Looks to be a bad year. UC San Diego Health is my medical provider. Glad that I got the senior flu shot two or three weeks ago.

“Several Southern California hospitals have begun using overflow tents outside emergency rooms to cope with a rising number of patients with flu and other respiratory illness.

Tents were put up at Scripps Memorial Hospital in Encinitas, Jacobs Medical Center at UC San Diego Health in La Jolla and Sharp Grossmont Hospital in La Mesa.

The move comes amid a rise in flu symptoms in emergency room patients in San Diego County. The dominant strain, H3N2, appears to lead to more severe illnesses than usual. …”

https://mol.im/a/11422081

It’s been going thru the schools here in Temple…neighbor kids were out for several days. Luckily mine hasn’t gotten it.

It is really hitting hard here in Georgia. Children especially are getting it along with Covid and RSV. My granddaughter had the flu but recovered , thank goodness.

A lot of it going around here .Wife and I got the vax last week .

Good to know. I was exposed to the 1968 H3N2 (Hong Kong flu) strain as a toddler. My innate immune system was formed partly in response. I can't remember if I was sick. I wasn't in school yet and certainly too young to fill a pillowcase full of Halloween goodies that leads to poor influenza outcomes.
https://www.britannica.com/event/1968-flu-pandemic

I got the flu shot a few weeks ago. I started feeling sore and exhausted last Friday. I spent Saturday thru Wednesday in bed or in a recliner wrapped up in a blanket riding the temperature roller coaster. Soaked my bed repeatedly. Tested negative for Covid and flu but Doc said I had flu symptoms he he treats symptoms not tests. Just finishing several days of Tamiflu and prednisone.

Yeah, the wife and I always wait until November, we got ours last week. I have found getting the shot always helps, even if if you snag the bug it is much less severe.

I haven't had the flu since I've been getting the shot annually starting 30+ years ago. Same with my wife.

Jim

quote:

The dominant strain, H3N2, appears to lead to more severe illnesses than usual

So was this one of the strains this year's flu shot included? Or did the medical experts miss the mark?

The Navy made me get it every year. As soon as I became a civilian I have never gotten it since. Also have never had the flu since either so the statistics run both ways.

I never thought the "best guess" version of the vaccine was all that great of an idea. If it is so bad this year, which I am skeptical of, did they miss their guess?

I'm only skeptical because NEVER in my life until covid did hospitals have to erect fucking tents because so many people were sick. That sounds like complete and utter bullshit to me. Either people are getting way way sicker and it's legit, they are putting people in hospital care for way less, or they have mismanaged the fuck out of health care and the tiniest burble sends them over the edge. Either way I tend to be cynical if money is involved and oh yea is it ever involved. I can only imagine the federal money that is most likely paying for these overflow tents. Oh brother.

^^^^^

Sum's it up quite well.

I'm towards the end of a big 30-day travel month, I've slept in my own bed only 5-days out of the last 3-weeks. Fortunately, during my back-home time, I got hit with a 100-degree temp, which only lasted 24-hrs, now its just been shitty congestion and coughing. Flew back out on Mon, winter dry air hasn't helped my sinuses' nor has crappy airport food. Picked up some Mucinex sore throat/cough lozenges...they asked for my ID before purchasing

Thought it was going extinct a few years ago when they only confirmed 69 cases nationwide.

quote:

they asked for my ID before purchasing

^^^^^^^^^^^
I am guessing because of the Dextromethorphan. Some people are taking large amounts to get high. Other OTC meds may be restricted soon. Meanwhile tons of fentanyl flood the country.

quote:

So was this one of the strains this year's flu shot included?

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
The word is that it is a good match this year for both A and B.

Ever since the flu shot has become a billion dollar industry every flu season is “going to be a bad one”.

^^^^^^^^^
Not so. Last year we had a mild season. There are lots of cases already in the Southeast and with RSV many pediatric units are full.

quote:

Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:
^^^^^^^^^
Not so. Last year we had a mild season. There are lots of cases already in the Southeast and with RSV many pediatric units are full.

Of course. When Covid was the hot topic the flu miraculously disappeared.

Mild season or not, my son is recovering from flulike symptoms that kept him out of school for the last week. PIA is the lingering cough that makes him a target for Covid nuts. Think it was type A.

The flu didn’t miraculously disappear. It just turns out that most of the things we did (some erroneously) to mitigate Covid did actually mitigate flu

I own a pediatric practice with my wife, who is the lead pediatrician. We have had a lot of very sick kids. We’ve all been sick too. The most recent was norovirus last week for my wife and I. First time since we opened our practice 11 years ago that my wife had left work early. I’m still not right. Sucks.

One of the high schools in our area had over 1000 kids out in a day. The last week in October was the first week of the month my kids made it to everyday of school…including my oldest son at the university of Florida.