Early flu season accelerates; no peak yet, CDC says:

http://vitals.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/01/04/16329989-early-flu-season-accelerates-no-peak-yet-cdc-says?lite

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU (yes I am shouting with all caps). Wonderful post.

"More telling, for people who reported both flu symptoms and vaccination status, of those who got the flu, three out of four were not vaccinated, while a quarter had gotten their flu shots.

Brownstein cautioned that can't be used as a true measure of this season's vaccine efficacy because of variables in reporting. But the CDC says that in the 2010-2011 flu season, vaccine effectiveness was about 60 percent for all age groups combined."

So, to recap, in this group, a lot of people who had an "immunization" got sick anyway, and overall last year the chances of your getting the flu if you had the "shot" was not that far from "coin flip." Oh--kay.

I believe your facts. So is the CDC just plain wrong and no one should needs a flu shot? Confused!

Here is a weekly report from the CDC showing that the confirmed cases of influenza is actually down for the latest week reporting

http://www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly/weeklyarchives2012-2013/images/image521.gif

Sometimes I believe that people confuse influenza like illness ( ILI, or the flu) with true influenza?

Yes more people are c/oing of more influenza like illnesses but that does not mean influenza. Don't I interprete that correctly?

Ili is defined by CDC as a fever of 100F orally associated with a sore throat or cough. To say Ili is the same as influenza is confusing for me?

Here is a weekly report from the CDC showing that the confirmed cases of influenza is actually down for the latest week reporting

http://www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly/weeklyarchives2012-2013/images/image521.gif

Sometimes I believe that people confuse influenza like illness ( ILI, or the flu) with true influenza?

Yes more people are c/oing of more influenza like illnesses but that does not mean influenza. Don't I interprete that correctly?

Ili is defined by CDC as a fever of 100F orally associated with a sore throat or cough. To say Ili is the same as influenza is confusing for me?

Whatever presentation makes it "look" the way the reporter/PTB want it to.

The CDC also lumps in influenze and all influenza like illnesses such as pneumonia, etc. in with their stats when they talk about the 36,000 people who die from the flu every year. Just to recap, they claim 36,000 people die from the flu every year but are including deaths that may not even be from the flu in that number.

I like my vaccinations. Even of they are effective against one strain, then I am willing to take that protection. I see too many confirmed flu cases a year in triage.

I had real flu several years ago. NEVER EVER want to go thru that again! Was soooooo sick with all the headache & body aches. RN here who was ready to have a spinal - never recognized it as flu. Boy, did my NP have a good laugh with me when she prescribed chicken soup and lots of juice!

Ever since then, I'm the first one in line!

That is one thing that drives me nuts. You don't have a 24 hour flu. That is probably food poisoning.