In article ,
Doug Freyburger wrote:
I try not to get too anal about things, although I don't always succeed.
When somebody tells me that they missed one day of work because they had
"THE FLU", I know that they probably did not have a full-blown attack of
the influenza virus:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Influenza
"Influenza spreads around the world in seasonal epidemics, resulting in
the deaths of between 250,000 and 500,000 people every year,[11] up to
millions in some pandemic years. On average 41,400 people died each year
in the United States between 1979 and 2001 from influenza.[12] In 2010
the CDC in the United States changed the way it reports the 30 year
estimates for deaths. Now they are reported as a range from a low of
about 3,300 deaths to a high of 49,000 per year.[13]
Three influenza pandemics occurred in the 20th century and killed tens
of millions of people, with each of these pandemics being caused by the
appearance of a new strain of the virus in humans."
What they meant was that they had a bad cold or a stomach virus.
But then when it comes time to talk about getting a flu vaccine, people
are still thinking about bad colds and other viruses, not influenza.
They aren't the same. The flu vaccine won't keep you from getting those
things that most people call "the flu", because they aren't.
--
Dan Abel
Petaluma, California USA
[email protected]