Dammit, I want sympathy

[venta]

I think I've got 'flu :(

Some of you might be familiar with my rant about 'flu.

Have you ever noticed that nobody ever takes a day off work because they've got a cold ? They always take a day off for 'flu. For ages now I've been trying to get the cold reinstated as something people take seriously - you can feel bloody awful with a cold; you don't need to claim 'flu to take time off. And regardless of what the Lemsip adverts say, you don't get better from 'flu in a day. People die of 'flu.

While I don't think my death is imminent, I think I'm justified in applying to have my cold upgraded. I'd list symptoms to demonstrate my claim, but fear it'd make very dull reading.

Comments

Re: Vaccines..

[onebyone.livejournal.com]

The other reason mumps is different is that most people vaccinated against it in childhood. It's easy to give healthcare treatment to children.

It is practically impossible to persuade adults to take preventative measures - look how difficult it has been to persuade people to have regular screening for breast cancer. That's a disease that you might already have, never mind one that you know for sure you don't have now (well, barring a few days incubation, in which case the vaccine presumably won't help you anyway), but may or may not catch sometime this year.

Re: Vaccines..

[leathellin.livejournal.com]

Unless there is a monetary or health incentive to do otherwise, most vaccination programs count on there being at least a generational delay before the full effect of the program is felt.
Exceptions to this tend to be campaigns in response to biological warfare threats and rapid spreading lethal strains. There have been relatively few vaccination programs which have attempted to deal with something as rapidly mutating as Influenza.

If a blanket government scheme was introduced I would expect the scheme to be something like:

An increase into the research funding for a more widespread Influenza vaccine with a stronger effect either over both types A and B or one for each.

A blanket innoculation of children at an early point in their school stage and updates for severe new strains with a change to a single blanket innoculation as the overall vaccine improves. (many years time scale).

A campaign and assisted funding to get companies to provide facilities and encourage the vaccination of their employees if not every year then every few.

This would slowly on a year by year basis reduce the overall incidence in the population.

I admit the main sticking point is the lack of a general 'Flu vaccine which makes the program rather a problem over an extended period of time. I also think that if a decision to try the program was made the impetus and extra funding could well increase the chances of the research succeeding by a siginificant time period.