Get flu shot??

[bbbass]

People have survived the flu in a time where we had much poorer hygiene, no anti-biotics, no nutritional supplements or drugs.

Again with the "I/we survived" talking points. Ignores the facts in evidence:

The Spanish flu pandemic of 1918, the deadliest in history, infected an estimated 500 million people worldwide—about one-third of the planet's population—and killed an estimated 20 million to 50 million victims, including some 675,000 Americans.

Among many other sources: Spanish Flu

Yeah, some folks survived. It could have wiped out 95% of the world's population and you could still say "People have survived".... I say, yet again since you keep bringing "I/we survived" talking point up, what about the millions that didn't survive. And, could it happen again????

 

[madmax]

Not had one since 2003, never got the flu

 

[bbbass]

The 1918 flu was first observed in Europe, the United States and parts of Asia before swiftly spreading around the world. At the time, there were no effective drugs or vaccines to treat this killer flu strain. Citizens were ordered to wear masks, schools, theaters and businesses were shuttered and bodies piled up in makeshift morgues before the virus ended its deadly global march.

 

[bbbass]

Young children, people over age 65, pregnant women and people with certain medical conditions, such as asthma, diabetes or heart disease, face a higher risk of flu-related complications, including pneumonia, ear and sinus infections and bronchitis.

 

[bbbass]

The first wave of the 1918 pandemic occurred in the spring and was generally mild. The sick, who experienced such typical flu symptoms as chills, fever and fatigue, usually recovered after several days, and the number of reported deaths was low.

However, a second, highly contagious wave of influenza appeared with a vengeance in the fall of that same year. Victims died within hours or days of developing symptoms, their skin turning blue and their lungs filling with fluid that caused them to suffocate. In just one year, 1918, the average life expectancy in America plummeted by a dozen years.

 

[bbbass]

One unusual aspect of the 1918 flu was that it struck down many previously healthy, young people—a group normally resistant to this type of infectious illness—including a number of World War I servicemen.

In fact, more U.S. soldiers died from the 1918 flu than were killed in battle during the war. Forty percent of the U.S. Navy was hit with the flu, while 36 percent of the Army became ill, and troops moving around the world in crowded ships and trains helped to spread the killer virus.

 

[bbbass]

Although the death toll attributed to the Spanish flu is often estimated at 20 million to 50 million victims worldwide, other estimates run as high as 100 million victims. The exact numbers are impossible to know due to a lack of medical record-keeping in many places.

 

[bbbass]

When the 1918 flu hit, doctors and scientists were unsure what caused it or how to treat it. Unlike today, there were no effective vaccines or antivirals, drugs that treat the flu. (The first licensed flu vaccine appeared in America in the 1940s. By the following decade, vaccine manufacturers could routinely produce vaccines that would help control and prevent future pandemics.)

Note: Those bastids! How dare they!!!

 

[bbbass]

The Flu Takes Heavy Toll on Society
The flu took a heavy human toll, wiping out entire families and leaving countless widows and orphans in its wake. Funeral parlors were overwhelmed and bodies piled up. Many people had to dig graves for their own family members.

The flu was also detrimental to the economy. In the United States, businesses were forced to shut down because so many employees were sick. Basic services such as mail delivery and garbage collection were hindered due to flu-stricken workers.
In some places there weren't enough farm workers to harvest crops. Even state and local health departments closed for business, hampering efforts to chronicle the spread of the 1918 flu and provide the public with answers about it.

 

[Rickenbacher39]

And with that.........no....I have not had the flu shot.

 

[bbbass]

Spanish Flu Pandemic Ends
By the summer of 1919, the flu pandemic came to an end, as those that were infected either died or developed immunity.

Almost 90 years later, in 2008, researchers announced they'd discovered what made the 1918 flu so deadly: A group of three genes enabled the virus to weaken a victim's bronchial tubes and lungs and clear the way for bacterial pneumonia.

Since 1918, there have been several other influenza pandemics, although none as deadly. A flu pandemic from 1957 to 1958 killed around 2 million people worldwide, including some 70,000 people in the United States, and a pandemic from 1968 to 1969 killed approximately 1 million people, including some 34,000 Americans.

More than 12,000 Americans perished during the H1N1 (or "swine flu") pandemic that occurred from 2009 to 2010.


Soooo, again I ask..... could this happen again? If it does, will it be because scientists don't recognize it's peril in time, or will it be because people think there is no danger, that flu is not serious, that it can't happen again, or that some people did something, they survived despite the odds.

 

[Rickenbacher39]

Oooops, I guess we weren't done.
Sorry.

 

[4Freedom]

Maybe, you should hear a different take from a fairly reputable source of historical events (Smithsonian) about the real cause of the death in the Flu epidemic.

Myth 2. The pandemic was the work of a 'super-virus'

The 1918 flu spread rapidly, killing 25 million people in just the first six months. This led some to fear the end of mankind, and has long fueled the supposition that the strain of influenza was particularly lethal.

However, more recent study suggests that the virus itself, though more lethal than other strains, was not fundamentally different from those that caused epidemics in other years.

Much of the high death rate can be attributed to crowding in military camps and urban environments, as well as poor nutrition and sanitation, which suffered during wartime. It's now thought that many of the deaths were due to the development of bacterial pneumonias in lungs weakened by influenza.

A good amount of the deaths were caused by pneumonia, as a result of the squalor and overcrowded living conditions because of hardships of WWI. Coupled with poor nutrition and hygiene it was an epidemic waiting to happen. It really should b called the Pneumonia epidemic, rather than the Flu epidemic. You put too many malnourished people in any overcrowded situation than diseases are bound to proliferate, even in modern times.

Ten Myths of the 1918 Flu Pandemic

Ten Myths About the 1918 Flu Pandemic

The ‘greatest pandemic in history’ was 100 years ago – but many of us still get the basic facts wrong

www.smithsonianmag.com

 

[Oregonhunter5]

Hahaha
Im
No tin foil hat guy
But you gobble that big pharma pain pills like candy. That will thin out the freeways.

 

[Pandaz3]

I will get the shot tomorrow!

It used to be in Asian countries they would celebrate a baby's first 100 days if they lived that long. My grandmother (in South Dakota) had eleven kids, six survived. We have made great headway in health.

 

[bikemutt]

Safeway has (had?) free flu shot with 10% off shopping bill. I had 'em give the chicken we bought my shot so we wouldn't get bird flu, gave the wife's shot to the pork so we wouldn't get swine flu, and we saved 10%, win-win

 

[thereddog]

Lewis and Clark had gift blankets loaded with smallpox. It pretty much exterminated the coastal tribes. Did the folks providing the blankets know what would happen to the recipient populations? Does it matter?

 

[Andy54Hawken]

Lewis and Clark had gift blankets loaded with smallpox. It pretty much exterminated the coastal tribes.

Hm...No they did not.
I have read their journals extensively , as well as works dealing with both and after their trip... and never have come across a reference to Lewis and Clark and company introducing smallpox to any tribe....
Andy

 

[thereddog]

They gave the wool blankets to the tribes.

August 3 Lewis spent those early hours finishing his draft of a long speech proclaiming American sovereignty and the coming of new traders. Clark may well have spent the same time supervising the preparation of gifts. Opening bale number thirty, the men took out red leggings, fancy dress coats, and blue blankets. Setting aside flags and medals, they carefully packed the trade goods in individual bundles whose size and quality was determined by the rank of each chief. A special package was made up for the absent chief Little Thief.


I ain't saying that they knew the blankets carried the pox, but the natives got it nonetheless. They may have had no clue that their goods had the pox, and their motivations may have only been to expand trade, but the end result was the same.

 

[JackFrost]

Don't get the flu shot, won't ever get the flu shot. Goverment or "health care professionals" say I should do something its a pretty safe bet I SHOULD NOT do it!