Flu shots

There is a strain of flu that is not well covered by this year's flu shot, we are seening an unusuallylarge numbers of people emergency department with flu  in our hospitals this winter. Three adults (45-60 years old) have died from it and tested positive for RSV postmortem.RSV doesn't usually kill adults, and it might not have been a major factor in two of the three deaths, but I thought this was worth a mention. 

If you haven't already please go get a flu shot. If you are scheduled for surgery they will give you one in the hospital if you ask.

I urge you to get one,It's true that you might still contract this virus but if you've been immunized it won't kill you. 

RSV:https://www.cdc.gov/rsv/index.html

RSV hit early this year. We had our first on the weekend of Thanksgiving. Normally we don't see it until late December or early January. 

This is true, my grand mother in laws retirement residence has had sings up for a few weeks warning of an outbreak there. I was talking to the staff, and their concern was how early in the season it hit.

Is RSV the same as flu type A?  Everyone who works on my unit in the hospital got the flu vaccine because we had to as a condition of employment and 3 people so far have gotten severe respiratory flu anyway.  2 were nasal swabbed when they went to the Dr. and were positive for type A flu.  It has been lasting 7-10 days for them. Sick at home but nobody admitted to the hospital.  Scary!

They are similar. The main difference is that the flu has a productive cough but the flu doesn't. Just out of curiosity, Aggiemae and I are both in Oregon. Where is everyone else at that is seeing this?

RSV doesn't...

No, RSV is a different kind of respiratory virus, not related to influenza.  It's very common in young children but can be very dangerous.

http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/respiratory-sy ncytial-virus/basics/definition/con-20022497

For influenza, right now they can't vaccinate against every type out there (but they're working on it).  Because of the lead time in vaccine production, they have to predict very early in the year what strains they think are going to hit, and make the vaccine for those 3 or 4 strains (trivalent vs quadrivalent vaccines).  Sometimes they miss, and an entirely new strain hits that is not part of the vaccine mix (H1N1 as an example).  What happens more often is that the vaccine in the wild experiences "genetic drift", which is to say it mutates slightly.  It is still the same strain, but very slightly different genetically than the one that was used in the vaccine manufacturing process.  When there's a complete miss, you get huge swaths of very sick people because there's no protection.  When there's a genetic drift, the vaccine still provides some protection and the result is fewer people sick, and usually a less severe form of the illness.

Some people think that the misses and drifts are a reason to skip the vaccine.  I don't agree.  Any protection is better than none, in my book.  But that's an argument for another time.  LOL.  :)

Type A flu spreading fast around Northeast Ohio area.

The mid Atlantic states. The northwest and California are being hit hard. We have lots of staff calling out and we all get flu shots.

AggieMae Thanks for the good information  and the link.  Had not really considered that flu shot could still result in flu sometimes but decrease the severity.