Flu to hospital

The evidence for having the the flu jab to protect others is pretty mixed. (See link way above). I think if you have risk factors yourself or maybe someone in the same household it is worth considering. I haven’t had it and don’t want it although I get offered it each year.

The nasal flu jab they give children is live.....

I have had flu several times once I was so ill with it I was hallucinating the pain in my joints was beyond coping and I was vomiting continuously my GP wanted to admit me I was in my 40s but in the end my daughter took me to stay with her but it took me a long long time to get over it

My DH has the flu jab because of his Asthma . I don't have it so am not offered the jab.

Many years ago when I was whippersnapper nurse I sat on a bus and behind me were 2 OLD ladies and one said I had that awful flu last week and even my teeth ached.......and they are my false ones, I bet it was real flu!!

Yes, Elaine1, it's been mentioned several times by Drs being interviewed on TV and radio that the increase in admissions is mainly because of the respiratory problems from the flu and viruses.

I've been ill since Boxing Day and I can't remember the last time I felt so unwell, but I know I don't have flu. I've never had it, thank goodness.

On the news yesterday plus articles in most newspapers and online, was the disisure by the NHS that the flu jab being dispensed this year is targeting the wrong strain of flu. The jab is NOT effective against the virulent strain which is, apparently, laying low parts of Australia and increasingly being identified here.

Sorry. Disclosure.

There was a doc on breakfast tv this week that said the jab is only effective in 40-60% of people vaccinated and that it is not so effective for people over 65

who are the ones offered it free of charge

SHW
Lol

A flue is part of a chimney. It's flu (influenza)

Over 60s where I live in Surrey.

I think the flu season has peaked and gone in Australia, at least I hope so.
I'm surprised it didn't arrive here earlier with so much international travel.

There is a huge difference between a cold and flu. I have had flu once in the seventies. I was burning up and then freezing cold and shivering, weak, couldnt get out of bed. loss of appetite. It was horrendous. I went back to work too early and went out at lunchtime and was so weak I fell to the ground. My company sent me home in a taxi.

NannyTee I do hope your friend makes a full recovery

I hope so too NannyTee

The flu jab is never fully effective. Flu viruses mutate all the time (like most viruses) and the jab can only ever give you partial protection against the strain you may come across.

People offered the jab are in the risk groups, although you can pay to have a jab (pharmacies offer the service.

The annual flu vaccine given to adults is an inactive vaccine. It can not give you flu. The UK is currently gradually introducing a nasal flu vaccine for primary school children. This programme will then carry on with vaccinating children aged 2 to 4 years old. It is a weakened form of live forms of the flu virus.

Approximately 1 in 3 people infected with the virus will show no symptoms, but they can still pass it on to other people.

If you do develop symptoms, you are infectious from the day before and remain infectious for about a week. Children however, can remain infectious for up to 2 weeks.

There's lots of information available about the flu vaccine and the other vaccines available in the UK from

the Vaccine Knowledge Project website here.

DH is coughing away and not feeling well.
I am going to make up the spare bed (for me!)

I have never had flu. The last few years, I have had the flu jab, this is because my asthma has got worse.
People with some medical conditions often need hospitalising when the flu virus affects this. E.g breathing problems when you’re asthmatic.

As we're reminiscing I remember getting flu twice - must have been about Feb 1976. One was the gastric flu and the other was the snotty kind.
Where's the evidence that a flu jab makes people ill? If thousands of people get the jab in October, some of them will get some kind of illness in the following week, an illness they would have got anyway without the jab. But people like something to blame. And it seems people look for an excuse not to have "the needle".
It takes about 2 weeks for the flu jab to build up immunity in your body.
And of course the Aussie flu is in this year's jab!!! However there is another emerging flu strain that is too recent for inclusion (called B/Yamagata).
If you are one of the over 65s who has not yet had a free jab then check if your surgery still has vaccine. Or even better contact Boots or other pharmacy. You can have your free jab in a pharmacy and they let your GP know. (Avoiding a GP waiting room probably good idea - some of them are working extra hours to cope with additional flu patients according to the magazine Pulse.)
If you're under 65 you can get a jab but you'll have to pay. ASDA superstore pharmacies are usually the cheapest. But it will be about £8-15 depending where. Worth £15 not to have flu for even one hour IMO. It won't protect you against the B/Yamata but it definitely will protect you from the Aussie one if you can hang on a couple of weeks...

I had flu in 1957 and was really ill for 6 weeks, but touch wood i have not had it since. When i became entitled to the flu jab i had it for a few years but stopped it as i was always ill for weeks after having it.

My dad who is 82 but normally very healthy, collapsed on Hogmanay & was rushed into hospital with a chest infection. He is still waiting to hear if it is actually Aussie Flu! He got home on New Years Day - the hospital was so packed with frail, elderly folk, they closed their doors at one stage. The nurses told us their is an epidemic & that the current flu jab is ineffective against the Aussie strain! He was given antibiotics & Tamiflu. We were told that if we take ill, we've not to go to our surgery or hospital but to phone for help. My pal's auntie died of flu a few years ago - I had spoken to her a few days earlier at the shops & she was fine then! Flu can kill'

must have been about Feb 1976.
I remember getting the flu that was around then; I had a 2 year old, DH was away and I was pregnant.

keriku I hope your Dad will recover well.

Yes, as JessM says, the vaccine should still be available.

I had flu once when I was a child and fortunately, have not had a recurrence! I was completely knocked out for a while s I have always taken advantage of flu jabs when they are offered and now get them free anyway. Get it done with my annual diabetes check up!

The first time I had flu - when I was about 15 - I actually thought I must be dying because I felt so ill. I didn't get out of bed for two weeks and when I did I felt really unsteady on my feet. I think I've probably had a milder form of flu since then but nothing to compare with that first experience.