白水麗人
旅行足跡，健康生活，飲食營養
正文
今年的流感季節又到了。大家應該還記得去年造成8萬多美國人死亡的流感事件（參閱：《美國今年可能遭遇流感大流行 》。近來有很多人預測今年的流感季節可能不會像去年那麽糟，那麽這是否意味著今年大家可以不用注射流感疫苗了？
北美流感季節是每年10月到來年5月。美國疾控中心一直建議人們在10月底前接種疫苗。美國通常依據澳大利亞流感的流行情況做出預測，因為澳洲的流感季節早於北美。去年的致命性流感病毒株H3N2，專家說今年仍然可能會出現。
參考閱讀：《關於流感的重要信息》
參考閱讀：《關於流感的重要信息》
疾病控製和預防中心強調，老年人、幼兒、孕婦和有長期健康問題的人患流感並發症的風險更大。但是，任何人都可能受到影響，包括那些接種流感疫苗的人。那麽這個流感季節危險嗎？以下是你需要了解的一下情況，可以幫助你保持健康。
流感有多危險？
疾病控製預防中心估計，每年有數以百萬計的人感染流感。流感的危害越來越引起人們的關注。雖然老年人和嬰幼兒更有可能出現嚴重的病例，但健康的年輕人也不能掉以輕心，去年就有20幾歲不幸死於流感的病例。因為流感會引發致命的並發症，包括肺炎和膿毒症，甚至心髒病等。
應該注意的症狀
下列症狀應該引起注意：
- 咳嗽
- 喉嚨痛
- 流鼻涕或鼻塞
- 頭痛
- 疲勞
- 身體或肌肉疼痛
- 發燒（不是每個患流感的人都會發燒）
注：除非你接受實驗室測試，否則你無法確定自己是否真的得了流感。
流感疫苗有用嗎？
每年，研究人員都會研製出一種混合流感疫苗，以抵禦他們認為在即將到來的季節裏可能出現的三到四種流感病毒。但接種疫苗並不能完全保證你不得流感。在研究人員確定每年最有可能引起麻煩的毒株後，病毒可能會發生變異，研究人員沒有預料到的病毒株也可能會流行起來。這意味著研究人員很難製造出與流行病毒完美匹配的疫苗，這就是流感疫苗不同於其它疫苗，保護率比較低的主要原因。
參考閱讀：《流感問題 - 今年疫苗恐無效》
參考閱讀：《流感問題 - 今年疫苗恐無效》
盡管如此，人們還是應該注射流感疫苗。因為疫苗有兩個作用：一是防止你感染流感病毒，二是如果你得了流感，疫苗會將嚴重程度降低。人們都希望盡可能地對抗流感，打疫苗是一個明智的選擇。
除了接種流感疫苗外，今年流感季節還有一種鼻用噴霧劑疫苗供選擇。但注射疫苗仍然是最有效的方式，使用這種噴霧劑疫苗的效果雖然還不很確定，但肯定比沒有好。你應該問你的醫生哪種疫苗最適合你。
其它注意事項
即使你不屬於高危人群，如孕婦，老年人，嬰兒，或患有慢性病，降低風險同樣很重要。
充足的睡眠、豐富的營養和有規律的鍛煉都有助於保持身體免疫係統的強壯。這些健康習慣已經被證明可以抵禦如流感這樣的呼吸道病毒。
勤洗手和用消毒液擦手。可以隨身攜帶消毒液，在觸摸共用設施後或在吃東西之前，洗手或消毒尤其重要。在公共場所盡量不要用手觸摸口鼻部位，回家後立刻用肥皂洗手和洗臉。這些簡單的措施都可以大大降低病毒感染的風險。
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.
我說的數字是科學家估算的結果，CDC並沒有具體的死亡數據，因為聯邦不強製各州上報相關資料，但兒童死亡例外。Anne Schuchat, CDC 執行主任今年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。一個星期4000多人因流感-肺炎死亡，去年流感死亡人數應該不止8萬。
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. 有效率從來沒有低到25%，就算去年，也是30%以上，當然具體到每個人身上不一樣。
2. 那些沒打的，應該感謝那些打了疫苗的，如果大家都不打，得病率就不會那麽低了。
如果老出外旅行或者接觸外人多，建議打流感疫苗，如果老宅在家裏或城裏，打了也沒什麽用。
no, thanks.