Infectious Diseases—The FLU
Handouts / Visuals
Video: The Innate Immune System
Handout: E-mail: "Health Alert—Widespread Influenza Activity NOW in Massachusetts"
Video: How do Viruses Reproduce?
Slides: I Don't Need a Flu Shot!
Handout: A Case Study Involving Influenza and the Influenza Vaccine
Video: A Virus Attacks a Cell
Handout: Infant Immunization FAQ
Handout: Understanding How Vaccines Work
Video: The Adaptive Immune System
Video: How do Antibodies Work?
Extra Video: Antigenic Drift: How the Influenza Virus Adapts
Handouts / Visuals
Video: The Innate Immune System
Handout: E-mail: "Health Alert—Widespread Influenza Activity NOW in Massachusetts"
Video: How do Viruses Reproduce?
Slides: I Don't Need a Flu Shot!
Handout: A Case Study Involving Influenza and the Influenza Vaccine
Video: A Virus Attacks a Cell
Handout: Infant Immunization FAQ
Handout: Understanding How Vaccines Work
Video: The Adaptive Immune System
Video: How do Antibodies Work?
Extra Video: Antigenic Drift: How the Influenza Virus Adapts
From the FDA:
I have heard a number of conflicting reports regarding increased safety concerns about vaccine inoculation. In light of the recent safety reports, why should my child be vaccinated?
Due to the success of immunization programs, the incidence of vaccine-preventable infectious diseases has declined. Therefore, individuals are less aware of the serious consequences of vaccine preventable illnesses. While vaccines are extremely safe and effective, no medical product is 100 percent safe or effective. Vaccines have been proven, over decades, to be one of the safest and most powerful disease prevention tools available.
Today there are far fewer visible reminders of the suffering, injuries, and premature deaths caused by diseases that can now be prevented with vaccines. For most of the vaccine-preventable diseases, there has been a 95 percent or more reduction in incidence. Routine immunization has eradicated smallpox from the globe and eliminated wild polio virus in this country. Vaccines have reduced preventable infectious diseases to an all-time low and few children suffer the devastating effects of these illnesses.
Prior to approval by FDA, vaccines are extensively tested by scientists to ensure that they are effective and safe. FDA has a stringent regulatory process for licensing vaccines that serves as a model for other countries.
For reasons related to the individual, not all vaccinated persons develop immunity. Most routine childhood vaccines are effective for 85% to 95% of recipients. Differences in the way individual immune systems react to a vaccine account for rare occasions when people are not protected following immunization or when they experience side effects. Vaccines are licensed, after stringent testing and study, because the benefits offered to the individual far outweigh the risk of serious health effects. In fact, some risks for serious health effects following vaccination are so rare that they currently cannot be measured.
Immunization programs optimally prevent the threat of dangerous infectious diseases that threaten the lives of our citizens, especially the Nation's children and elderly. Vaccines are among the 20th century's most successful and cost-effective public health tools for preventing disease, disability, and death.
Source: Vaccine Safety Q&A
I have heard a number of conflicting reports regarding increased safety concerns about vaccine inoculation. In light of the recent safety reports, why should my child be vaccinated?
Due to the success of immunization programs, the incidence of vaccine-preventable infectious diseases has declined. Therefore, individuals are less aware of the serious consequences of vaccine preventable illnesses. While vaccines are extremely safe and effective, no medical product is 100 percent safe or effective. Vaccines have been proven, over decades, to be one of the safest and most powerful disease prevention tools available.
Today there are far fewer visible reminders of the suffering, injuries, and premature deaths caused by diseases that can now be prevented with vaccines. For most of the vaccine-preventable diseases, there has been a 95 percent or more reduction in incidence. Routine immunization has eradicated smallpox from the globe and eliminated wild polio virus in this country. Vaccines have reduced preventable infectious diseases to an all-time low and few children suffer the devastating effects of these illnesses.
Prior to approval by FDA, vaccines are extensively tested by scientists to ensure that they are effective and safe. FDA has a stringent regulatory process for licensing vaccines that serves as a model for other countries.
For reasons related to the individual, not all vaccinated persons develop immunity. Most routine childhood vaccines are effective for 85% to 95% of recipients. Differences in the way individual immune systems react to a vaccine account for rare occasions when people are not protected following immunization or when they experience side effects. Vaccines are licensed, after stringent testing and study, because the benefits offered to the individual far outweigh the risk of serious health effects. In fact, some risks for serious health effects following vaccination are so rare that they currently cannot be measured.
Immunization programs optimally prevent the threat of dangerous infectious diseases that threaten the lives of our citizens, especially the Nation's children and elderly. Vaccines are among the 20th century's most successful and cost-effective public health tools for preventing disease, disability, and death.
Source: Vaccine Safety Q&A
Is there a viral equivalent for antibiotics?
Yes! Antivirals are medications that help fight flu, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. They're available only with a prescription from a health care professional. Antiviral drugs work against viruses; they don't fight bacteria like antibiotics do. The two antivirals used as flu treatments are oseltamivir phosphate (Tamiflu) and zanamivir (Relenza).
"Antivirals help fight the flu by binding to an enzyme in the virus so the infectious parts of the virus, called virions, cannot be released,” explained Carol Baker, MD, executive director of the Center for Vaccine Awareness and Research at Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston and a professor of pediatrics, molecular virology and microbiology at Baylor College of Medicine. By doing this, antivirals stop the flu virus from multiplying and spreading throughout the body, she said.
Source: https://www.everydayhealth.com/cold-flu/1009/how-flu-antiviral-medications-work.aspx
Yes! Antivirals are medications that help fight flu, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. They're available only with a prescription from a health care professional. Antiviral drugs work against viruses; they don't fight bacteria like antibiotics do. The two antivirals used as flu treatments are oseltamivir phosphate (Tamiflu) and zanamivir (Relenza).
"Antivirals help fight the flu by binding to an enzyme in the virus so the infectious parts of the virus, called virions, cannot be released,” explained Carol Baker, MD, executive director of the Center for Vaccine Awareness and Research at Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston and a professor of pediatrics, molecular virology and microbiology at Baylor College of Medicine. By doing this, antivirals stop the flu virus from multiplying and spreading throughout the body, she said.
Source: https://www.everydayhealth.com/cold-flu/1009/how-flu-antiviral-medications-work.aspx