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The Flu: A shortage scare? It’s a flu shortage, no not that the disease is on a shortage, but the vaccine that prevents the flu, is running short. Are we as Americans at risk and should we be worried? A possible $20 billion in lost productivity could result in the nation. This is almost twice as much as in a typical year. The average worker usually misses about 1 to 1.5 days a year because of the flu. This year workers could miss 2 to 2.5 days because of the low amount of vaccine. It may even cause deaths to spike by 25% when a typical year is about 36,000 deaths. The Flu, also known as Influenza is a highly contagious disease caused by a virus that attacks the respiratory track in humans. Antibiotics cannot cure it because it is a virus and this is why the shortage is leaving people anxious. Flu is short for Influenza. You may experience symptoms much like having a common cold, but flu symptoms are far more serious. They include fever, head/body aches and pains, weakness, sneezing, sore throat, cough and sniffles. People with the flu are often bedridden for up to, or more than, a week. The real dangers of the flu are the complications that can arise from it. The Flu can be categorized into three main viruses: type A, type B, and type C viruses. Type A and B are the viruses that cause the epidemics and these are the viruses that can be prevented by the vaccination. Type C is thought to be a virus that causes mild respiratory illness and not an epidemic. Type A viruses are subdivided depending on two proteins on the surface of the virus. The proteins are hemagglutinin (H) and neuraminidase (N). Type B and C are not further divided. Type A and Type B strains are included in all the flu vaccines throughout the United States. The flu virus as mentioned earlier is highly contagious. This is mainly due to how it is spread. The main way that influenza viruses are spread is from person to person in respiratory droplets of coughs and sneezes. A person can spread the flu starting one day before he or she feels sick. Adults can continue to pass the flu virus to others for another three to seven days after symptoms start. Children can pass the virus for longer than seven days. Symptoms start one to four days after the virus enters the body. Some people can be infected with the flu virus but have no symptoms. During this time, those people can still spread the virus to others. The vaccine however is not a for sure way of preventing the flu. The virus changes or drifts and creates new strains. It can change in two major ways. The first way it can change is antigentic drift. These are small changes in the virus that happen continually over time. Antigenic drift produces new virus strains that may not be recognized by the body's immune system. This process works as follows: a person infected with a particular flu virus strain develops antibody against that virus. As newer virus strains appear, the antibodies against the older strains no longer recognize the "newer" virus, and reinfection can occur. This is one of the main reasons why people can get the flu more than one time. In most years, one or two of the three virus strains in the influenza vaccine are updated to keep up with the changes in the circulating flu viruses. So, people who want to be protected from flu need to get a flu shot every year, however the strain in the shot may not be the same strain as the one you may get. Getting the shot does help no matter what strain you have. Another way it changes is thru Antigenic shift. This is a rapid, major change in the influenza A viruses, resulting in new hemagglutinin and/or new hemagglutinin and neuraminidase proteins in influenza viruses that infect humans. Shift results in a new influenza A subtype. When shift happens, most people have little or no protection against the new virus. While influenza viruses are changing by antigenic drift all the time, antigenic shift happens only occasionally. Type A viruses undergo both kinds of changes; influenza type B viruses change only by the more gradual process of antigenic drift. The best method of preventing and reducing the severity of the flu is the timely development, distribution, and administration of influenza vaccine. The influenza vaccine used each year is an inactivated trivalent vaccine. This means that the flu vaccine contains three killed flu viruses that protect against three different strains of influenza virus (one influenza B and two influenza A strains). Because the current licensed vaccines are inactivated vaccines, flu vaccine cannot cause the flu. The effectiveness of the trivalent vaccine depends upon the "match" between strains of influenza that are circulating and the viruses in the vaccine. Although there is no assurance that the strains picked for the vaccine will be the strains that go around during the following flu season, the match between vaccine strains and circulating strains is good about 90 percent of the time. The selection process uses surveillance information collected year-round. In late January of each year, the FDA's Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee (VRBPAC) reviews worldwide surveillance data. The Committee usually makes the first recommendation of at least one of the strains that should be included. By mid-February, the WHO completes its review and makes recommendations for the Northern Hemisphere vaccine. The WHO repeats this process in September for Southern Hemisphere vaccine recommendations. In March, VRBPAC meets to finalize the recommendations for the U.S. influenza vaccine. While the WHO committee selects the strains, four manufacturers prepare to grow the viruses. The virus is grown in an egg and so the manufacturers must buy enough eggs for 80 million or more doses. The FDA prepares the specific viral material for the manufacturers to use, in order to begin vaccine production. During the manufacturing process, the live viral ingredient is killed so that the vaccine will not cause people to become sick with the flu. As the manufacturers produce vaccine, FDA reviews safety data. The last steps of vaccine preparation include production and bottling of vaccine, distribution to vaccine providers, and administration to patients. All this must be done in time for vaccination campaigns to begin by late September. So if there is any shortage at all the people at high risk, such as the elderly, young, and people with chronic illnesses, should be the first vaccinated. America there is no need to worry yourself “sick” over the flu but take precautions such as washing your hands more seriously. If you cannot get the shot take better care of yourself and strengthen your immune system to prevent the Flu!

Bibliography

Manning, A. (2003, December). Flu Shortage is Feared. USA Today.

Henderson, D (2004,October). Flu Shot Shortage Could Cost Businesses.

Lester, W. (2004, Ocotber). Poll: Flu Shot Shortage Worries Americans. Associated Press.

The Lung Association. (2004). What is the Flu? Canadian Lung Association. www. lung.ca/flu/flu1.html

Innfluenza the Disease. (2004, November 15). Influenza Viruses. www.cdc.gov