Risks of the HPV Vaccine

          Recently I received my 2nd HPV vaccine which made me very sick. After I received the vaccine I felt sick to my stomach and nauseous, to the point that my whole face was pale. I began to worry that the way I felt was directly related to the vaccine that I had just received. Of course like any other person I started to "Google" my symptoms in hopes of any sort of medical relief. While I was reading articles about what the HPV vaccine really has to offer I came upon an  article that really interested me. This article was written on April 27th,2012 after Cynthia A. Janak conducted many different studies of the actual risks of receiving the HPV vaccine. This article is titled "HPV Vaccines-- Do the risks outweigh the benefits?".This article is supported by renewed america.com and can be accessed at this direct link:


                                 http://www.renewamerica.com/columns/janak/120427

         During this article Cynthia writes about the risks of the HPV vaccine outweighing the benefits of the HPV vaccine. In fact during this article a girl who received the vaccine had a very serious reaction which caused her to faint, later on she ended up having Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome  in which the doctors have not directly related to the vaccine she had just received. During this article Cynthia states that from the ages of 12-17 is when the most health threatening risks from the HPV Vaccine are seen. 



          This article interested me because I was one of these people outside of the percentage group that had bad side effects from the HPV Vaccine,almost to the point that I wanted to go to the hospital. Only until after 2 weeks did my arm from the vaccine stopped being sore. I also know that many people chose to get there children vaccinated because they believe they really have "no choice". After reading this article I will do my research before I agree on receiving a vaccine that has not been around long enough for serious medical research. This relates to the topics we discuss in class because vaccines were first introduced in the Smallpox epidemic that we have studied, and now today there are many different vaccines that are used daily. There is much controversy in this article in which I believe many people will have different opinions on. 


By: Tiffany Kirk 

Killing from beyond the grave in Congo By: Alex Sadwick

I came across this interesting article in my local newspaper of The Boston Globe while searching for recent infectious diseases in our world. The disease of Ebola has a similar characteristic to the Black Death that we studied earlier in the year in our History and Science of Epidemic Disease class. This characteristic is that people can still catch the disease from the people who have succumbed to the disease. The title of this article is “Ebola Outbreak Kills 15 in eastern Congo” and it was written by Melanie Gouby of the Boston Globe on September 9^th, 2012. The full article can be located at http://www.boston.com/news/world/africa/2012/09/09/ebola-outbreak-kills-eastern-congo/oZmrpbFUE3E41JRelDdwtL/story.html.

 

Melanie Gouby discusses the Ebola epidemic that has been going on for around a century now in the Congo. It recently has just taken 15 lives in the month of September this year. She writes that the spread of the disease is caused by the wrong practice of washing the dead body of the person who contracted and succumbed to the disease because the disease can still spread even though the host is not living.

 

The Ebola outbreak in this article has affected the eastern Congo, specifically the towns of Isiro and Viadana. The spread of the disease is caused by funeral practices of the people that live in the area. They do not wash the corpses before funerals and if they come into contact with other people, which is very likely, then the people that attend the funeral and come into contact with the body in the open casket are likely to get the disease. Many people in the area don’t have a well enough understanding of Ebola. “Ebola entered my house and I did not know what it was,’’ said Gabriel Libina Alandato, who survived the disease. She later said that she learned more about the disease when she was under quarantine.

 

The ignorance of the Ebola outbreak is very serious and is known to cause a large amount of deaths at a time. Eugène Kabambi a spokesperson for the WHO in the region said ‘‘There is enough local expertise to manage the crisis. Local medical staff knows what to do,’’. The Congo has been experiencing Ebola outbreaks since it was first discovered in the country in 1976. Also radio broadcasts are being used more frequently to aware the public of the dangerous disease.

The disease has spread from the village of Isiro to the vilalfe of Viadana because of a woman, who contracted the disease at a funeral she attended in Isiro. The woman ended up spreading the disease to several people then succumbing to the disease herself. Several people in the area who might have come into contact with the woman were quarantined as a public health measure and to help treat the victim of the hemorrhagic fever. The disease causes severe internal bleeding, there is no cure. However, it is treated with antibiotics and hydrating with water and electrolytes to stop dehydration.

The quote that caught my attention in this article was when a native woman said ‘‘It was horrible, it is a miracle I survived. But I can’t forget what happened. I don’t understand why my daughters died and I survived,’. Also another quote that caught my attention in this article was when Faïda Kanyombe, a local said ‘‘Even if it is not the first epidemic in Congo, it is the first one here. People had just heard about it and at the beginning they thought the deaths were due to poisoning because the disease has the same symptoms as a local poison,’’.

 

After reading this article I felt that our government and other governments around the world should pay attention to African countries such as the Congo, where the deadly disease of Ebola and a few other diseases run rampant on the inhabitants of the continent. There was a lot of ignorance with the disease because people who go through the grieving process of a funeral, which was unsanitary, would be susceptible to the disease because the corpses weren’t washed. Even though there is no cure for Ebola I am glad to hear that the villages in the eastern Congo can take public health measures such as quarantine to help prevent the spread of the disease. Also the WHO is providing some help in providing necessary medical equipment to help Ebola victims.

“Cholera Victims Left Asking: ‘Why Is My Life Not A Priority?’” By: Marissa Perez

I came upon this article while searching for current news stories about cholera as it would relate to the class as we recently learned about the cholera epidemic of 1854. The title of this article is “Cholera Epidemic Envelops Coastal Slums in West Africa” and it was written by Adam Nossiter from the New York Times on August 22nd, 2012. The full article can be found at http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/23/world/africa/cholera-epidemic-envelops-coastal-slums-in-west-africa.html?_r=0 .

Nossiter writes about the cholera epidemic, which in August of this year, had been spreading through the coastal slums of West Africa. He says that this is “one of the worst regional outbreaks in years.”

This cholera outbreak has mainly hit Freetown and Conakry, the capitals of Sierra Leone and Guinea. As we know, cholera is transmitted through contact with contaminated feces, and this was made worse this year by the heavy rain season that flooded these poor towns. Two-thirds of the population does not obtain toilets, allowing cholera to easily spread through the poorly maintained towns.

The consequences on these West African communities are tragic. As of August of this year, more than 13,000 people had already been suffering from cholera’s painful symptoms and 250 to 300 had already died. In Sierra Leone, the government declared the cholera outbreak a national emergency. 

The unsuccessful attempts to maintain the spread of this cholera outbreak are due to the countries’ lack of modern facilities. Sierra Leone is still recovering from a decade-long bloody civil war that sent thousands from rural areas into the city’s slums, and Guinea is recovering from a half-century of often cruel dictatorship.

Natasha Reyes Ticzon, a cholera field coordinator for Doctors without Borders in Freetown, stated, “They [the cholera victims] come barely conscious because they are severely dehydrated…We’ve had some deaths because they come too late.” These third-world countries lack access to clean medical facilities, thus making an epidemic like cholera devastating. One way in which some have attempted to slow the spread of the disease is through spraying chlorine on the houses of the diseased, yet while the poor conditions of each country remain, there is little hope of this outbreak ending soon.

Dr. Sakoba Keita, the Guinean government official in charge of fighting against diseases said, “Garbage collection is highly irregular. There are piles of garbage everywhere,” emphasizing the poor sanitary conditions in Sierra Leone and Guinea.

What caught my attention the most from this article was what Jane Bevan, a regional sanitation specialist for Unicef, said: 

“If your area is flooded with rainwater, and if people are defecating in the open, it will get into the water supply. We know governments have the money for other things. I’m afraid sanitation is never given the priority it deserves.”

After reading this article, I felt terrible that countries that cannot obtain proper, sanitary facilities are at a higher risk for an outbreak of epidemic disease. As stated in the last quote of the article, the third world countries of Sierra Leone and Guinea simply do not have sanitation as a top priority because they are trying to catch up on other areas such as the economy and government. As a result, the lives of innocent people are not a top priority. I agree with Sierra Leone that this is a nationwide emergency. To me, I think it is very important that better-off countries aid third-world countries. With our modern technology, we can begin to end this horrible cholera outbreak.   

I was amazed with how this current outbreak related to the cholera outbreak of 1854. Both outbreaks were caused by poor sanitation, specifically due to the disease spreading through the water supply. As John Snow in 1854 fought that the disease was spread through the contaminated water pumps on Broad Street in Soho, specialists in Sierra Leone and Guinea agreed the outbreak would not end if the countries did not begin to receive a cleaner water supply. As said before, modern countries should aid these countries. Just as the war heroes eradicated smallpox worldwide, I believe these horrible outbreaks of cholera can be prevented if another group of war heroes emerge to provide a cleaner, more sanitary lifestyle to these countries in need. 

Tuberculosis fights back: By John Barrett

I chose an article which focuses on one of the most common and deadly diseases; tuberculosis. The article that I found focuses on the fight against tuberculosis. It also brings up the issue of the recently discovered strains of TB which have resistances to many of the drugs commonly used to combat them. These strains, called MDT-TB (multi-drug-resistant TB) are a significant threat in nations such as India and China. The link to the article can be found here http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/251642.php

Tuberculosis is an infectious disease that primarily attacks the lungs. It is caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis. As the disease progresses, it continues to attack your central nervous system, circulatory system, lymphatic system, and other systems. People who suffer from other ailments which attack the immune system (such as HIV victims in African nations) are most likely to be infected. Children also are at great risk in poor countries, with over 64,000 dying in 2011 as a result of TB.

Man with HIV who recently contracted TB as a result of his weakened immune system. 

In the past 17 years, efforts have been made around the world to combat TB. 51 million people have been treated in that time period, and over 20 million who would surely have died were saved by medicinal advantages. Dr. Mario Raviglione, the director of the Stop TB department of the WHO, was referring to the treatment of 51 million people with TB when he said

"This milestone reflects the commitment of governments to transform the fight against TB"

While this truly is a great achievement, Dr. Raviglione views the new MDR-TB strains as a looming epidemic in multiple nations.  He warns us "we are now at a crossroads- either we eliminate tuberculosis in our lifetime, or the disease evolves, becomes more and more resistant and harder to treat, and many millions more than expected will die."

Countries with highest # of TB cases

I personally think that much more funding should be put into the prevention of TB. In 2011, $4,400,000,000 less than usual was put into TB funding. This marks a turning point towards a possible future breakout. Less funding worldwide is being committed to research and prevention as new strains of TB are evolving.

This reminds me of our classes unit on the Boston smallpox epidemic of 1721. It relates because similar to the Boston selectmen before the mass outbreak, the WHO and other organizations are wary of the devastation that a MDR-TB pandemic could cause. However, as with the smallpox epidemic, no matter what measures we take prior, the disease has the capacity to spread like wildfire. The MDR-TB will be  unhindered by our useless current drugs.

We must develop new innovative vaccines and medicine. This way, we will take the TB virus from a new angle that it has not evolved to predict.

Pig Flu Outbreak

  
      

    

      This article by Donald G. McNeil Jr. called, "First Death is Reported from New Pig Flu Strain" is an article that I found on The New York Times website. The article stresses the concern that people have about the new Pig Flu outbreak, and talks about a woman who was recently effected by the disease and actually died from it. To read the whole article visit,

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/01/health/first-death-is-reported-from-new-pig-flu-strain.html?ref=epidemics

       

      A sixty-one year old woman died from the Pig Flu, and fourteen people have been hospitalized over the summer in Ohio. The sixty-one year old woman came into contact with the pigs at the Ross County Fair. It was also known that the woman had other health problems that could have possibly attributed to the disease.The Centers of Disease Control has reassured the people that there was minimal "person on person" contact, decreasing the spread of this disease.They also confirmed that all known cases had been caused due to people being in direct contact with pigs.

     

     The proper name for this Pig Flu is H3N2v. It can be treated with common medicine that people would use for the common flu.

       

    The disease was discovered in 1990 when common external genes were passed from humans to pigs. Along with the human gene, a gene from the H1N1 flu spread and was very infectious.

     Out of 289 cases, 90 percent of families that deal with pigs, lead the agency's flu division to prevent the spread of this disease.

     The Pig Flu was primarily discovered in 2010 in pigs and the first time they found it in humans was over a year later. The H3N2v is most likely found in parts of Ohio and Indiana, but cases have been found in Maine and Hawaii as well.

Record Breaking West Nile Cases in America

          The article I chose to research was a WebMD article entitled "Worst-Ever West Nile Epidemic: What Happened?". The main points of this article touch on how 2012 is officially the year of the most West Nile cases ever found in America. The full article can be found at http://www.webmd.com/news/20121119/worst-west-nile-epidemic. This article was written on November 19, 2012, by Daniel J. DeNoon. DeNoon is the senior medical writer for WebMD and was the senior editor for CW Henderson publications.
          This article discusses why and how America contracted so many cases of West Nile Virus this year, and what West Nile actually is. West Nile is a virus that first arrived New York in 1999, and in 2004 became explosive enough to become a prevalent epidemic in the United States. The estimated number of West Nile Virus cases this year is between 78,000 to 182,000. This disease has been known to cause permanent brain damage, muscle weakness, and even death. West Nile Virus, which has hit the hardest in North Dakota, has no known cure or vaccination. Thankfully, you can only get West Nile once.
          West Nile Virus is a virus that starts out in birds. Mosquitos then bite humans, therefore spreading the disease from species to species. Why has 2012 been the record breaking year? It is very simple. 2012 has been a record breaker not only for it's West Nile Virus cases, but also for it's weather. We have seen some of the warmest temperatures in the summer and spring seasons. Warm weathers promote virus growth in mosquitos, and this makes it easier for the mosquitos to spread the disease quickly. The increase in warm weather for this year is one of the main reasons why DeNoon and other scientists believe that West Nile Virus was so ubiquitous this year.
          Some of the most effective preventative measures taken against West Nile is wearing clothing that covers the body, wearing mosquito spray, and the very controversial aerial spraying of insecticide. This is controversial because some people say it harms the environment, and others say that it may not really be very effective.
          I 100% agree with what DeNoon is saying in this article. It is very clear that the high temperatures and high number of West Nile Virus cases are closely linked. Not only does the warm weather affect how easily the mosquitos can spread the virus, but it also increases the number of mosquitos that are flying around and biting people. I am not sure, however, if I agree with the aerial spraying of the insecticide. I do think that it is harmful to the environment. Not only are the plants harmed by it, but the people and animals who are eating the plants are ingesting the insecticide as well. Taking measures such as bug spray and covering your body with protective clothing should be enough to protect yourself from nasty mosquitos. I think West Nile Virus is one of those diseases that people don't take seriously unless it happens to them. But West Nile is extremely dangerous, and everyone should try their very hardest to protect themselves.
         

         

Cuban Doctors vs. Cholera Outbreak

While trying to figure out what topic to write my blog on, I started brain storming topics that interested me.  I do well with a topic which interests me and I feel as if I can write about it easier.  I was searching the web and couldn't find anything and then remembered our class today on Cholera and decided that was going to be my topic of focus for my blog post.  I also wanted to find something recent so I chose an article written on July 12, 2012.  This article titled "Cuban doctors battle to control Cholera outbreak" was written by Patrick Oppman and can be found on CNN by clicking on this link. http://articles.cnn.com/2012-07-12/americas/world_americas_cuba-cholera-doctors_1_cholera-outbreak-cuban-doctors-heavy-rains

This article talks about an outbreak of Cholera in mid-June in Eastern Cuba. At first, doctors thought it was a case of food poisoning from a party all the patients had gone too.  Then as time moved on more and more people had began coming to the hospital with similar symptoms which were diarrhea and heavy vomiting.  Diarrhea was not unusual in Manzanillo, a small town in Eastern Cuba's hospital because the residents live without indoor plumbing and in the summer deal with heat and heavy rains.  Even though Doctors had seen symptoms like these, they had never seen them in this high of count on patients, which means they knew they were dealing with something they never have dealt with before. 

The problem, as you already might know was a Cholera outbreak, something that Cuba hadn't faced since over a century ago.  "Although eradicated in many countries, the disease, according to the World Health Organization, still infects about 3 million to 5 million people each year, killing between 100,000 and 120,000."  However residents in Cuba who were suffering from Cholera and didn't quite know what it was, called it "el evento". Cholera took 3 lives and infected over 110 people during that outbreak in Cuba.

I think this article was interesting mostly because I actually knew what Cholera was because we studied it in class but secondly because I never imagined it could happen to anyone today.  When we were learning about it I was being some what self close minded and thinking to myself everyone has a clean water supply and the living conditions we do.  Unfortunately just because we have clean water doesn't mean everyone else in the world does and that's why the people in Cuba got sick.  It eye opening to read about current situations and incidents dealing with Cholera and its unfortunate to know that not everyone has the small chance of getting it that we do.

Dengue Dispersing in New Delhi

I chose to write about an article from the New York Times titled “As Dengue Fever Sweeps India, a Slow Response Stirs Experts’ Fears”. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/07/world/asia/alarm-over-indias-dengue-fever-epidemic.html?pagewanted=1&_r=0&ref=epidemics

This article talks about the recent worry of the dengue fever epidemic in India. It is starting to spread rapidly through India, especially New Delhi, and the Indian government is not doing much to help with this epidemic. Dengue fever is not life threatening, only in some cases. Dengue Fever is passed by mosquitoes. When someone catches the fever most of the time there is only mild fatigue, or a small fever. But for some they can get flulike symptoms, high fevers, vomiting, pain behind the eyes, rashes and joint and muscle aches so bad that Dengue is sometimes called “breakbone fever.” There are so many cases throughout India that the government doesn’t chose to count them, only make an estimate. A chief of infectious diseases, Dr. Timothy Endy states that in India, “anybody over the age of 20 in India has been infected with dengue”. Many people say that if you haven’t gotten it yet, you should expect it.1 One in six tourists will also return from New Delhi with this fever. The biggest issue with India not properly counting the amount infected is that they cant offer proper help if they don’t have an accurate number of those who need it. The health care is not prepared if this number suddenly increases more, nor is the facilities to help. Recent vaccines have failed and it doesn’t look like there is one coming in the near future. In New Delhi especially, with many areas with standing water, the disease is widespread. Hospitals are described as “overrun and feverish patients are sharing beds and languishing in hallways.” Through October only 30,002 people have been reported to have dengue fever, yet the real number is probably in the millions. A tropical disease expert, Dr. Scott Halstead estimated 37 million dengue infections per year in India with only 227,500 hospitalizations. With these massive amounts of cases going unreported, the disease is going to keep spreading, and can easily spread around the worlds.

I think India should start accurately counting the number of cases of dengue fever so they can try to at least slow down this constantly increasing epidemic.  Even without a vaccine, I think this epidemic can be slowed down and its numbers decreased. Hopefully, the people in India can receive the treatment they need to stop this epidemic.

The Impenetrable Bacterium

I chose and article on the need to provide funding for more research for antibiotics against gram negative bacteria.You can read the full article at http://www.healio.com/pediatrics/practice-management/news/online/%7Bfc62fc29-6f3d-4f3b-ae14-f882df813b18%7D/antibiotic-pipeline-remains-limited-for-pediatrics. The article describes how there is a lack of antibiotics for gram-negative bacteria for pediatrics.The very few antibiotics effective in fighting off these super bacteria are not tested in children and have side effects that may be harmful. It uses this compiled information to explain why more funding is crucial in the war on gram-negative bacteria.  

It is very important that we research more into antibiotics for gram- negative bacteria. They are more dangerous than gram positive bacteria because, gram-negative are more resistant against antibodies, because of their hard to penetrate cell membrane. Not only does the cell wall make it harder to kill the bacteria it also makes it harder for the crystal violet dyes, commonly used in making bacteria more visible, to color the bacteria.

This all means it requires a lot of research and testing to acquire a functional antibiotic with mild side effects. The increased regulation for creating antibiotics has made it even harder to produce such drugs. This further complicates the process.

 E. coli along with many other gram-negative bacterium are very common in children. The cell wall of gram negative bacteria is comprised of an endotoxin.If endotoxin enters the circulatory system, it causes a toxic reaction, with the sufferer developing a high temperature, high respiration rate, and low blood pressure. In children these symptoms can be very fatal.With the lack of antibiotics available an break of community-acquired pneumonia could cause serious problems.

This relates to class and our experiment which tests if herbal antibiotics are effective against certain bacteria. It will be interesting to see what the results of groups using E. coli are because it is a gram negative bacterium. It would be interesting if we find that herbal remedies have more of an effect of gram negative bacterium.


Therefore I think it is very crucial that more funding should be provided to centers testing gram-negative antibiotics. Do you think that government agencies should provide more funding, in this economy, to programs researching this topic? My answer is yes, it is important to stop the spread of such serious bacteria.

There Is No Whipping Whooping Cough

This article is called “Pertussis Epidemic- Washington, 2012.”  It was published by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention on July 20, 2012 and can be found at http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm6128a1.htm.  The article outlines the recent increase in pertussis cases in the US, specifically in Washington, and the reason this might be occurring.

Since mid-2011, Washington has had an increased amount of cases of the pertussis epidemic.  The Washington State Secretary of Health declared a pertussis epidemic on April 3, 2012.   By June 2012 the number of cases increased by 1,300% reaching a total of 2,520 cases which was the highest report since 1942.

Pertussis, or whooping cough, is very contagious and can be potentially deadly, especially to infants.  Children younger than 1 year, children 10 years old, and pregnant women are at the highest risk.  The increase in cases also highly affects 13-14 year olds.  Pertussis is commonly vaccinated very early and is the most effective strategy for prevention of infection, but it’s not foolproof.  When the medical records of those affected were found the results showed that depending on age group the vaccine could be anywhere between 75.8% and 93.2% effective.   Unvaccinated children have at least an eightfold greater risk for pertussis than children fully vaccinated.

Cases of pertussis in the US reached historic lows in the 1970s.  However, the number of cases has been significantly increasing over the past few years.  This evidence reflects national trends and suggests early warning of immunity from a-cellular vaccines, like the pertussis vaccine.  A-cellular and whole-cell vaccines both work very well in the first 2 years after vaccination, but recent changes strongly suggest shortened length of protection. Although vaccinated children can develop pertussis, they are less infectious, have milder symptoms and shorter illness duration, and are at reduced risk for severe outcomes.

This article was very interesting because the vaccine to prevent pertussis exists, but it doesn’t always work.  After I receive a vaccination I have no fear of contracting the illness I was supposedly just protected from.  But according to this article the chance of contracting pertussis, even with a vaccine, increases every year.

Lately on television there has been a lot of commercials urging parents to learn the signs of whooping cough so they are able to recognize the initial signs in their child.  Because of these heart-breaking commercials this article resonated with me very much.

The Flu is Flying Early This Year

In an article titled “CDC says US flu season starts early, could be bad” written by Mike Stobbe of the Assiociate Press and available at http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/health/2012/12/03/cdc-says-flu-season-starts-early-could-bad/ACdhklIIZI7rlT1VTKDWWM/story.html warns of what we can expect this year. The Center for Disease Control has stated that flu activity in the U.S. has increased last two weeks indicate and the flu season is off to its earliest start in 10 years. Just in time for National Influenza Vaccination Week which is from December 2-8, 2012. The CDC urges everyone to get a flu vaccine if they have not done so already this season. Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stated more than a third of people have been vaccinated and the vaccine is a good match for the strains of virus they are seeing.

The CDC has seen higher than normal cases is the south including Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee and Texas. The rate hospitalization due to flu is increasing and there have been two deaths in children already reported. The article mentions “An uptick like this usually doesn’t happen until after Christmas” which is concerning and should really motivate people to get vaccinated.

The flu season of 2003-04 also started early and was the most lethal in 35 years. That year there were 48,000 flu related deaths and usually about 24,000 Americans die each flu season, according to the CDC. The good news is compared to 2003-04 this vaccine is matched better the strains of flu and there is more vaccine available and more people getting vaccinated.
The CDC updates the incidence of flu weekly by region. I think it’s interesting to be able to follow what’s going on all over the country. There is a lot of interesting reporting information. Here’s the link if you want to check it out http://www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly.

This article warns of a bad flu season this year and suggests everyone get vaccinated. Vaccines have been used for hundreds of years. They have had a major impact on public health and controlling epidemic disease. It is surprising to me that one third of American are vaccinated. Even though the flu is not deadly for everyone there are still a high number of deaths each year and a vaccine seems like simple act of prevention.

The flu vaccine is everywhere. Free clinics are held in most towns, at doctors offices and even at some workplaces. Also, every drug store provides the shot at the pharmacy for a small fee. It is easily available to anyone who wants it.

I thought this article provided great information and warned the public about the high incidence of flu already this year. It was surprising to read how many flu-related deaths there are each year because most of us just think it is a bad cold that goes away in a few days. These types of articles provide a great service to the public by reminding them of the dangers of flu and the importance of vaccination.





Photos:
http://www.personal.psu.edu/afr3/blogs/siowfa12/2012/10/are-flu-shots-really-good-for-us.html

http://www.readthehorn.com/news/campus/65527/ut_travis_county_provide_flu_vaccine_aim_to_keep_students_austinites_healthy