The flu season is here and it's shaping up a bit different than expected, with a different strain dominating the season compared to what was used in part to develop this year's vaccines and new strains emerging. Still, some kind of protection is better than no protection at all so getting vaccinated remains important as the flu season nears its peak.
Virus strains are genetically different but they are all bad news. Flu strains are categorized into two: Influenza A and Influenza B. Influenza A contains major strains like H1N1 and H3N2. The strain responsible for the 2009 pandemic was H1N1 and it mostly affects children and adults. H3N2, on the other hand, mostly targets those that are very young or very old.
Influenza B strains are considered to be minor players because they are not typically associated with outbreaks. The standard flu vaccine will contain both Influenza A strains and an Influenza B strain. Some vaccines incorporate a second Influenza B strain to offer more protection.
So far this season, the dominating virus is H3N2. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a report at the start of December saying that this year's vaccine is only 52 percent effective but this should not be a cause for concern. Vaccines are never 100 percent effective in the first place because strains chosen for developing them are merely projections based on data from previous flu seasons.
Just because they can't offer 100 percent protection doesn't mean that people can do away with them. Vaccines still help by lessening the severity of flu symptoms, cutting back on sick days and preventing hospitalization and, in extreme cases, death.
Aside from simply not being developed to focus on the H3N2 strain alone, flu vaccines also have to struggle against drifts this season, or minor mutations that a strain undergoes when it reproduces. With a strain changing its genetic structure each time it reproduces, it is never exactly the same as it was sampled before.
A more serious threat than a drift is a shift. As a shift creates more dramatic changes in a strain's genetic material, it makes it possible for a new strain to develop. Luckily, shifts don't happen often, the last time was during the 2009 pandemic when an H1N1 virus shifted.
Aside from getting vaccinated, taking antiviral medication within the first 48 hours of experiencing symptoms is also effective in dealing with the flu.
