[ale] OT:Flu shots ie. computer viruses

[Dow_Hurst]

If you haven't been exposed to a virus, you will get it.  Period.  No ifs ands or buts.  That is how viruses work.  You are most able to pass a virus while it is multiplying and before you really know you are sick.  Later when your body catches up with symptoms you are most likely not as "infectious".  99% of colds are viral and no antibiotic can possibly help you.  Your body has to manufacture the right antibodies to kill off the virus or "contain" it.  The viral DNA is added to yours as the process of the virus multiplying.  Over all of history we have had a pile of viral DNA added to our own DNA.  Viruses use our replicating mechanism to "bootstrap" themselves but leave their DNA in our own as a result.

The flu shot is a best guess attempt to figure out what new modified virus will be the seasonal flu and to make a vaccine for it.  If a weak version of the virus is given to you, then your body will be mildly sick but quickly create antibodies for that strain.  Later when you are exposed to the full blown virus in large numbers by sitting next to a carrier in a public area, your body "should" be able to shake it off with it's current version and quantity of antibodies.  If your immune system is depressed by lack of sleep, other infections, or stress, then you might still get sick but not to the extent if you had never been exposed.  Most people have high fever, aches, chills, and throwup with the flu.  It usually takes two weeks to really get over it.  A cold is viral in nature but not the flu since the flu is a virus that is expressed by your body faster and is more dangerous than the usual cold virus.

Very few "colds" are bacterial, most are viral.  A bacterial infection is usually caught as a secondary infection and shows up as green yellow drainage from your sinuses that is thick and gross.  Antibiotics work on bacterial infections.  If when you blow your nose you have clear drainage, you don't have a bacterial sinus infection.  If you are coughing up lots of green snot then you better go to the doctor for antibiotics to fight off bronchitis.  ;-)

Everyone should have the flu shot.  It is life threatening not to if you are a child or a senior citizen.  Only healthy young and middle aged adults can survive the real flu without as much threat of death.  It only takes a slightly more virulent flu strain to create a "pandemic" where millions or billions die.  Please take the flu seriously as it can kill you.

Sorry for the offtopic post but the "bootstrap nature" of viruses might be a worthwhile way to think about this.  What was the fastest, worst computer virus in history?  That is like the flu.

The more viruses you survive the better your prepared to handle viruses unless it is a new strain.  With a new strain your hosed.  You will get sick.
Dow




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Dow Hurst, Research Scientist
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