The other vacinnations, like mumps, etc, aren't annual! And if influenza is a bacteria, what other bacterial infections can you be vaccinated against?
2006-10-11 00:47:13 · 11 answers · asked by True Blue Brit 7 in Health ➔ Other - Health
Stupid, I know ,but I thought influenza was from the Haemophilus influenza bacterium. Am I wrong?
2006-10-11 00:54:16 · update #1
Thanks to you all - I did a bit more research and I found out that Haemophilus influenza was originally thought to be the bacteria that caused 'flu but then discovered to be the secondary infection. You're right - 'flu is caused by a virus which of course, makes perfect sense. The confusion comes in because of the original name. I understand now! Thanks.
2006-10-11 01:23:39 · update #2
flu strains change from year to year, every year it is made up of whatever strain the CDC determines might be the one in our area..that's why. Influenza is not bacterial it is viral. You can be vaccinated against bacterial pneumonia(pneumococcal shot) and also bacterial meningitis.
2006-10-11 01:00:31 · answer #1 · answered by blondambition 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Because the virus mutates very frequently. They make a vaccination against what they predict is going to be the prevaliant strain. It's not a bacteria. It's a virus. Go back to school and pay more attention in science class.
2006-10-11 07:55:18 · answer #2 · answered by sovereign_carrie 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You need an annual flu shot because in the intervening year, the flu virus has mutated. It's now a different strain, so a specific vaccine has to be prepared for it.
Of course Creationists need no vaccine because they don't believe an organism can evolve.
2006-10-11 07:52:34 · answer #3 · answered by keepsondancing 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Influenza is a virus which mutates each year so that a new vaccine is needed each time it mutates. Giving you last year's vaccine would be a waste of time because it would not give you any protection against the current virus.
2006-10-11 07:51:35 · answer #4 · answered by blondie 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I'm not a Doctor either but my mother works in my local health centre which is attached to a local GP surgery, so we've picked up quite a bit of everyday health knowledge from there.
First off, influenza (like the common cold) is a virus NOT a bacteria. However, it is very infectious, and as the previous answers stated, mutates every year. In other words, vaccinations do not protect you from all forms of a particular disease or virus because there are so many different strains (forms) of them. To make matters worse, More and more different strains are developing every year that are becoming more and more resistant to the current medicines that we now use to treat them. In other words, the new types of flu are harder to treat because they've learned how to 'resist' the effects of your medicine on the immune system. This is one of the reasons why Doctors discourage people from taking antibitocs for colds and flu, unless absolutely necessary. Moreover, they are restricting flu jabs to people in high risk categories because in their case, it is thought that it is less dangerous to expose their immune systems to the effects of the jab (very mild dose of the current forms of flu) than it is for them to catch the new strains of flu. High risk people include, asthmatics/people with breathing problems and people over 65. If you think that you fall into this category, see your GP. If not, don't panic!
As for other bacteria/viruses, it depends on your age and what you're doing. If you're going on holiday to tropical countries for example, you'll obviously want jabs for things like malaria or yellow fever, but this varies from country to country, so again, see your GP.
If you're under 25 and work in London, I'd recommend getting a jab for the following, if you've not already had them done:
Meningitis C, MMR (esp mumps for men and Rubella for women) and TB, as there's apparently an outbreak of these at the moment.
Beyond that, I'd say (forgive me for sounding like a broken record), see your GP/practice nurse as he/she will be able to give you more specific information.
Sorry I can't be more specific than this, but I hope the information helps!
2006-10-11 08:18:27 · answer #5 · answered by ice.mario 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Because it's a huge government conspiracy to track us through the injections.... that and the virus mutates so we need to keep on top of it. I believe they forecast the top 3 expected strains of the virus, and develop the vaccine based on those assumptions.
2006-10-11 08:02:24 · answer #6 · answered by simplyrelaxinginblvl 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The flu virus is constantly changing, and evolving. Conniving little so, and so that it is. To keep up with it, we need to identify the current strain of the virus, and immunise against it.
2006-10-11 08:01:02 · answer #7 · answered by Rickles 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The virus mutates from year to year! You have to keep up with the new strains.
2006-10-11 07:55:02 · answer #8 · answered by CrankyYankee 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Because Flu is more common then the rest my friend. More flu germs floating about needs more vaccination. As the rest arent as common they need less vaccination.
I am not a Doctor, however, this is what i think.
:)
2006-10-11 07:49:57 · answer #9 · answered by Conspicuously Inconspicuous 2 · 0⤊ 3⤋
Because annuals only happen once a year.
2006-10-11 07:54:00 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋