白水丽人
旅行足迹，健康生活，饮食营养
正文
今年的流感季节又到了。大家应该还记得去年造成8万多美国人死亡的流感事件（参阅：《美国今年可能遭遇流感大流行 》。近来有很多人预测今年的流感季节可能不会像去年那么糟，那么这是否意味着今年大家可以不用注射流感疫苗了？
北美流感季节是每年10月到来年5月。美国疾控中心一直建议人们在10月底前接种疫苗。美国通常依据澳大利亚流感的流行情况做出预测，因为澳洲的流感季节早于北美。去年的致命性流感病毒株H3N2，专家说今年仍然可能会出现。
参考阅读：《关于流感的重要信息》
参考阅读：《关于流感的重要信息》
疾病控制和预防中心强调，老年人、幼儿、孕妇和有长期健康问题的人患流感并发症的风险更大。但是，任何人都可能受到影响，包括那些接种流感疫苗的人。那么这个流感季节危险吗？以下是你需要了解的一下情况，可以帮助你保持健康。
流感有多危险？
疾病控制预防中心估计，每年有数以百万计的人感染流感。流感的危害越来越引起人们的关注。虽然老年人和婴幼儿更有可能出现严重的病例，但健康的年轻人也不能掉以轻心，去年就有20几岁不幸死于流感的病例。因为流感会引发致命的并发症，包括肺炎和脓毒症，甚至心脏病等。
应该注意的症状
下列症状应该引起注意：
- 咳嗽
- 喉咙痛
- 流鼻涕或鼻塞
- 头痛
- 疲劳
- 身体或肌肉疼痛
- 发烧（不是每个患流感的人都会发烧）
注：除非你接受实验室测试，否则你无法确定自己是否真的得了流感。
流感疫苗有用吗？
每年，研究人员都会研制出一种混合流感疫苗，以抵御他们认为在即将到来的季节里可能出现的三到四种流感病毒。但接种疫苗并不能完全保证你不得流感。在研究人员确定每年最有可能引起麻烦的毒株后，病毒可能会发生变异，研究人员没有预料到的病毒株也可能会流行起来。这意味着研究人员很难制造出与流行病毒完美匹配的疫苗，这就是流感疫苗不同于其它疫苗，保护率比较低的主要原因。
参考阅读：《流感问题 - 今年疫苗恐无效》
参考阅读：《流感问题 - 今年疫苗恐无效》
尽管如此，人们还是应该注射流感疫苗。因为疫苗有两个作用：一是防止你感染流感病毒，二是如果你得了流感，疫苗会将严重程度降低。人们都希望尽可能地对抗流感，打疫苗是一个明智的选择。
除了接种流感疫苗外，今年流感季节还有一种鼻用喷雾剂疫苗供选择。但注射疫苗仍然是最有效的方式，使用这种喷雾剂疫苗的效果虽然还不很确定，但肯定比没有好。你应该问你的医生哪种疫苗最适合你。
其它注意事项
即使你不属于高危人群，如孕妇，老年人，婴儿，或患有慢性病，降低风险同样很重要。
充足的睡眠、丰富的营养和有规律的锻炼都有助于保持身体免疫系统的强壮。这些健康习惯已经被证明可以抵御如流感这样的呼吸道病毒。
勤洗手和用消毒液擦手。可以随身携带消毒液，在触摸共用设施后或在吃东西之前，洗手或消毒尤其重要。在公共场所尽量不要用手触摸口鼻部位，回家后立刻用肥皂洗手和洗脸。这些简单的措施都可以大大降低病毒感染的风险。
How effective is the flu vaccine in the elderly?
Older people with weaker immune systems often have a lower protective immune response after flu vaccination compared to younger, healthier people. This can make them more susceptible to the flu. Although immune responses may be lower in the elderly, vaccine effectiveness has been similar in most flu seasons among older adults and those with chronic health conditions compared to younger, healthy adults.
If older people have weaker immune responses to flu vaccination, should they still get vaccinated?
Despite the fact that older adults (65 years of age and older) have weaker immune responses to vaccine flu vaccines, there are many reasons why people in that age group should be vaccinated each year.
First, people aged 65 and older are at increased risk of serious illness, hospitalization and death from the flu.
Second, while the effectiveness of the flu vaccine can be low among older people, there are seasons when significant benefit can be observed. Even if the vaccine provides less protection in older adults than it might in younger people, some protection is better than no protection at all, especially in this high risk group.
Third, flu vaccine may protect against more serious outcomes like hospitalization and death. For example, one study concluded that one death was prevented for every 4,000 people vaccinated against the flu.
In frail elderly adults, hospitalizations can mark the beginning of a significant decline in overall health and mobility, potentially resulting in loss of the ability to live independently or to complete basic activities of daily living. While the protection elderly adults obtain from flu vaccination can vary significantly, a yearly flu vaccination is still the best protection currently available against the flu.
There is some data to suggest that flu vaccination may reduce flu illness severity; so while someone who is vaccinated may still get infected, their illness may be milder.
Fourth, it’s important to remember that people who are 65 and older are a diverse group and often are different from one another in terms of their overall health, level of activity and mobility, and behavior when it comes to seeking medical care. This group includes people who are healthy and active and have responsive immune systems, as well as those who have underlying medical conditions that may weaken their immune system and their bodies’ ability to respond to vaccination. Therefore, when evaluating the benefits of flu vaccination, it is important to look at a broader picture than what one study’s findings can present.
我说的数字是科学家估算的结果，CDC并没有具体的死亡数据，因为联邦不强制各州上报相关资料，但儿童死亡例外。Anne Schuchat, CDC 执行主任今年2月表示：Deaths from influenza and pneumonia, which are closely tied to each other in the winter months, were responsible for 1 of every 10 deaths last week, and that’s likely to rise. There were 40,414 deaths in the U.S. during the third week of 2018, the most recent data available, and 4,064 were from pneumonia or influenza, according to the CDC data. The number for that week is expected to rise more reports are sent to the agency。一个星期4000多人因流感-肺炎死亡，去年流感死亡人数应该不止8万。
How many flu-associated deaths occur in people who have been vaccinated?
As previously explained, flu-associated deaths in adults are not a nationally notifiable condition, and so states are not required to report flu-associated deaths in adults to CDC. In contrast, flu-associated deaths in children are a nationally notifiable condition, and so jurisdictions (inclusive of state, city or local public health departments) do provide data to CDC on flu-associated deaths in children. These data generally include demographic information, flu laboratory test results, clinical information, and information on the child’s vaccination history, when it is available. During past seasons, approximately 80% of flu-associated deaths in children have occurred in children who were not vaccinated. Based on available data, this remains true for the 2017-2018 season, as well. For the latest surveillance data on flu deaths in children, see https://gis.cdc.gov/GRASP/Fluview/PedFluDeath.html.
1. 有效率从来没有低到25%，就算去年，也是30%以上，当然具体到每个人身上不一样。
2. 那些没打的，应该感谢那些打了疫苗的，如果大家都不打，得病率就不会那么低了。
如果老出外旅行或者接触外人多，建议打流感疫苗，如果老宅在家里或城里，打了也没什么用。
no, thanks.