Viruses from the 24-hour-kind up to this pandemic flu all travel under this one name: “the flu.”

It is true that all are forms of influenza.

Still.

This sloppy labeling leads to comments such as, “I don’t believe the shots work.”

“I took the shot and got the flu. Never again.”

People who say that likely did not have an influenza of the kind for which that year’s vaccine was developed. Vaccines are not perfect but they are not nothing, either.

In 1918, the worst pandemic of a century, people would have been grateful for any help. They would not have gone around complaining about their arms being sore, either.

Infectious disease experts report each year on the mix of viruses put into vaccine for manufacture versus what is circulating. To the degree there is a gap between shot and what’s out there, the shots will be less effective but not ineffective. They are clear about this. Every year.

• This year, the “seasonal flu” season never ended. It rested in July and the first two weeks of August and came back quickly.
• As of now, the pandemic flu is the “dominant” (H1N1) flu circulating.
• Fortunately, the “seasonal” flu—usually some combination of Types A and B in differing proportions depending on the year—is not winning against H1N1.
• It does not appear that the seasonal flu and the pandemic flu will meet and merge, which in science is called “mutating.”
• This year, then, it would appear that winter, when most people get influenza and related complications, the pandemic and seasonal flu are likely to be one in the same.
• This influenza is considered “mild” compared to more lethal forms but for patients who had a bad case of this, it is anything but mild.
• The U.S. government is planning to ship nasal spray flu formula as fast as possible. This means patients who get it have acquired some immunity to the pandemic flu by Halloween.
• This study says that shots are more effective than the flu mist spray for adults. However, the nasal spray version is what is available for shipping.
• If you are offered either form of pandemic flu protection—-nasal spray or shot—-take advantage of it.
• The report about children’s responses to the spray versus the shot is not in.

U S. News and World Report

“ If you have the choice between a seasonal flu vaccine that comes in a nasal spray or an injection, go for the injection, new research shows.

“In a study of adults tracked over one flu season, vaccines made from inactivated, or “killed,” flu virus — the injectable form — provided better protection against the seasonal flu than vaccines made from live attenuated virus, the type of vaccine available in a nasal spray.

“The nasal spray vaccine is effective but isn’t as effective as the injected vaccine,” said lead study author Arnold S. Monto, an epidemiology professor at the University of Michigan School of Public Health. “But it’s better to get some vaccine than no vaccine, so if you’re averse to getting an injection, get the nasal spray.” (Emphasis added)

“The researchers stressed that their findings, published in the Sept. 24 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, applied to seasonal flu vaccine efficacy in adults only. The same may not hold true for children, who may respond just as well to a nasal spray vaccine, or for the H1N1 swine flu vaccines that are on the way.”

Source: U. S. News and World Report, September 24, 2009

Citation: New England Journal of Medicine, Volume 361:1260-1267, September 24, 2009, Number 13