'Flu vaccination' - She didn’t think a flu shot was necessary — until her daughter died at 12.

'Flu vaccination' - She didn’t think a flu shot was necessary — until her daughter died at 12. (Napo).

Piper Lowery had a fever that soared to 40.5 degrees.

It hurt for her to walk, and she was breathing heavily, her mother said. She was also bleeding from her nose and vomiting blood.

On Jan. 16, just four days after she got sick, Piper collapsed in the parking lot of a children’s hospital in Tacoma, Wash. By then, the H1N1 flu had already attacked her kidneys.

Piper died shortly before 12:30 p.m. that day. She was 12 years old. Read the full story here.

From Health Canada:

Influenza is a respiratory illness caused primarily by the influenza A and B viruses.
While most people recover in 7 to 10 days, severe illness can occur. Some groups are at a greater risk of influenza-related complications.

It is estimated that influenza causes approximately 12,200 hospitalizations and 3,500 deaths in Canada each year.

FluWatch, Canada's national influenza surveillance system, provides up-to-date information about currently circulating influenza strains
Getting vaccinated against influenza each autumn is the best way to help prevent influenza infection.

There are antiviral drugs, including oseltamivir (Tamiflu®) and zanamivir (Relenza®), currently authorized for influenza treatment and prophylaxis in Canada.

Risk groups for influenza-related complications:

The people at high risk of influenza-related complications or hospitalization include:

• all pregnant women (risk increases with length of gestation)
• adults and children with the following chronic health conditions:
  • cardiac or pulmonary disorders
  • diabetes mellitus and other metabolic diseases
  • cancer and other immune compromising conditions
  • renal disease
  • anemia or hemoglobinopathy
  • neurologic or neurodevelopment conditions
  • morbid obesity (BMI greater than or equal to 40)
  • children up to 18 years of age undergoing treatment for long periods with acetylsalicylic acid (ASA)
• residents of nursing homes and other chronic care facilities
• people 65 years of age and older
• all children younger than 60 months of age
• Indigenous peoples

Annual influenza vaccination is the most effective way to help prevent influenza and its complications.

Every year, NACI issues a seasonal influenza statement that informs practitioners about the vaccines authorized for use that season. Further clinical guidance regarding influenza vaccination, including vaccine administration advice and safety considerations, can be found in the Canadian Immunization Guide. More info here.

US Gov Flu mortality numbers:

• Number of deaths one year : 4,605
• Deaths per 100,000 population: 1.4

Source: Deaths: Final Data for 2014, tables 10, 11

Mutated flu virus in Iran continues to kill people.

Mutated flu virus in Iran continues to kill people. (Taz).

At least 33 people have died after contracting the virus, while 600 people have been hospitalized.

At least 33 people have died from a swine flu virus outbreak in two provinces of southwestern Iran in the past three weeks, the country’s deputy health minister, Ali-Akbar Sayyari, said Monday.

Mr. Sayyari also said the virus, known as H1N1, was likely to spread to other areas, including Tehran, the capital and Iran’s largest city with about 8.3 million people.

Iranian physician Ali Shekofteh told Trend that the mutated virus has emerged due to small changes in the genes of influenza viruses that happen continually over time. He added that flu viruses usually change and mutate on a constant basis.

Shekofteh dismissed the idea that the virus came to Iran from the neighboring countries.

He said that sometimes the mentioned mutations occur when virus is transmitted to people from animals, and the consequences could be deadly.

Shekofteh explained that the virus that is currently spreading in Iran, can cause heart and lung diseases, which mostly transmit by direct contact with infected individuals.

Shekofteh agrees that the above mentioned factors prevent proper care for flu-affected patients, as the sickness intensifies and eventually leads to multiple organ failure.

Previously, Iran's health minister, Hassan Ghazizadeh Hashemi said the virus is spreading in Iran's south-eastern regions. Hmmmm......Perhaps time Airports take notice of this before an pandemic starts.Read the full story here.

@MFS001 pic.twitter.com/8SuufFfqX5

— Juliane Meyer (@JulianeMeyerK) December 9, 2015

"Yes We Can" - American scientists controversially recreate deadly Spanish Flu virus.

"Yes We Can" - American scientists controversially recreate deadly Spanish Flu virus. HT: Independent.

The extinct influenza virus that caused the worst flu pandemic in history has been recreated from fragments of avian flu found in wild ducks in a controversial experiment to show how easy it would be for the deadly flu strain to reemerge today.

Scientists said the study involved infecting laboratory ferrets with close copies of the 1918 virus – which was responsible for the Spanish Flu pandemic that killed an estimated 50 million people – to see how easy it can be transmitted in the best animal model of the human disease.

But other researchers have denounced the research as foolhardy and dangerous. Critics said that any benefits of the attempts to recreate 1918-like flu viruses from existing avian flu strains do not justify the catastrophic risks if such a genetically engineered virus were to escape either deliberately or accidentally from the laboratory and cause a deadly influenza pandemic.

However, Professor Yoshihiro Kawaoka of the University of Wisconsin-Madison dismissed the criticisms of his research saying that it is necessary for the development of influenza vaccines and other countermeasures designed to minimise the risks of a future flu pandemic.

“These critics fail to appreciate the precautions and safeguards built into our work, the regulation, review and oversight these studies receive….The risks of conducting this research are not ignored, but they can be effectively managed and mitigated,” Professor Kawaoka said. Read the full story here.