Preschoolers are often the first to catch the flu every year. Vaccinating children in this age group may help the whole family avoid the flu. (Luke & Courtney Barrett/Flickr)
When anyone in my house gets a cold or other bug, often we all look at my three-year old son, the one in preschool, and ask, “What did you bring home?” While it may seem unfair, our reaction reflects the conventional wisdom: That children of preschool age are often the vector for the colds, flu, sniffles, coughs, stomach bugs, etc., that make their way through the family every year.
Science does bear this out, especially with regards to the flu. A 2005 study by Children’s Hospital Boston researchers strongly suggested that otherwise healthy 3 and 4 year olds were prime drivers of flu epidemics, often displaying flu-like symptoms as early as late September.
Acknowledging preschoolers’ increased risk of getting sick from the flu, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) – the national body that sets vaccination policies in the U.S. – updated its influenza vaccine recommendations in 2006 to include vaccination of children between ages 2 and 4. Now, John Brownstein, who leads the Computational Epidemiology Group in the Children’s Hospital Informatics Program (CHIP) and took part in the 2005 study, demonstrates that the policy change has had quite an effect. Full story »
While it's not done this way anymore, getting a flu vaccine every year can still be a pain. Stephen Harrison is working on a vaccine strategy that would protect against flu strains from multiple seasons. (Photo: cdc e-health/Flickr)
Every year, the flu tries to outwit humanity. By shifting parts of its outer coat, the virus renders the flu vaccine from the previous year obsolete, bringing another season of misery. And every year, we fight back with a new vaccine, finding a new chink in the virus’s armor and giving ourselves another brief window of protection.
But if Stephen Harrison, chief of Children’s Division of Molecular Medicine, is right, we might be able to train our immune systems to look past the flu virus’s annual trickery and build up resistance that spans multiple seasons. That could reduce the need to develop, produce, and distribute a new flu vaccine nearly every year, a process of selection, growth, packaging, and distribution that can take upwards of seven months. Full story »
Before you know it, flu season – that miserable time of sneezing, snuffling, coughing, and generally feeling blah – will be upon us again. And as with anything, the best way to deal with the flu is to be prepared for it.
But when, exactly, is the right time to start stocking up on tissues and looking for vaccination clinics? You could go with the conventional wisdom: Get the annual flu vaccine in the fall and spend the next five months avoiding anyone with bleary eyes and a runny nose.
Or, to try to get a more targeted read on when the flu will appear in your town, you could turn to the power of the web. In 2008 – a few months before H1N1 influenza appeared on the scene – Google launched Google Flu Trends, which mined user search data to gauge flu activity on a national, state, and even (in some cases) city level.
The H1N1 outbreak proved to be a tipping point for online disease tracking tools. Recognizing this, the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is getting into the act with the CDC Flu App Challenge. A contest run through Challenge.gov, the Flu App Challenge encourages developers to come up with “an innovative use of technology to raise awareness of influenza and/or educate consumers on ways to prevent and treat the flu.” Submitted apps – for the web, for desktop computers, for mobile devices – use publicly available data feeds, including at least one maintained by the CDC, to promote healthy behavior for flu prevention. All of the submitted apps are eligible for several awards, including a People’s Choice Award chosen by public vote. Full story »
