Surviving Influenza

I wasn't sure in which forum to put this, but.. browsing this site and hearing from various people, I keep coming across the idea recently that people aren't concerned about ebola because of the thousands of people who die from regular flu each year.. and that they've never given that too much thought.

I think recently I read the figure 50,000 dying from it in the US in one year?..and up to half a million world wide per year?

Surely that figure for the US isn't correct? How many death certificates per year read cause of death, influenza?

I suppose this has been discussed before.. I was just trying to do some research on it but seem to be coming up with contradictory information.

I have always had the impression it was just people who were already weak and Ill with something else that died from it?

I had the flu earlier in the year. I'm a healthy male. I don't normally get colds and before I got flu my last cold would have been about 3 years before.

This thing laid me low. I was basically confined to my couch for the entire week. I thought at one point I was slowly dying. No energy, weak joints, hot and cold flushes. It was horrible. Took me at least 2 weeks to fully recover.
I can see if your immune system isn't strong how that it could kill you.

Folks that say they've got flu for a few days and still went to work etc... haven't got flu.

a reply to: cyberheater

Yeah for the first time last year I realised what flu was... or norovirus if thats the same thing here in the uk a strong flu strain I dunno.

But it knocked me for days fever up and down, vomiting and coughing the works... I wouldnt want to be a child or someone elderly with it.

So anyone who tells me they have the flu and is out and about or at work get told "not the flu"

And it's possible that patients have died from COMPLICATIONS of influenza (which isn't exactly the same thing) but were still listed in the flu statistics.

a reply to: moth115

I think recently I read the figure 50,000 dying from it in the US in one year?..and up to half a million world wide per year?

Surely that figure for the US isn't correct? How many death certificates per year read cause of death, influenza?

I've been wondering about this too, my doctor wants me to get a flu shot because I have health conditions that lower my immune system leaving me more susceptible to getting the flu. I really don't like the thought of getting a flu shot, at all!

So, I checked the CDC website and according to them they don't really know how many people die from seasonal influenza each year due to a variety of reasons. Hospitals aren't required to report deaths from flu in people over the age of 18, the flu is rarely listed as the cause of death on death certificates and flu related deaths typically occur a couple weeks after the initial infection.

The number of seasonal influenza-associated (i.e., seasonal flu-related) deaths varies from year to year because flu seasons are unpredictable and often fluctuate in length and severity.

Therefore, a single estimate cannot be used to summarize influenza-associated deaths. Instead, a range of estimated deaths is a better way to represent the variability and unpredictability of flu.

The CDC's estimates on flu related deaths:

CDC estimates that from the 1976-1977 season to the 2006-2007 flu season, flu-associated deaths ranged from a low of about 3,000 to a high of about 49,000 people.

Estimating Seasonal Influenza-Associated Deaths in the United States: CDC Study Confirms Variability of Flu

As far as not listing the cause of death from flu, I get that. But not reporting flu related deaths to the CDC, that I don't get. It is contagious after all.

Interesting topic!

a reply to: cyberheater

Yup, I've heard that. My dad who has hardly been off work Ill in his life at all says he had proper flu once, he was in bed for two weeks and couldnt move. He says he's never known anything like it, completely floored him. From hearing these descriptions it's easy to understand why people already weak and not at their best die after they get influenza.

a reply to: Jennyfrenzy

Yes, interesting, thanks for the link (apologies for delayed response!).

After I posted this initial post I came across an interesting link... It was just someones opinion I think, not exactly based on facts, so I'm not sure how reliable! I'll post it if I can find, having trouble finding it again.

I maintain that our concern for Influenza should be far greater than that of Ebola.
Influenza has been known to cause devastating pandemics. It isn't so much the personal risk of infection, you see, it's more to do with the economic hit taken when a particularly virulent strain of the disease hits.

Who will run the power plants, perform emergency surgery and distribute food?
Societal collapse, though unlikely, is still more likely to occur with Influenza than Ebola.

a reply to: Jennyfrenzy

I think this was the article I was looking at, or something similar,

m.huffpost.com...

The CDC's decision to play up flu deaths dates back a decade, when it realized the public wasn't following its advice on the flu vaccine. During the 2003 flu season "the manufacturers were telling us that they weren't receiving a lot of orders for vaccine,"Dr. Glen Nowak, associate director for communications at CDC's National Immunization Program, told National Public Radio. "It really did look like we needed to do something to encourage people to get a flu shot."

a reply to: moth115

Interesting article, it also seems like the CDC's system of tallying influenza deaths is all jacked up! Combining influenza and pneumonia deaths? They're two totally different beasts, hmmm....

"U.S. data on influenza deaths are a mess," states a 2005 article in the British Medical Journal entitled "Are U.S. flu death figures more PR than science?" This article takes issue with the 36,000 flu-death figure commonly claimed, and with describing "influenza/pneumonia" as the seventh leading cause of death in the U.S.

It's good to stay aware of your surroundings and wash your hands during the cold and flu season but I'm still not sure a flu shot is necessary. There are people that say they get the flu every year after getting the flu shot, my husband included so he no longer gets them. I've never gotten the flu after getting a flu shot but I'm still leery of getting them. In previous years I was always following doctors orders but I'm not so sure I want to do that anymore, lol.

Intriguing read, thanks for posting that.

Don't Believe Everything You Read About Flu Deaths

a reply to: Jennyfrenzy

I'm always offered the flu jab..since my teens when I had asthma. I think in the past I have received letters, the last couple of years a text message about it. I think I had the vaccine one year..bad memory.. but most years I haven't. With the asthma it's the chest infections that seem to get me! Always one or two in winter that linger for ages, causing nights awake unable to breathe, and I usually end up on antibiotics.

a reply to: Jennyfrenzy

Yes, it all seems a bit messed up! I suppose it is hard to define causes of deaths in a lot of cases.. Due to complications in one thing or another. It's something I've not read much about or paid much attention to if I'm truthful! Just seems recently a lot of comments regarding flu in relation to ebola..and with these text messages regarding flu jabs, thought I'd better look into it!

My 36 year old sister in law had the flu shot and still got the Influenza-B virus. It hit her so hard her organs began shutting down. She has been on life support for a week now and may not make it. She is a Dr and was relatively healthy until this happened so this was all quite a shock to say the least. I have never had a flu shot and never missed a day of work in my life due to sickness. Needless to say I don't plan on having any flu shots in the future.
Disclaimer: I am not encouraging anyone to avoid the flu-shot, just relating my own feelings on the matter. You have to make your own decision and live with the consequences whether good or bad.
At least for now we still have the freedom to choose.

most people die of old age, then heart attacks, cancer, flu, accidents