Influenza is a potentially fatal disease, affecting millions each year. The best way to protect against it is by antivirus influenza immunization. Fluvirin, produced by the company, Novartis, is a Thimerosal-preserved, inactivated influenza-vaccine.

Fluvirin is recommended everyone above the age of 18 to protect against influenza, commonly known as the “flu”. Influenza is a disease cause by the influenza types A and B. The vaccine has an inactivated influenza virus which aids to strengthen the immune system against the disease.

Great precaution should be taken in administering Fluvirin. It isn’t recommended for anyone with allergies, especially egg allergies or egg-product allergies since the virus is matured in chicken egg. People with life-threatening ailments or disorders which involve neurological disorder should not get the vaccine. It isn’t recommended for children younger than 18 years of age.

There are some minor side effects of the vaccine which includes tenderness, swelling, pain, redness, headache, fatigue and malaise. The side effects are very minor and shouldn’t be a cause of concern.

Fluvirin can be found in 5 ml multi dose vials, which consist of 10 doses and in Thimerosal free single dose syringes. A single dose is 0.5 ml that is administered intra-muscularly. It should also not be given in combination with other drugs and/or treatments.

It is not considered advisable for pregnant mothers, nursing mothers, pediatric use under the age of four and geriatric (age greater than 75 years) use. People who live in high-risk areas, have a medical occupation, during travel abroad, people who work in old-homes or long-term care centers are normally advised to get the complete influenza treatment Fluvirin provides. It is normally administered in September or October of a year, and provides protection for the next 365 days. Next year, another dose is followed up which protects against the strain of virus that is expected to be prevalent that year.

Influenza or flu is a contagious viral respiratory infection that usually occurs during the winter months in the northern hemisphere and all year round in the southern hemisphere. All age groups are affected by flu; however, children have the highest rate of infection. Serious illness and death due to flu usually occurs in extremes of age, those over 65 years or under 2 years.

The best way to protect against flu is through flu vaccines. The flu vaccine is composed of two flu “A” sub types and one flu “B” sub type. The viral sub types contained in the flu vaccines usually changes each year. The flu viruses for both vaccine preparations are grown in eggs. Therefore, the vaccines are contraindicated in individuals with severe allergy to eggs.

Pediatric Dosage

Babies and children aged six months through 8 years who need to be given 2 doses of pediatric flu vaccine, administered at least one month apart, if it’s their first dose. The children in this category are advised to get their first flu shot at the earliest, to allow sufficient gap between the first and second prescribed dose.

A type of pediatric flu vaccine that is sprayed in the nose of infants is supposed to be more protective against the disease, and is also considered safer by health professionals worldwide.

Adult Dosage

The trivalent inactivated adult flu vaccine can be administered to all adult age groups and risk populations. It is recommended that the vaccine be administered yearly to children older than 6 months of age at risk for complications from flu. Vaccine is administered intramuscularly into the deltoid muscle of adults. Adults older than 9 years of age are administered once yearly a single dose of the adult flu vaccine to protect against the strains of influenza.

If you are concerned about a preservative free flu vaccination for your child, Fluzone is the answer. Manufactured by Sanofi Pasteur, this product is free of Thimerosal, the preservative found in multiple doing influenza products. The Food and Drug Administration has approved Fluzone preservative free flu shots for children who have attained six months of age or older. These are pre-dosed, individual syringes for intra-muscular injection, thereby eliminating the need for a cross-contaminant preservative. For vaccinating against strains A and B of the influenza virus, this is the option for those parents who are adamant about protecting their children from additives like Thimerosal.

The Fluzone syringes are identifiable by their bright pink plunger delivery system. The pink plunger will offer the parent a way to identify if the vaccine their child is receiving is a preservative free flu shot. There is no need to draw the vaccine from a multi-dose vial, so if you witness a vial draw taking place, you should interject immediately. All vial drawn, multi-dose influenza vaccines contain preservatives. Parents accompanying children for their vaccinations should be knowledgeable on which formulations are packaged and dispensed by the differing methodologies. If you have requested a preservative free flu shot for your child of six months or older, you should pay attention to the method and device being used.

Failing to obtain an influenza vaccination for your child based on a fear of preservatives is ill advised. The availability of the FDA approved, individually dosed Fluzone product for children’s vaccinations is the answer to these concerns. Even though a direct correlation between preservatives and possible effects of use is still being studied, having a preservative free alternative with Fluzone should provide every parent a level of comfort. Ask your pediatrician if a preservative free flu shot is available for your child before the next flu season arrives.

From the time Edward Jenner conceived of the idea of a vaccine, the science of vaccines has been based on a simple concept, that of using an organism similar to the pathogen to protect the patient from that pathogen. Jenner’s use of cowpox to immunize against smallpox is the classic example. But progressions in medical science and viral understanding have give us new tools for new vaccines, especially flu vaccines.

From that pioneering work of those first vaccines, it was quickly discovered that if a similar organism is unavailable, a weaker form of the original pathogen can get a response. This “attenuated” organism now forms the basis for most flu vaccines produced today. But there is a problem with this approach, one that we face each flu season.

The variability of the flu virus is legendary, so much so that there is no longer a single flu virus, but a host of similar strains that can produce the same disease. In contrast, take the disease of syphilis. It is caused by the same pathogen, a microorganism called T. palidium that has always caused the disease. But with a flu virus, attenuating virus A1 won’t protect you against virus A2, or A3, not to mention flu viruses B through Z. So the attenuation strategy for vaccine production becomes a large hammer that may or may not do what you are planning.

But now we enter the fascinating world of protein chemistry. The thing that changes about a virus is the protein coat of the flu virus. Because this is not a whole scale mutation, the change can occur rapidly. And to add to the insidious nature of the virus, it may not be even the whole protein.

The protein structure has pieces, and that discovery may lead directly to the a new vaccine. It has been discovered that a viral protein called hemagluttin, changes the protein “head,” leading to new viral coats which means a new viral type. But the stalk that the “head” is stuck on does not change.

Vaccines are now in development that target that stalk. Once it reaches a successfully and practical format, we may be able to produce a single vaccine that will work for multiple viruses no matter how much they change.

You may remember that flu vaccines are currently directed against specific viruses, or against a group of several specific viruses. The analysis of which virus a population may or may not be exposed to is a critical part of the annual push to develop each year’s vaccine. All of this has to be done months before the flu season starts.

If this seems to be a bit of a clinical crap shoot, you are right. And making the wrong choice can mean the development of a vaccine that is ineffective against that season’s primary flu virus.

Researchers now are looking for similarities among different virus species and hope to use those similarities to make a new generation of vaccines. They are using new x-ray technology to look, and they have seen something that is rather promising.

X-rays are energy and really do not conform to our ideas of size and dimension. The are more like light or radio waves than anything else. And when was the last time you had to make room for more light? Viruses, while incredibly small, are still things with size and shape. And the proteins on them, the very things that facilitate viral infections, have a shape too. This shape can be now seen using this new x-ray technology.

This is not the run of the mill X-ray that you receive at your local hospital. These x-rays take place at the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory. Called an Advanced Photo Source or APS X-ray, this device has a "minibeam" of only a few microns in size. The "minibeam" allow scientists either to examine exceptionally tiny things - like proteins - or to "walk along" the protein by examining different places one by one, and then using that to make a larger picture.

By focusing on a protein called hemagglutinin, researchers have now seen that one part of the protein, the “head” is very different between viruses. That was to be expected. The researchers' new finding is the discovery that the “stalk,” the part behind the head, was the same among several viral species.

Research has now taken a new path, trying to develop a vaccine, not against an ever changing whole virus, but against this newly discovered common part. The first step toward a universal flu vaccine has been taken.

The media attention given to influenza has clothed this disease in the fabric of modernity. But influenza is, in fact, a very old disease that dates back thousands of years and varies in lethality from year to year and outbreak to outbreak.

In ancient Greece, Hippocrates described the symptoms of flu roughly 2400 years ago. For historical events such as these, we primarily have descriptions of symptoms rather than accurate diagnoses or demographic data. This makes it hard to accurately pinpoint ancient flu pandemics. One of the earliest records of an outbreak that can be linked to influenza was in 1580. It began in Russia and ultimately spread to Europe by way of Africa. One of the more virulent strains, this influenza killed 8,000 people in the city of Rome alone. Many villages in Spain were totally decimated.

Pandemics seem to hit about every century. There were periodic outbreaks in the 17th and 18th centuries. The pandemic of 1830 was especially widespread. It was also particularly infectious, and one out of four people exposed, or 25%, contracted the disease after exposure.

But the most infamous of all influenza outbreaks was the pandemic of 1918. Estimates for the number killed in this outbreak were between 20 and 100 million people. The wide range in the estimate is due to the global nature of this outbreak. This outbreak reached far flung Pacific Islands and the Arctic.

Not only did this strain of influenza have an extremely high infection rate—over 50% of people exposed contracted the disease—but the symptoms were especially severe. Hemorrhaging from the mouth, nose and intestines were common, as were hemorrhages under the skin. A majority of deaths were from secondary infections like pneumonia, but the virus killed directly with massive bleeding and swelling.

Another unusual feature was that the highest mortality rate was among young, otherwise healthy, adults. This was linked to a cytokine storm, which is a condition where the normal antibody/cytokine cascade is not stopped by the body’s own processes. It is as if the body over responds to the contagious agent, making so many antibodies that they begin to harm the body. Say this happens in the lungs. The lungs will fill with fluid and suffocate the patient before the virus can kill the patient.

Having established that the 1918 pandemic was bad, just how bad was it? It is estimated that between 2.5% or more of the entire world’s population was killed. To put in another way, in the first 25 years of the AIDS epidemic, 25 million people died. In 1918, over 25 million died in 25 weeks.

It has been reported that a large batch of seasonal flu vaccine which was to have been delivered and used in 18 countries in Europe has been found to have been infected with the deadly avian flu virus in live form. Fortunately, this was discovered before anyone was in danger. But if this problem had not been found as quickly as it was and these vaccines had been distributed and administered to patients, an avian flu pandemic could have begun, and the death toll could have numbered into hundreds of thousands.

An investigation is under way at the research facility in Austria. Baxter International, the pharmaceutical company who owns the facility where the problem occurred, has issued a statement confirming that a batch of flu vaccine did contain the live avian flu virus designated as H5N1.

A researcher discovered the lethal contamination when laboratory animals that he had injected with the flu vaccine suddenly took ill or died. The avian virus will become lethal when it is mixed with the usual flu virus found in the flu vaccines. This process known as re-assortment, and is exactly what public health organizations are afraid may happen in the wild. The laboratory created the perfect storm of conditions in a test tube.

It is crucial to note that we are not talking about a simple mistake, certainly not one to be buried on the back pages of the Internet. This could have been a world threatening, black plague level event here. A lab mistake created the very thing that we are trying to avoid. As frightening as it is that we dodged a bullet, it was a successful dodge. While the researchers lose points for getting a bit too close to mad scientist tech, the screening and security procedures get high marks.

This lab had the dangerous avian flu virus for the simple reason that they are engaged in research to head off any epidemic that might be caused by that virus. The thing to take home here is that there are layers upon layers of testing and control on every vial of vaccine. The tracking and quality control in a reputable and well run company is something on which we can rely.

Quality controls are a big part of flu vaccine production, as well as a mandated part of manufacturing in most, if not all, of the industrialized world. Most of the problems that are discovered are not of this magnitude, or have the potential to be so deadly. But in looking for the small mistakes, the large ones tend to get caught. And for that we should be thankful.

The group with the highest rate of flu in Australia is children under five. In fact, recent demographic studies have shown that children in this group are more frequently hospitalized for the flu than they are for any other disease which can be prevented by vaccine. Almost 1500 children in this age group are admitted each year to the hospital with the flu. Last year, six children died as result of the flu.

With flu season set to begin soon in Australia, experts are encouraging parents to have their children immunized. Professor Robert Booy is director of research at the National Centre for Immunization Research and Surveillance, Children's Hospital Westmead. He urges parents to not only vaccinate their children, but to be familiar with flu symptoms, which in young children include a high fever and being irritable.

“Some young children with influenza can look so unwell when they arrive at hospital that a spinal tap – otherwise known as a lumbar puncture – is performed to rule out meningitis,” Booy said. This is serious and often painful procedure. “Much of this might be prevented if children were vaccinated against influenza each year. Children are one of the main spreaders of influenza, particularly within households. Therefore vaccination is not only important to protect the health of the child, but also because of the key role they play in transmission, particularly if they are in contact with at-risk people or older adults.”

To further study the effects of children and the flu, researchers are conducting a trial on infants in 40 childcare centers located in Sydney. One of the goals of this research will be to determine if having infants and young children immunized against the flu makes a difference in how many of their parents get the flu. "So the question we've asked is: can we vaccinate the children and observe a benefit not only in them but a secondary benefit in their parents," Booy said.

This new trial is expected to show even greater benefit from the humble flu vaccine.

The majority of flu vaccines are made using processes that employ fertilized hen eggs. This process of manufacturing causes the vaccines to pick up small amounts of egg proteins. Even the nasal mist flu vaccine has as much or more egg protein as the injectable variety.

For most people, this is no problem. The majority of us pick up hundreds of times more egg protein from our diet than in a flu shot. Even excluding the obvious source, eggs, we get exposed to egg proteins from baked goods or foods processed with eggs on a regular basis. But there is a small, yet real section of the population that has an allergy to eggs. For those individuals, the flu shot can be a serious problem.

This is not a matter of one manufacturer against another: the fertilized hen's egg method is used throughout the vaccine industry. There are some different vaccine development methods on the horizon, however, that will use bacteria that have been genetically engineered to make flu vaccines. But until that day, the egg method and the egg protein in flu vaccines are here to stay.

The amount of egg protein varies from one vaccine manufacturer to another. If you are concerned about allergic reactions, you should talk with your doctor and request a vaccine with the least egg protein available. A skin test to determine whether or not you will have an allergic reaction to the vaccine is a good idea before getting a flu shot. If it is determined that you can have the vaccine, the best course of action is not to leave the medical facility for at least 30 minutes afterwards, so that the staff can observe you and respond promptly to any distress that you may have.

If your allergies are too severe for vaccination, there’s still a way to minimize the effects of the vaccine. You can have the vaccine administered in small doses over a period of time, instead of getting the full dose in one sitting. This, of course, should also take place under close medical supervision. In the cases of the most severe egg allergies, it will probably be safer to not have the vaccine at all and take antiviral medications if you are exposed to or catch the flu.

In a study published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, Australian researchers announced a discovery that may not only improve on existing influenza vaccines, it may also finally offer the promise of the much hoped for bird flu vaccine.  

In the body, we produce T-cells. These T-cells play an essential role in our immune system: they find and destroy infected cells. These killer cells help us rid our bodies of infections. To make us better able to fight off the flu, a vaccine would ideally increase T-cell activity, helping the cells target and destroy virus-infected cells. "Unfortunately, current influenza vaccines are poor at inducing killer T-cell immunity," according to Stephen Turner, lead author of the study, and member of the microbiology and immunology department at the University of Melbourne.  "Therefore,” he said, “we wanted to see if we could improve the current vaccine formulation to induce killer T-cells after vaccination." 

In the study, a compound known to increase immunity was added to the flu vaccine by Turner and his fellow researchers. Turner says, “The addition of this compound promoted significant generation of potent killer T- cell immunity and provided protection from infection. The significance of these findings is that, rather than having to design a new vaccine altogether, we can improve current flu vaccines by adding this potent immune modulator." 

According to Turner, after appropriate clinical testing has been completed, this compound could take its place in existing vaccines only five years from now.  

This is a new approach to flu vaccine development. Most changes in the flu vaccine revolve around targeting new or different strains of the flu, anticipating which will be most problematic in the upcoming season. This is one of the first advancements designed to increase the functioning of the immune system of the patient who contracts the flu, regardless of strain contracted. While no vaccine is yet perfect, they are still important for preventing complications from the flu, preventing infection from certain strains of the flu, and especially for protecting individuals who are particularly vulnerable to the flu or its complications. 

Vaccine Preparation Starts for 2009-2010 Season 

It takes flu vaccine manufacturers about eight months to develop and produce the vaccine for the upcoming flu season. About 100 million doses of the flu vaccine are needed each fall. The vaccine changes each year because the virus is constantly mutating and producing new strains. Typically, only one or two strains in the vaccine are changed each year. For the upcoming season, however, three new flu strains will be included.  

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) hopes this will avoid problems that occurred with this year's vaccine. This year has seen widespread and regional flu activity. This is largely attributed to infections caused by flu strains not included in the current vaccine, and by strains that have become resistant to antiviral medication. The most common virus strain in the U.S. at the present time is influenza type A H3N2. This strain is not in the current vaccine, which also does not protect well against influenza type B. Several influenza type A viruses are showing resistance to Tamiflu, a popular antiviral drug, as well. 

Protection against influenza type A H3N2 will be included in the vaccine for the 2009-2010 season, following a recommendation from the World Health Organization (WHO). The FDA is also recommending that the vaccine protect against two additional influenza type A strains: a H3N2 flu knows as Brisbane/10, and a H1N1 flu known as Brisbane/59. A influenza type B/Florida strain will also be included.  

According to infectious disease expert Dr. Peter C. Welch, “Part of the issue is that the vaccine which was produced this year is not the most effective vaccine that we've had for influenza. Although these [vaccine development choices] are educated guesses, they clearly are guesses. Sometimes, they guess right. Sometimes, they guess wrong. This year, they didn't guess well. Sixteen out of the last 19 years they have guessed pretty well." Dr. Welch is with Northern Westchester Hospital, Mt. Kisco, New York. 

Despite the fact that this year's vaccine may not be the best match for the flu strains that are circulating, the CDC still recommends that people get the vaccine. The vaccine can reduce the risk of complications related to the flu, and still provides partial protection, both of which are especially important for people who are at greater risk.

Outbreaks of influenza typically occur in the winter, when the environment features colder air with a low water content, or low humidity. In fact, air in the winter can have as much as four times less moisture than air in the summer. And the flu likes dry air.

This could be another explanation of the seasonal nature of flu. In this case, researchers are talking about absolute humidity, not relative humidity, the more common reading. Relative humidity is a ratio not an absolute amount. Absolute humidity, on the other hand, is the actual amount of water in a volume of air. And it is the amount of water that concerns the virus. It seems that the water in the air affects the virus itself, although the exact mechanism is not clearly understood.

What is clear is the discovery that when the absolute humidity is low, that is to say the air is dryer; the survival rate of the virus is greater. Longer survival equals more transmission, meaning higher infection rates.

Once the numbers were analyzed, it was seen that more flu cases were discovered when it was both colder and drier. In temperate regions of North America and Europe, absolute humidity has a powerful cycle that is seasonal. These changes, which dramatically lessen in the wintertime, parallel an increase in the rates of transmission of the virus as well as the rate of survival of that same influenza virus.

By using absolute humidity in this way, an additional factor in the spread of influenza and the endurance of the virus can be an added to the creation of models of infection, or models for the prediction of viral spread. Doctors Shaman and Kohn, authors of a study published in the Proceeds of the National Academy of Science on March 3, 2009, were quick to point out that this is a preliminary study and further exploration of this phenomenon is needed, especially in the areas of epidemiology, modeling and lab work into the actual structure of the virus.

Still, this remains an important potential insight into the way the flu virus is spread, and consequently how to keep the flu virus from spreading. Until all mechanisms of flu infection are better understood, the flu vaccine remains the best protection against becoming infected.

With the memory of last years absences and doctor's visits because of the flu fresh in your mind, you are determined to take extra precautions this year. You are ready to line up for this year's flu shot as soon as you can. But wait—wasn't there some concern over preservatives in flu shots? Well, there is good news on this front. Preservative-free flu shots are available for you and your loved ones.

These new type of flu shots have already been approved by the FDA and are on the market. The preservative Thimerosal has been removed from many vaccines already, and a public push by several activist groups is forcing vaccine manufacturers to remove this mercury based additive from all new vaccine formulations.

Flu vaccines were among the last to have this preservative removed but, thimerosal free flu vaccines are out there. Be warned, however, you may have to do a bit of searching to find them. Be sure to call the physician's office before you go in for the shot, See if they even offer this option. If they don't, ask them to order the vaccine for you. And remember; do not be afraid to take your business elsewhere. More and more preservative free vaccines are being manufactured every day, but they won't reach the public until physicians begin ordering them. Use your purchasing power to make your physician responsive to your needs.

Aventis-Pasteur has a preservative-free vaccine approved for pediatric use. For older children and adults, there are two options: a single dose flu injection by Chiron, or the vaccine Flumist which you can request by name. Flumist is a nasal spray vaccine manufactured as a cooperative venture by Wyeth Pharmaceuticals and Medimmune. Among those using Flumist, there have been some reports of respiratory symptoms in patients with have pre-existing breathing problems.

The link between thimerosal and the drastic consequences that have brough this issue to the fore are still developing. But this is an important enough issue that there is reason to take advantage of an opportunity to be that much safer in your choices about your health.

According to the results of a new study that was just made available online by the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), people who plan to take Tamiflu to prevent catching the flu, or to limit symptoms and the duration of the illness if they have already become infected with the flu, should probably make other plans. According to the results of this study, there are now flu strains resistant to Tamiflu.

The strain of flu that is circulating in the U.S. that is showing resistance to Tamiflu is the H1N1 strain. According to the Atlanta-based U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), this is the most common type of flu this year.

Last year, Tamiflu resistance was found in only 12 percent of the strains circulating. This year, 98.5% of H1N1 flu strains are resistant to Tamiflu. Terence Hurley, a spokesman for Roche who manufacturers Tamiflu, emailed a statement which emphasized the fact that flu viruses constantly mutate while the types of strains circulating among the population change as well.

According to the CDC's Alicia Fry, head researcher for the above-referenced study, the use of Tamiflu itself has not led to the development of these resistant strains. The Tamiflu resistance researchers discovered is not the same as bacterial resistance to antibiotics which develops through misuse or overuse. The ability of flu viruses to mutate is why a new vaccine must be developed each year.

According to the World Health Organization, between 5 and 15 percent of the world's population comes down with the flu each year. Between 250,000 and 500,000 people die from the flu each year. According to Fry, “The vaccine is still the best form of prevention. We also know that these strains [resistant to Tamiflu] are susceptible to other antiviral drugs.”

The strains resistant to Tamiflu do not show any resistance to Relenza (made by GlaxoSmithKline). The CDC is recommending that people who are suffering from the flu take Relenza or generic rimantadine along with Tamiflu.

According to the CDC, November through March is prime flu season in the U.S. According to Fry, this year's flu vaccine is a good match to the strains that are circulating. The flu vaccine is developed anew each year to provide protection for the upcoming flu season.

The media attention given to influenza has clothed this disease in the fabric of modernity. But influenza is, in fact, a very old disease that dates back thousands of years and varies in lethality from year to year and outbreak to outbreak.

In ancient Greece, Hippocrates described the symptoms of flu roughly 2400 years ago. For historical events such as these, we primarily have descriptions of symptoms rather than accurate diagnoses or demographic data. This makes it hard to accurately pinpoint ancient flu pandemics. One of the earliest records of an outbreak that can be linked to influenza was in 1580. It began in Russia and ultimately spread to Europe by way of Africa. One of the more virulent strains, this influenza killed 8,000 people in the city of Rome alone. Many villages in Spain were totally decimated.

Pandemics seem to hit about every century. There were periodic outbreaks in the 17th and 18th centuries. The pandemic of 1830 was especially widespread. It was also particularly infectious, and one out of four people exposed, or 25%, contracted the disease after exposure.

But the most infamous of all influenza outbreaks was the pandemic of 1918. Estimates for the number killed in this outbreak were between 20 and 100 million people. The wide range in the estimate is due to the global nature of this outbreak. This outbreak reached far flung Pacific Islands and the Arctic.

Not only did this strain of influenza have an extremely high infection rate—over 50% of people exposed contracted the disease—but the symptoms were especially severe. Hemorrhaging from the mouth, nose and intestines were common, as were hemorrhages under the skin. A majority of deaths were from secondary infections like pneumonia, but the virus killed directly with massive bleeding and swelling.

Another unusual feature was that the highest mortality rate was among young, otherwise healthy, adults. This was linked to a cytokine storm, which is a condition where the normal antibody/cytokine cascade is not stopped by the body’s own processes. It is as if the body over responds to the contagious agent, making so many antibodies that they begin to harm the body. Say this happens in the lungs. The lungs will fill with fluid and suffocate the patient before the virus can kill the patient.

Having established that the 1918 pandemic was bad, just how bad was it? It is estimated that between 2.5% or more of the entire world’s population was killed. To put in another way, in the first 25 years of the AIDS epidemic, 25 million people died. In 1918, over 25 million died in 25 weeks.

In the U.S. there are limited options for people who want a preservative-free flu vaccine. For children between 6 and 23 months, Aventis-Pasteur makes a preservative-free version of this vaccine. For older children and adults, there are two choices: FluMist, a nasal spray vaccine created by a partnership between Wyeth and MedImmune, and a single-dose injection made by Chiron Corp.

The flu vaccines were, generally, the last of the common vaccines to offer versions without added mercury. They are hard to find and have to be specifically requested in most places. Many doctors' offices say that the preservative-free flu shots are more expensive and harder to store. If there is an accessibility issue, it is not due to supply, but rather to a resistance on the medical community to order the preservative-free vaccines.

Although mercury, in the form of thimerosal, has been removed from most vaccines, vaccines may still contain aluminum, formaldehyde, human serum albumin, gelatin, antibiotics and yeast proteins. Some of these compounds are purported to aid the vaccine in establishing an immune response. Others are solely there as preservatives, guarding against contamination of multi-use vials by the administering medical staff.

The whole question comes down to where you fall on the “How dangerous are preservatives anyway?” continuum. The FDA has walked and is walking a fine like between the pro-vaccine side and the anti-vaccine side. While it supports the sale and manufacture of preservative-free vaccines, it says there is no proven link between preservatives in vaccines and side-effects or sequelae in patients that some claims are a consequence of the vaccines or their components.

There is a gray area in the question of how dangerous these preservatives are. No direct link has yet to be established. The question is do you, as a medical consumer, want to support the medical establishment and take the risk that the nay sayers are wrong? Or do you want to seek out preservative-free flu vaccines and force local doctors to address your concerns?

We all know the proverb, “Prevention is better than cure!” This proverb can aptly be applied to our vaccination schedules. Vaccination is the process by which we administer antigenic substances to make ourselves immune to certain viruses, bacteria, and other pathogens so as to repel infections. It is no wonder then that the whole medical community is a strong supporter of different vaccination to improve the health of the community as a whole in what is referred to as herd immunity.

Among many vaccination schedules, much attention is being directed to the flu vaccine nowadays. An adult or a child who is at a risk of catching flu this coming season, has to be vaccinated to prevent the deleterious effects of the virus on body.

The flu vaccination however has to be approved by the FDA every year in order to coincide with the new virus strains that are postulated to be in air this season. Once this is done, the manufacturers take over and prepare the appropriate vaccines. FluLaval is one of the popular flu vaccines manufactured every year that protects against certain strains of the influenza virus. Afluria and Fluzone are the names of different brands of the same vaccine.

Usually the Flulaval is given as a flu shot once in a year, preferably in September, October or November. When you purchase FluLaval vaccine ampoule, make sure that it appears as a clear liquid and is not contaminated with any particles. If however you are suffering from any other respiratory disease or allergic cough and colds, your doctor may advise you to take FluLaval at some later date. Do not miss the dose on the recommended date. If you do, you may miss your chance of building up your immunity against the virus before the flu attack breaks open.

Just beware of certain contraindications of FluLaval. Fever, allergic reactions to earlier flu vaccinations, and uncontrolled nervous system disorders are some of them. Your physician is the best person to advise you correctly on your flu vaccination schedule!

Tamiflu is a prescription antiviral medicine designed to help you avoid catching the flu, or help minimize your suffering if you already have the flu.

To understand how Tamiflu works, you have to understand how viruses make us sick. Viruses make us sick by entering our body's cells, reproducing themselves, then spreading into new cells where the process repeats. Enough of this happens, and you start to feel sick. If you can't stop the virus from entering your body in the first place—which is what we do when we avoid people who are sick and frequently wash our hands, for example—the next best thing is to stop the virus from multiplying.

The surface of some types of viruses contains a protein called neuraminidase. This protein helps them to spread to new cells. Tamiflu is one of a class of drugs called neuraminidase inhibitors. By interfering with the way the neuraminidase proteins function, these types of medications seek to prevent the virus from spreading to other cells.

Tamiflu was approved by the FDA in 1999. By 2005 new formulations, including a pediatric liquid, had been approved by the FDA for use in children ages one year and older.

Some people wonder how Tamiflu compares to taking the flu vaccine. Because Tamiflu doesn't work like a vaccine, there are some differences you should recognize. First, Tamiflu, like other antiviral medications, does not have cumulative benefits; that is, it only works as long as you are taking the medicine. It is highly unlikely that you would be prescribed Tamiflu for an entire flu season, and the safety and benefits of taking repeated courses of Tamiflu has not yet been determined.

Conversely, the dangers and long-term issues of taking the flu vaccine are reduced or completely eliminated if you choose Tamiflu or another antiviral instead of the vaccine. Antivirals like Tamiflu may be appropriate for individuals with weakened immune systems, whereas the vaccine may be contraindicated. Like the vaccine, Tamiflu only works on certain strains of the flu virus; it cannot help with the “stomach flu,” or gastroenteritis, for example.

Before you consider taking Tamiflu or any other medication, be sure to talk with your doctor about potential side-effects and other contraindications.

There is no prefect answer to the question, “How can I make sure I don't get the flu?” Tamiflu is one more tool to evaluate.

The CDC reports that in February 2009, cases of the flu in the United States continued to be on the rise. Having the flu is an unwelcome and uncomfortable event. For people with impaired immunity, the young and the infirm for example, it can be more than just a time of misery: it can be life-threatening.

In addition to the usual means of keeping healthy—nutritious diet, plenty of fluids, exercise, rest, frequent hand washing, etc.--most people consider taking the flu vaccine as their best defense against coming down with the flu.

There is a secret behind the flu vaccine that few people know. Most people assume the flu vaccine you get in early winter is exactly what you need to protect you. They have no idea that a great deal of guesswork goes into making that flu vaccine.

Flu viruses are constantly mutating. In addition, viruses that had been a problem only in one location or population make the jump to a new location or population (think Asian flu, a virus that originated in Asia and made the jump to the rest of the world, or the way early explorers brought new disease to the Native American population). The development and manufacture of a vaccine in sufficient quantities to protect a large population takes a fair amount of time. Given these two competing factors, it would be impossible to wait until flu season to determine which strain of flu poses the largest threat and engineer a vaccine to prevent it.

Instead, medical researchers must make a guess based on virus mutations and their experience with the ways in which diseases spread when choosing which flu strain to base the vaccine on for the upcoming season. In effect, if you want to prevent a flu epidemic, or especially a pandemic, you have to act before the facts can be fully known. They are making a guess—an educated guess, but a guess nonetheless.

Much of the controversy regarding the flu vaccine regards the guesswork that is at the heart of vaccine development. Researchers point to pandemics such as the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918 (a pandemic is an epidemic on a world-wide scale). Estimates of death due to this flu range from between 20 to 100 million. It is believed that more than 20% of the entire population of the world suffered from this disease.

Worse still, tissue samples from that time still apparently show live virus strains even after all these years. Researchers point to the severity of this disease, and the increasing ease and rapidity with which diseases can spread in the modern world, and insist that an educated guess is our best line of defense to prevent this from happening again.

Whether or not you choose to take the flu vaccine is a matter of personal choice. Whatever you decide, knowing more about how the vaccine is developed will make it easier for you to make that choice.

The CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) recently launched a health initiative called National Influenza Vaccination Week from Dec. 8-14, 2008. Events such as these are truly valuable in creating an awareness of how to fight the influenza blues. The week launched the flu vaccination rally the months of January and February 2009, and beyond.

During the vaccination program, the children, elderly, and health care workers are especially encouraged to be vaccinated against the flu. The importance of flu vaccines cannot be understated, especially taking into consideration the rapidly spreading nature and seasonal occurrence of influenza. It is no doubt a disease of masses, and one of the most contagious diseases present. This is why even the WHO recommends flu vaccinations for people in the southern hemisphere during the winter of 2009.

WHO is soon going to announce a flu vaccination program for the Northern hemisphere and equatorial zone. Though flu activity reported during the year 2008 all over the world was mild to moderate, cases of the flu occurred all over Africa, Europe, Asia, and America. Considering the high rates of Influenza A and B virus strains among epidemics, and also considering the high rates of resistance to anti-viral treatment, flu vaccinations seem to be mandatory in forthcoming days.

Scientists are trying to formulate faster acting flu vaccines using DNA biotechnology. If they succeed in this venture, this could herald the end of the nuisances caused by these stringent viruses. However, individual flu vaccinations are of no use if we want to ensure the end of an epidemic. We need to build herd immunity by implementing wider vaccination programs for the benefit of the community as a whole. The role of flu vaccine in improving one’s disease-fighting power is unquestionable. Following the vaccination schedules scrupulously is what we need!