May. 11, 2005 - 20:05 MDT

NEW FLU ?

I have been getting flu shots for years, ever since my teen years. That was the time I would go to town and get my shot, ride the trolley home, shed my shoes, crawl under all the covers I could scrounge up and spend the night, tight, with the "short flu," all the symptoms in a very short time and no after ill-effects.

The year before last I had almost insisted that I be given a booster (or another Pneumovax shot) and it was given me. Heather who had had her first one the same time as I did, asked for one and was turned down.

When I became eligible to go into an HMO in 1977 there hasn't been a year that I missed having a flu shot, nor has there been a year that I had the flu.

Of course none of these precautionary procedures are 100 percent effective. In reality, nothing can be 100 percent.

This last season Heather and I did as most old folks do, prepared to get our flu shot as soon as they were available and we were successful in getting them.

No flu this winter, but recently Heather was very sick and diagnosed with pneumonia. I got sick but not nearly so much as she did.

So was this one of those combination things, flu plus pneumonia, or some weird variation ?

Given that she was diagnosed with pneumonia this time I don't think she will have any problem getting her Pneumovax shot this fall. And of course we will get our flu shots as soon as they are given.

But I wonder, will there be enough flu shots, of the right kind, uncontaminated for our population ? And will they be available in time without sweat and worry ? What has the government and pharmaceutical companies done to assure a goodly supply ?

How can parents of children feel assured that they themselves aren't going to lose work or worse because they couldn't get a flu shot thereby putting their children in danger of want.

Just wondering too, can any of the scientific folks be sure the flu shots will guard against whatever type of flu is going to go around next winter ?

Pneumovax was supposed to be a once in a lifetime shot, but apparently there has been sufficient doubt in some quarters that second shots have been given. Of course there are different kinds of pneumonia on which shots will have no effect. Lipoid for one, caused by inhalation of oil mist, not by germs. I also think that like flu there are several strains of germs that cause pneumonia.

Then in my mind is the question, will there be enough of the right kind of innoculation material to give everyone the shots, those who have no money to pay -- will they be given a shot ?

It happened before I was born, 1918 I think when our country was decimated by the "Spanish Flu" they called it. Flu can definitely be a killer disease.

On our side are scientists who will be trying to determine which kind of flu will be amongst us and who will try to see that the vaccine is produced. Sneaking up on us, I wonder, is there, out there, a New Flu ? . . . . . . .

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