This year’s flu season has proven influenza vaccines to be more effective in comparison to the ones from 2015, with a 51 percent vaccine effectiveness against last year’s 18 percent. Although influenza vaccines have made remarkable advances since last year, this year’s flu season has taken a sizeable toll nationwide.
Public health officials can’t determine what the causes for this outbreak could be; however, the recent campaign against vaccines over allegedly causing autism could have something to do with it. Whatever reason is to blame for the flu season’s outcome, vaccines still have bugs to be fixed to prevent people from getting the virus.
The Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends children and elderly people to stay at home if manageable considering they are prone to the flu virus, as they lack sufficient immunologic responses to these sort of diseases. The CDC has also claimed that every flu season is different from the previous one, which makes making an entirely effective influenza vaccine pretty difficult.
The changes among flu seasons and what makes them different from each other is the environmental variations of climate and the widespread dispersal of contaminant agents. Nevertheless, the latest reports from the CDC suggest the disease is following a steadier pattern since a few years ago. This would justify the influenza vaccines’ effectiveness when compared to previous years.
Even though more people are protected from influenza, the predominant virus in circulation, known as H1N1, has been linked in over three deaths related to the influenza virus. Apparently, the virus caused young patients – those most prone to get influenza according to the CDC – to present respiratory difficulties and lung malfunction. In some cases, people were so affected by the virus they had to be hospitalized. Some patients even presented further complications and unfortunately died.
Influenza-related deaths continue to appear nationwide
In Yellowstone County, the first death related to the influenza virus was a 9-year-old girl from the county’s Poly Drive Elementary, stirring commotion in the community and even across the United States. The little girl was identified as Fiona Westerman, who had been diagnosed with the flu earlier this week.
So it’s worth mentioning that people has long underestimated this disease’s danger and thus, have failed to prevent children from getting it. According to the CDC, the influenza virus has been related to almost 49,000 deaths in the United States since the 1980s.
As Idaho has been experiencing a high rate of flu activity, children are recommended to stay inside their houses while the season’s activity fades away. The CDC also recommends elderly people to take the matter seriously and stay indoors as they also have a weaker immune system, making them more prone to the influenza virus.
Source: Independent Record