with a cold.

Chest discomfort can be severe with the flu. Not with a cold.

Headache is common in 80% of all flu cases. Very uncommon with a cold
viruses.


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Friday, Jan. 09, 2009
What You Need to Know About Drug-Resistant Flu
By Alice Park

This year's flu season is off to a slow start, but health officials are 
watching a disturbing development that could make treating the flu even 
more difficult if you do catch the bug. The Centers for Disease Control 
and Prevention (CDC) reported in the fall that the most common strain of 
flu now making the rounds in the U.S. is resistant to oseltamivir, or 
Tamiflu, the most popular antimicrobial used to treat influenza. But that 
doesn't mean a pandemic is necessarily on the way. Here's why.

1. How did the flu virus become resistant to Tamiflu?

Health officials have been tracking the strain in question since the last 
flu season, when the CDC reported that 11% of flu cases were resistant to 
Tamiflu. According to Dr. Joseph Bresee, chief of the epidemiology and 
prevention branch of the CDC's influenza division, experts believe the 
resistant strain is the result of a spontaneous mutation in the influenza 
virus genome and not the result of overuse of antimicrobial agents like 
Tamiflu to treat the infection. That's based on the fact that during the 
last flu season, the resistant strain was widespread in countries with low 
Tamiflu use like Norway but less common in places like Japan where 
reliance on Tamiflu is high. (See Dr. Sanjay Gupta's Fit Nation column.)

2. Who is most at risk of getting infected with this resistant strain?

Anyone can catch the flu, and the CDC recommends that everyone who wants 
to be protected should get vaccinated. The agency reports that there is 
plenty of flu vaccine available. The current vaccine is designed to offer 
some protection against the Tamiflu-resistant strain.

3. Do vaccinated people still need to worry about this flu strain?

Because there are many circulating strains of flu and no flu vaccine is 
100% effective, you may still get sick even after getting a flu shot. If 
you are infected with the resistant strain, then Tamiflu will not relieve 
your symptoms.

4. If Tamiflu doesn't work, then what else can I take for flu?

Another antimicrobial, zanamivir, or Relenza, is still effective against 
the circulating Tamiflu-resistant strain. However, that drug, which is an 
inhaled powder, is not recommended for children under 7, for whom a 
combination of Tamiflu and an older drug, rimantadine, can be used to 
control the infection. Since every flu infection is made up of three 
different types of influenza virus, both Relenza and rimantadine still 
work to disarm the two types that are not resistant to Tamiflu.

5. Does this flu strain make people more susceptible to avian flu?

No. It's unlikely that the two flu strains are related other than that 
both are the result of mutations in the influenza virus genome.


     * Find this article at:
     * http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1870601,00.html