Unlike most respiratory virus, flu is a systemic disease with high morbidity and occasional mortality in extremes if age. Even if the outlook is bleak, you should still definitely get a flu shot if you haven’t already, as it does provide effective protection against several strains, and a quick shot with minimal side effects is worth it to avoid days of being stuck in bed.
Hydrogen Peroxide – the best first remedy to prevention.
To some, it may seem primal but from my personal experience, I have always benefited by doing Hydrogen Peroxide gargles at those early stages when you identify that throat discomfort. As always, talk with your doctor to understand its usage.
But best remember to wash your hands too. Here is a reason…
Another things that helps to prevent flu and any other viral disease is to wash hands frequently, it is wise to be paranoid to think your hands are carrying the bugs if you haven’t washed those for some time now. It definitely makes sense not to touch any of the organs above your neck. If you haven’t washed your hands, it is safe to presume they will transmit those viruses.
Antigenic Shift versus Antigenic Drift
Because circulating flu virus strains change, it’s difficult for health agencies to predict how bad flu season will be in a given year. Despite a lack of certainty, health officials generally agree that the best way to protect a population is for as many people as possible to get the shot and participate in what scientists call “herd immunity.” When more people in a society become immune to a virus—or any disease—chances decrease that someone who isn’t immune will be exposed. That could mean the difference between life and death for some people who have weaker immune systems—including the elderly, young children, and people with chronic medical conditions.
The trouble is, the makeup of the viruses can change in the blink of the eye, because virus strains constantly mutate. Although researchers have clues about what a virus did previously, they’re usually guessing what specific changes will happen next. Viruses don’t grow naturally in eggs. They need to mutate in order to do so. Usually, these mutations don’t affect the vaccine later on. But when they do, they can render them effectively useless. This seems to be the case with the batch of flu vaccines given out this year.
Current vaccines are only 10% effective against this year’s main flu strain, called H3N2. The authors theorized that this was in part due to this mutation and in part because of a complication with the antibody serums used to make the vaccine fit for people.
H3N2 is also a particularly nasty strain, which historically is always the worse influenza.
Why Flu may be bad for 2017-2018. https://wp.me/p7XEWW-Xf.
A virus mutation has made this year’s flu vaccine less effective https://qz.com/1143420/the-2017-2018-flu-vaccine-is-less-effective-than-usual/
https://theconversation.com/3-ways-the-us-should-prepare-for-the-next-flu-pandemic-91300
mymilieu.org 