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THERE HAS BEEN a jump in the number of people presenting with flu-like illnesses (ILI) over the past week, the country’s health watchdog has said.
The HPSC, which monitors communicable diseases, has urged people in high-risk groups to get vaccinated against influenza.
According to the HSE agency, rates have risen from 20.5 per 100,000 population to 32.4 per 100,000 population during the second week of February.
They are now above threshold levels which means that flu is actively circulating in the community, said public health medicine specialist Dr Joan O’Donnell.
“It is still not too late for people who are at risk of the complications of flu to get vaccinated against the disease if they have not already done so. The vaccine is available free of charge from GPs for all people in at risk groups, and from pharmacists for everyone aged 65 and over. An administration charge may apply to people who don’t hold medical cards or GP visit cards.”
High-risk groups include those aged 65 or more, people with chronic illnesses and those with lower immunity because of disease or treatment.
The vaccine should also be obtained by pregnant women, at any stage of their pregnancies, and men and women suffering with morbid obesity.
Healthcare workers and carers are also considered at high risk.
Symptoms of flu usually develop over a matter of hours. They include a high temperature, sore muscles, a dry cough, a headache and a sore throat.
There is a difference between flu and the common cold. The latter tends to come on more gradually and includes a runny nose and a normal temperature.
“Anyone who gets flu should stay at home, rest, drink plenty of fluids and use over-the-counter remedies like paracetamol to ease symptoms,” advised O’Donnell. “Anyone in one of the high-risk categories should contact their GP if they develop influenza symptoms.
“Covering your nose and mouth with a tissue when you cough and sneeze, disposing of the tissue as soon as possible and cleaning your hands as soon as you can are important measures in helping prevent the spread of germs and reducing the risk of transmission.”
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Man Flu is the silent killer.
No jab ,
No cure,
If you survive man flu,
anything else is a stroll in the park..
Haven’t been sick since i was a child, over 20 years now. Not even a sniffle. No idea why, just lucky I guess.
Not interested in getting Narcolepsy, thanks.
Why would I want to be injected with mercury
The flu shot licensed in ireland does not contain mercury.
Why wouldn’t you want to minimise the risk for vulnerable people around you by having a brief little hurty jab that contains safe levels of ingredients that will give you significantly increased protection from the flu?
Anyway, there’s no mercury/thiomersal in the 2014 flu jab.
http://www.immunisation.ie/en/AdultImmunisation/FluVaccination/
“safe levels of ingredients ” there lies the issue and controversy
What do you perceive to be the issue Simon?
I don’t perceive anything. There is controversy around the whole issue of flu vaccinations. If it were up to this government they would make it mandatory to get flu vaccinations, and I certainly don’t agree with that . If you’re fit and healthy there is no need to take it.
There is controversy Simon, but I don’t understand the reasoning behind it because the data are very clear. What do you think the specific reasons behind the controversy are? What are your specific concerns? Why do you think that fit and healthy people do not benefit from flu (or any other type) vaccination campaigns? Have you heard about ‘herd immunity’?
Get your flu jab and help with the transmission of the latest strain of genetically modified influenza virus in your local community.
Patricia, the flu vaccine is a deactivated/dead virus. People can’t catch the flu from the vaccine however, having a high uptake of vaccination in an area reduces the spread of the illness (as more people are more immune) and as a consequence, protects the elderly, young, pregnant women and immunocompromised.
“About 40-60 per cent of the vaccines returned each year are unused flu vaccines. The amount of flu vaccine purchased is based on a 75 per cent uptake by the public.”"The efficacy rate for this years flu vaccine is 55%.”
That’s give a 15-30% vaccination rate for the country, and probably only half have developed any immunity from the vaccine.
So why then do we not flu epidemics here?
Rkmr, we are in the middle of a flu epidemic. That’s what this article is about. We have flu epidemics every year (called ‘flu season’). Some years the strains of flu going around are more virulent than others though, so we might hear more about it.
That’s strange because according to the HSE statistics flu activity is very low. Here’s a link for flu surveillance from the start of this season. I’ve gone through every week and they all say the same “no activity” or “sporadic activity”. An example for 1 week was 90 samples tested for influenza 1 positive result. The most recent week PDF shows that 3770 samples have been tested so far this flu season and 343 of these were confirmed as flu.
http://www.hpsc.ie/hpsc/A-Z/Respiratory/Influenza/SeasonalInfluenza/Surveillance/InfluenzaSurveillanceReports/20132014Season/File,14390,en.pdf
Did you read last week’s report Rkmr? Here’s the first line:
‘Influenza activity continued to gradually increase in Ireland during week 5 2014. Influenza A(H3) and A(H1)pdm09 are currently co-circulating. ‘
Like I said, some years the flu is more virulent than others. If it’s more virulent, people are more likely to go to the doctor, and it is more likely to be captured as a data point.
Yes I looked at all of them, please look at all of them.
The data from last weeks, 68 confirmed cases from 336 tested. 5 influenza related deaths reported for the whole season so far!!
I just don’t think the vaccine is worth the money. We are not seeing large scale illness or deaths, this cannot be attributed to the vaccine uptake. So we are wasting millions from a health budget which is massively in debt, no money for services which actually help people. I’m not against vaccines at all but this vaccine is not cost effective and the millions spent on it could be well used in a 1000 other more deserving services within health protection.
‘I just don’t think the vaccine is worth the money.We are not seeing large scale illness or deaths’
‘According to the HSE agency, rates have risen from 20.5 per 100,000 population to 32.4 per 100,000 population during the second week of February. “They are now above threshold levels which means that flu is actively circulating in the community”, said public health medicine specialist Dr Joan O’Donnell.’ – quote from article.
‘Worldwide, these annual epidemics result in about three to five million cases of severe illness, and about 250 000 to 500 000 deaths. Most deaths associated with influenza in industrialized countries occur among people age 65 or older.
The most effective way to prevent the disease or severe outcomes from the illness is vaccination. Safe and effective vaccines have been available and used for more than 60 years. Among healthy adults, influenza vaccine can prevent 70% to 90% of influenza-specific illness. Among the elderly, the vaccine reduces severe illnesses and complications by up to 60%, and deaths by 80%.’
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs211/en/
5 influenza deaths reported so far this year in Ireland.
40-60% of flu vaccines destroyed in Ireland each year
15-30% flu vaccine uptake
55% efficacy rate of flu vaccine
With these numbers how can you say the flu vaccine is cost effective for Ireland?
You see I think because of my comments you have probably labelled me as anti vaccine but that’s not true. My child has had all their vaccines but we have never got a flu vaccine. I’m not anti vaccine I just want to see that the vaccines we are using are helping people and that they are cost effective mainly because our health budget is so stretched and every penny we have should be spent in the most cost effective and prioritised way
I’m glad that your child has had their vaccines and I agree with you that our health budget is stretched but I don’t think the solution lies in rejecting flu vaccinations because of the costs involved. The efficacy of the flu vaccine varies from year to year as pharma companies have to make predictions about what strains are going to be significant in any given year. In a year where the flu proves not to be so serious, it is easy to look back and say that we could have saved millions by not vaccinating as many people as possible, however this is hindsight. In years where the strains going around are particularly nasty, vaccination will save many lives and be a far more cost effective option that treatment of ill people. This is a really interesting article written by a pathologist who has a strong interest in the data surrounding efficacy of treatments.
http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/flu-vaccine-efficacy/
It could be part of the solution if the right people asked the right questions. Why do we buy so many vaccines when so little are used?
And sorry this guy who wrote the article you posted is so offensive. His pieces are littered with nasty, belittling and offensive comments towards people who disagree with his opinion. His notoriety comes from this shock factor not from anything academic, he is a blog writer with very strong opinions on controversial subjects, he also has a medical background and is an md in the us and uses this to back up everything he says as truth. There is no need to be as offensive as he is to people who hold different opinions
I’m all for reading good research articles and studies from respected scientists but not from this kind of person
I can’t comment on the wastage of vaccines because I don’t know how the HSE make their calculations, but I do know that in any medical environment, there will be loss and many people will be tasked to reduce it. I also know that many academic institutions and companies are researching methods to make vaccines (and in particular the flu vaccine) more effective, safer and longer lasting. Innovations such as soluble microneedles patches for drug/vaccine delivery, or flu vaccines that target a common epitope on many flu strains rather than than highly specific ones, are being investigated and hopefully in the next 20 years or so, we’ll see huge improvements in the efficacy, shelf life, and cost effectiveness of vaccines.
To some degree I agree with you about Mark Crislip. He can be a little ‘abrasive’ in getting his point across. I should have thought about that before I posted a link to his blog…but as an infectious disease doctor (him, not me) who understands how to read scientific data, and spends a great deal of time doing so in order to be as well informed as possible, I suspect he gets very frustrated by people telling him that he should respect the opinions of those who don’t understand what they’re talking about and causing great harm in spreading their misconceptions around. If you think he’s rude about opponents to the flu vaccine, you should his his podcasts about homeopathy, cranio-sacral therapy, and faith healing ;)
Anyhoo, I think, despite the long discussion, we’re actually not that far apart in our opinions on vaccination/healthcare. Like you, I think the data have to be carefully examined/questions asked by the right people using the right methods for the greatest benefit for all. I can tell you’re really interested in the subject…have you read Ben Goldacre’s books? Bad Science and Bad Pharma? They’re really interesting.
Yes I think we’re along the same lines :)
The times article I posted gives the vaccines bought and wasted and I understand of course there will be some loss but 40-60% of flu vaccines destroyed!! It’s clear that the demand for flu vaccine in Ireland is low and from the data from the hpsc it doesn’t seem to be hurting us too bad. Flu cases, deaths and compilations are low here. Maybe there is a minimum number a country has to buy who knows!
I know what you mean with mark crislip but I just think that now he has got so offensive, so worked up that he is blind to any other alternative than his way, what he believes and shouts about regularly. Do you know what I mean? It’s never good to be totally closed off to other therapies or ways of doing things.
Yes like Ben Goldcare, some of his stuff really makes me question the validity of ‘peer reviewed journals’ which is scary because if we can’t trust them what can we trust.
I had constant chest infections last year even on holiday. But since I got the Flu jab in October last year I didn’t get any cold systems since!
And how would toy rate your mental health?
Chest Infections, cold symptoms? You do know infections are caused by bacteria they cannot be vaccinated against and require antibiotics? And the common cold is caused by a separate virus which cannot be vaccinated against.
Maybe they should push all men to get the vaccine. Then none of us women would have to hear how bad the dreaded man flu is.
These days everything is bad for you. Air, water, food all packed with God knows what. I still got my vaccine and don’t regret it. My husband has asthma and did not want to get it and my son who is just under 2 so they don’t vaccinate that young as far as I know. Anyways they both got is quite bad and I didn’t and I am 8mths pregnant and that puts me in a very high risk group, so say what you want but I am getting my vaccine every year.
“Flu like illnesses” they don’t even know if it is the flu because the money, time or effort isn’t there to have samples confirmed in a lab.
So basically they have no idea and are just gestimating.
Do you think that the money, time and effort needed to distinguish ‘flu like illnesses’ from flu would be money, time and effort well spent? Or do you think that the experience, observation and data scientists/doctors have from previous epidemics show that the treatments and clinical outcome for those presenting with ‘flu like illnesses’ and flu itself are indistinguishable and the enormous amount of money, time and effort that could be spent typing the viral strain of every single person, would in fact be better spent on flu prevention, information campaigns and all the other thousands of areas in the healthcare system that desperately need funding?
Absolutely agree with you that it would be much better spent in other areas. Like promotion of healthy eating and lifestyle and how this can help prevent the flu or severity of it.
You see we are lead to believe there is flu epidemics when all the data shows us that’s not true. We are lead to believe by the media that people are dropping like flies from flu, yet all the data shows that’s not true. And this is up to date data from Ireland. This is where the money is being spent on scaremongering and on a vaccine when the majority purchased is destroyed, uptake is low, efficacy is low so I think we are wasting our money on it. It’s not doing anything to help the flu case here. It doesn’t contribute to herd immunity in any way, again due to low uptake and efficacy.
Vaccines are very important part of medicine but the flu vaccine is a waste of money here in Ireland. The only way it could be beneficial is for the majority to get vaccinated and create herd immunity but that isn’t happening, it’s not even close so yes I believe we are wasting millions each year on it
‘You see we are lead to believe there is flu epidemics when all the data shows us that’s not true.’
What data are you accessing Rkmr? The data generated by the CDC, HSE, WHO etc would suggest otherwise.
‘Worldwide, these annual epidemics result in about three to five million cases of severe illness, and about 250 000 to 500 000 deaths. Most deaths associated with influenza in industrialized countries occur among people age 65 or older.’
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs211/en/
I’m talking about Ireland, this is where I live, the area I am most concerned about, where my tax pays for these vaccines. I want to make sure my tax money is being spent in areas which truly make a different to irish peoples lives.
I have already given you links to all the data from this years flu season, this is irish data, irish money, irish people I’m talking about. Not Americans or Europeans they have their own governments and people to decide where their money is best spent.
I am the worlds worst for catching the flu and it has knock on effects for my hearing and repeat chest infections and head colds. So I got the jab. Best thing ever nothing this year and counting
I thought October was ‘flu jab month?
There having a second sale this year.
Trying to offload as many as possible. Millions of € was wasted last year destroying unused flu vaccines
I would get vaccinated but I am not spending 50 quid to go get it done.
It’s a shame they’re so costly. Like contraception, they should be subsidised/free. Prevention is a lot more cost effective for the state, than cure.
It costs €20 or €25 from my local practice nurse! Where does it cost €50?
€20 or less in most pharmacies
It was that time of the year in October/November!
I thought I had the flu but then I took my antibiotics I got off my friend and it went away, next time I’m getting 2 vaccines cuz Debs says its twice the protection init?
have your say