Talk:Flu season

contradiction?
"proteins from the coat of two subtypes of species A and from species B. Species B and C don't have subtypes"

So if Species B & C do not have subtypes then why would you take proteins from the coat of two subtypes of species A and from species B?

Kieranmullen (talk) 03:39, 3 June 2008 (UTC)

What's going on?
I just saw on CNN that the flu season is still going on. Is it a 9 month long season or something? It's becoming almost the whole year, meaning you are never safe from the flu. I didn't get a flu shot this year and I thought I was lucky that I had survived another flu season without getting sick. It seems like every year the scare is worse and worse. The scare of 2004 was that we had a shortage of shots and that people not being immunized would cause a really bad flu season. Then in 2005 and still going on now, they want to scare us with this Avian Bird Flu. Does anyone else think they make these things up to sell flu shots? Toby Ziegler 04:20 March 18, 2006 (UTC)


 * Flu season is when it is cold (winter in the north hemisphere, summer in the south hemisphere). Flu is transmitted all year round every year. It is just worse when it is cold. Heat kills the virus. Cold lets it live on surfaces where you touch it with your hand, then touch your face and catch it.
 * The bird flu or H5N1 pandemic threat is a very real threat, but it is currently a flu birds get, not usually humans.
 * The flu shots you get from a doctor do not protect humans from bird flu viruses, they only protect you from some human flu viruses. WAS 4.250 21:28, 18 March 2006 (UTC)

I'm somewhat skeptical about the popular explanation for the flu season, i.e., people being indoors and drier air.

I've lived in Phoenix Arizona now for six years, and it's in the summer that people stay indoors, and the AC units dry the air even more. In the winter people spend more time outdoors, moister air, etc. But, winter is still the flu season.

There must be another explanation I suspect. 71.209.255.102 22:02, 1 January 2007 (UTC)


 * No one knows the cause of seasonality in flu. But just this year (or so) the evidence has come in that H5N1 is seasonal in both birds and humans. Maybe human flu is somehow tied to bird yearly migrations? But human flu is supposed to be a flu based on a virus adapted to humans. But maybe some birds also get infected with human flu virus? As I say, as of now, no one knows the real cause of flu seasonality. Real modern research into flu did not get much funding before H5N1 killed people a few years ago. Now it is getting billions of dollars. I suspect the knowledge of flu seasonality's real cause will fall out from this current flu research. WAS 4.250 02:45, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

Flu cost in the USA - grossly exaggerated external quote
"The annual flu (also called "seasonal flu" or "human flu") in the U.S. "results in approximately 36,000 deaths and more than 200,000 hospitalizations each year. In addition to this human toll, influenza is annually responsible for a total cost of over $10 billion in the U.S." [2]"

10 US-Billion ($10,000,000,000.00) / 200,000 people = US$50,000.00 per sick case. 128.174.230.113 (talk) 20:56, 30 April 2009 (UTC)sh

200,000 hospitalizations and 36,000 deaths and X (astronomical number) number of sick days would explain the cost —Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.185.60.226 (talk) 18:05, 29 April 2009 (UTC)

It's my opinion that such an exaggerated figure requires an additional external quote that confirms it. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.98.24.18 (talk) 12:32, 4 February 2008 (UTC)


 * Have added the second requested citation, with text from WHO Influenza Overview giving the range of expense estimates for the annual influenza epidemic in the US.
 * http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/2003/fs211/en/

Ocdncntx (talk) 18:15, 8 October 2011 (UTC)

Renaming
As some people involve in editing influenza related articles might notice, I am on somewhat of a mission to assist in improving the quality of language and accurate reporting in these articles.

I feel using "flu" for article names should be avoided for articles related to influenzavirus-caused. Particularly as the term is associated with non-influenza infections (ie. stomach "flu" bugs). Abbreviations should be avoided, and non-jargon technical terms are perfectly acceptable.

I think this article might be better served being moved to a namespace such as:
 * 1) Seasonal influenza
 * 2) Seasonal pattern of influenza
 * 3) Seasonal pattern of influenza outbreaks
 * 4) Influenza season

I feel mostly supportive of #1, but #2 does direct this article to discuss more about the time period (ie. The season of influenza) rather than the disease (ie. the influenza that occurs seasonally). Which one is this article about?--ZayZayEM (talk) 06:13, 21 October 2008 (UTC)


 * There is also a discussion at Talk:Human flu to merge the content of that article into Seasonal influenza--ZayZayEM (talk) 08:28, 23 October 2008 (UTC)

Vitamin-D and sun
This article does not mention the theory that seasonal variation in human skin production of vitamin D causes the seasonal variation in flu. Is this not mainstream enough or is it just that nobody has gotten around to it? Vincecate (talk) 02:34, 1 May 2009 (UTC)
 * There seem to be a number of real scientists behind this theory so I have added it to the list of possible explanations for the seasonality. Vincecate (talk) 02:11, 3 May 2009 (UTC)

Death Rates
Is there any information available about death rates in an average flu season, due to the flu?--345Kai (talk) 22:41, 2 May 2009 (UTC)

OK, I found a reference that bears out the high numbers people found unbelievable. I'll put them in the article.--345Kai (talk) 22:53, 2 May 2009 (UTC)

Mechanism for seasonal nature of influenza -- absolute humidity.
Seasonal flu outbreaks correlate closely with the absolute humidity of the ambient air, but less directly with ambient relative humidity; (PNAS 2009). When air is cold, it's relative humidity may be high, but it's absolute humidity will nonetheless be low because cold air has a low vapor capacity. When cold air is warmed, its relative humidity drops because its vapor capacity increases sharply as it warms but its absolute humidity remains low until it can absorb moisture. Thus when cold outside air is brought inside and warmed in the winter, the result is dry indoor air. When not brought indoors and heated, outdoor air is nonetheless warmed directly by contact with the mucous membranes of the upper and lower respiratory system as it is breathed, and so is still absorbs moisture from them.

Abstract

Influenza A incidence peaks during winter in temperate regions. The basis for this pronounced seasonality is not understood, nor is it well documented how influenza A transmission principally occurs. Previous studies indicate that relative humidity (RH) affects both influenza virus transmission (IVT) and influenza virus survival (IVS). Here, we reanalyze these data to explore the effects of absolute humidity on IVT and IVS. We find that absolute humidity (AH) constrains both transmission efficiency and IVS much more significantly than RH. In the studies presented, 50% of IVT variability and 90% of IVS variability are explained by AH, whereas, respectively, only 12% and 36% are explained by RH. In temperate regions, both outdoor and indoor AH possess a strong seasonal cycle that minimizes in winter. This seasonal cycle is consistent with a wintertime increase in IVS and IVT and may explain the seasonality of influenza. Thus, differences in AH provide a single, coherent, more physically sound explanation for the observed variability of IVS, IVT and influenza seasonality in temperate regions. This hypothesis can be further tested through future, additional laboratory, epidemiological and modeling studies.

Ocdncntx (talk) 17:06, 8 October 2011 (UTC)

Terrific charts of flu season from Gallup
http://www.gallup.com/poll/147449/Peak-Flu-Season-Year-Worse-Last.aspx

Anyone one to see if they will allow free & open use? Really explains the seasonal sine wave in terms people can understand. Highly credible, based on calls to homes. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Ocdncntx (talk • contribs) 12:27, 17 October 2011 (UTC)


 * Ah, these are exactly what I was looking for. The originals aren't free, but we can create free images from the underlying data. -- Beland (talk) 17:34, 25 November 2014 (UTC)


 * Oh, actually, there are awesome free U.S. government graphics here: http://www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly/ ...I added a selection to the article. -- Beland (talk) 01:05, 21 January 2015 (UTC)
 * Found some Australian charts, but I don't think Australian government works are copyright-free., -- Beland (talk) 01:11, 21 January 2015 (UTC)

Pollen
This is not a review and it is not even published yet. Doc James  (talk · contribs · email) 12:37, 29 April 2020 (UTC)