Again, Drudge Report Highlights The Stories That Matter; This Time: the Flu (And For Chester: No, This Is Not About The Bakken)

Updates

January 8, 2013: Lehigh Valley Hospital-Cedar Crest in has set up tents outside the hospital to triage, to manage patients suspected of having influenza. Meanwhile, 150 "flu" patients have been admitted to Illinois hospitals; and eight Chicago-area hospitals had to turn away ambulances with suspected "flu" patients in the past 24 hours due to overwhelming numbers.

January 6, 2013: Correct flu vaccine this season? This should be easy to sort out, but it turns out that it isn't. The Drudge Report notes that the CDC is not being clear whether the flu vaccine being used this season actually includes the strain that is fueling this season's flu epidemic. The CDC uses the word "appears" when addressing that question. All the CDC has to do is tell us which strain is fueling the epidemic and what the vaccine contains, but that is very, very complicated. It's not as easy as it sounds.

But one CDC explanation is a bit ingenuous:

"Number one it does take some time for the vaccine to take effect and if you are exposed to influenza a very short time after getting the vaccine you can still get infected," Dr. Michael Jhung, CDC Medical Officer - Flu Division, said."

That would be true every flu season. What is different this flu season? Did "everyone" simply wait too long, unlike last year when "everyone" went in early to get their flu shot? Hmmmm.

For the record:

The trivalent inactivated influenza vaccine for the 2012–2013 season contains three inactivated viruses:

• Influenza A/California/7/2009(H1N1)-like 
• Influenza A/Victoria/361/2011(H3N2)-like 
• Influenza B/Wisconsin/1/2010-like (Yamagata lineage)

The influenza A H3N2 and influenza B antigens are different from those in the 2011–2012 vaccine. The H1N1 strain is derived from H1N1pdm09, which had been contained in the 2011–2012 seasonal vaccine. This vaccine will not protect against H3N2v or H5N1. 

Now, the flu fueling the 2012 - 2013 epidemic: not easy to do because there are several flu viruses "floating around":

The CDC has antigenically characterized 413 influenza viruses.

• Influenza A (H3N2): 281
• Influenza B: 115
• 2009 H1N1: 17

Influenza A (H3N2) [281]:

• 279 (99.3%) of the 281 H3N2 influenza viruses tested have been characterized as A/Victoria/361/2011-like, the influenza A (H3N2) component of the 2012-2013 Northern Hemisphere influenza vaccine.
• 2 (0.7%) of the 281 H3N2 viruses tested showed reduced titers with antiserum produced against A/Victoria/361/2011. 

2009 H1N1 [17]:

• All 17 2009 H1N1 viruses tested were characterized as A/California/7/2009-like, the influenza A (H1N1) component of the 2012-2013 influenza vaccine for the Northern Hemisphere.

Influenza B (B/Yamagata/16/88 and B/Victoria/02/87 lineages) [115]:

• Yamagata Lineage [79]: 79 (68.7%) of the 115 influenza B viruses tested so far this season have been characterized as B/Wisconsin/1/2010-like, the influenza B component of the 2012-2013 Northern Hemisphere influenza vaccine.
• Victoria Lineage [36]: 36 (31.3%) of 115 influenza B viruses tested have been from the B/Victoria lineage of viruses. 

So, perhaps the Victoria lineage of influenza B is an issue.

Original Post 

I had missed this. I suppose it's because I no longer watch network television.

But apparently this season's flu is intense, and the peak has not been reached.

This is my favorite site for tracking flu: google flu maps.

And nurses refusing to get flu shots. Great role models. Whatever. I think these nurses also refused to wash their hands based on their disbelief in the "germ theory." After all, it's just a theory.

I wonder if global warming and influenza epidemics are related?