I was made aware of this great flu infographic at OnlineEducation.net and I am happy to share this with all of my readers. Really helpful and informative. We need more of these, preferably for each vaccine-preventable disease. Kudos to the nice folks who created this and allowed us to share it with all of you.
READ THE FULL ARTICLE AT HEALTHDAY FRIDAY, Nov. 11 (HealthDay News) — Although it can be prevented with a vaccine, roughly 90 million children worlwide who are younger than 5 get the flu each year, resulting in about 1 million hospital admissions, a new study indicates. Published in the Nov. 11 online edition of The Lancet, the research also revealed that flu-related pneumonia claimed the lives of up to 111,500 children in 2008. According to the report, 99 percent of these deaths occurred in developing countries. READ THE FULL ARTICLE AT HEALTHDAY Related articles Flu Sickens 90M Kids Worldwide (abcnews.go.com) The ———->FULL ARTICLE
The 2010 flu season has left quite a mark in the United Kingdom. The UKs Health Protection Agency (HPA) reports that 602 Britons have died of it this past season. That makes it deadlier than the 2009 swine flu pandemic which claimed the lives of 474 Britons. However, the swine flu claimed the most lives this year as well, with a total of 562 deaths due to it. That lead to the majority of victims (415) being in the age group of 15-64. Forty-five of those that died were children under 14, and 9 were pregnant women. Information on vaccination ———->FULL ARTICLE
Flu kills 40 in Georgia – The country of Georgia has recorded 40 flu victims this flu season; 29 of the fatalities were due to the swine flu, whereas the other 11 were due to the A and B subtypes. At this time, the vaccination status of the victims is unknown. Measles outbreak in Minnesota – 9 children have been infected with measles with Minnesota all under 4 years of age. To compare, a total of 6 cases was reported in this area over the 5 year period 2005-2010. Four of the infected children are unvaccinated, at least 3 of ———->FULL ARTICLE
The number of flu victims has more than doubled from 112 to 254, partly due to a backlog of information processing due to year-end holidays. That doesn’t change the fact that the flu has claimed 254 human lives in the United Kingdom alone this flu season. 195 of the victims have been confirmed to have had the H1N1 (swine flu) strain of the disease. Also, the majority of the victims were under 65 years of age, with 7 confirmed deaths in children under five. We have incomplete information on vaccination status, but based on what is known so far, among ———->FULL ARTICLE
Los Angeles county has just reported its first 3 flu related deaths of the 2010-2011 flu season, including a 4-year-old boy, a 28-year-old woman and a 48-year-old man. All three died from a vaccine preventable strain of the virus, although it is no immediately clear if they were vaccinated. The adults were both obese, putting them in one of the at-risk groups along with the very young, elderly etc. On average LA county records about 1,000 deaths per flu season. It is not too late to get the flu shot given that the flu season can last as long as ———->FULL ARTICLE
READ THE FULL ENTRY AT SCIENCEBASEDMEDICINE One of our readers suggested that I review the book The Great Influenza: The Epic Story of the Deadliest Plague in History, by John M. Barry. It’s not a new book (it was published in 2004) but it is very pertinent to several of the issues that we have been discussing on this blog, especially in regards to the current anti-vaccine movement. It’s well worth reading for its historical insights, for its illumination of the scientific method, and for its accurate reporting of what science has learned about influenza. In the great flu epidemic ———->FULL ARTICLE
A 4-year old New Rochelle boy has died of a flu-related pneumonia infection, according to the Westchester County Health Department. The boy fell ill in November; he was previously healthy and had not not received the flu vaccine this year. “Any death is tragic, especially in one so young,” said Dr. Cheryl Archbald, acting commissioner of health. “The best protection we have against influenza is the annual flu shot, which is recommended for individuals six months of age and older.” The flu sounds innocuous however, in some instances it can lead to life-threatening complications, pneumonia being one of them. Vaccination ———->FULL ARTICLE