i heard in the next 3-4 years that the worse flu ever will be in the u.s., is it true?

Question

my sister in-law is a nurse and was telling us about this flu will be here killing thousands and the vaccines won't be strong enough to prevent it. Has anyone heard of this? Or something like it?

Answer 1

Not necessarily.

Influenza is a cyclic disease. Some years are very mild, while some seem to infect many more and the symptoms are very bad.

She may be thinking of the avian influenza that we're hearing about from many places in the world.

The event that may trigger a significant outbreak is human-to-human transmission. The virus must have the specific adaptability to spread this way. Currently it has not been proven that this is occurring. However, influenza is very mutagenic and it is only a matter of time before it has this ability.

A vaccine can be made, however the vaccine makers must wait till the virus has become its most infective form.
The vaccine will not be effective against variants of the virus, so if they make it too early, then it will not fully protect you when the virus hits.

The effectiveness of the vaccine is partly based on the composition of the inactivated virus, however it is mostly based on the response your own immune system.

The vaccine will be effective when its produced. Flu vaccine processing has been perfected over the last 20 or more years. Its just a matter of getting the vaccine in the correct form, at he correct time, to protect the public.

I get the flu vaccine every year. Even though the viruses are somewhat different year to year, you can build some general immunity to the influenza virus over the years.

According to influenza researchers, we are overdue for an influenza epidemic.

Don't get all bent out of shape just yet.

Answer 2

Someday, there is likely to be a flu epidemic that kills an unusually large number of people, like those that have happened in the past. The last big flu outbreak was in 1968, and hundreds of thousands of people died in the US. In 1919, millions of people died worldwide. In a normal year, 20,000 to 45,000 people die from the flu.

Even though we know a serious flu is likely, there's no way to predict when it will happen. Right now, scientists are tracking avian flu in birds because they have the type of flu strain that caused the outbreaks in 1918 and 1968.

Flu viruses change constantly. Right now, people can catch avian flu from close contact with infected birds. If the virus mutates, it may be able to pass from person to person, and if that happens, there could be a deadly epidemic. Most of the people that die from deadly flus are people in their 80's or 90's and infants.

Answer 3

Your sister-in-law is spreading incorrect information. There is no way to predict what the flu season will be like from one year to the next. Even with all the media attention that "bird flu" receives there is no accurate assessment of its virulence. Besides, it hasn't been proven to easily spread from animal to human, much less human to human. I strongly suspect she heard this from someone else or read it somewhere other than a valid scientific journal. If she knows this then she is much more knowledgable than the worlds foremost viral microbiologists

Answer 4

flus like all diseases, only kill children and the weak, in many cases both. My advice is to leave unwanted loved ones outside this winter and let nature run her course.