Yes or no do you think the flu is mutated in a lab each year

MANdown_145
MANdown_145 Posts: 46
in Chit-Chat
To me it just seems strange that every year the flu changes and they always have a shot for the new strain.

Replies

  • cally69
    cally69 Posts: 182 Member
    Each year epidemiologists work to predict the likely mutations the virus will go through to create a vaccine for the following year.
  • tonightokayalright
    tonightokayalright Posts: 289 Member
    It's not mutated in the lab, it's mutated in your body. Sorry. It's the nature of the virus.
  • thatsnumberwang
    thatsnumberwang Posts: 398 Member
    Uh... I think the more important question is... do you?? :noway:
  • esl269
    esl269 Posts: 29 Member
    To me it just seems strange that every year the flu changes and they always have a shot for the new strain.

    Crazy talk! All their financing goes toward keeping up production of chicken pox.
  • Cheval13
    Cheval13 Posts: 350 Member
    Uh... I think the more important question is... do you?? :noway:

    Ha. :) There are many things that the medicine/pharmaceutical industry do, but eve the flu can't be perfected by science XD It mutates itself. :)
  • buda12345
    buda12345 Posts: 142 Member
    gary coleman, is that u?:laugh:
  • RobynC79
    RobynC79 Posts: 331 Member
    Scientist do experimentally mutate viruses in order to predict which strains will behave in certain ways - which are more highly contagious, which result in more severe symptoms, etc. They also hold stockpiles of almost all flu virii that have been detected in the population at large.

    From this stock, and based on epidemiological predictions from recent years, they select a subset of strains for which the current year's vaccine should give protection, and then they go about making the vaccine.

    The flu virus mutates spontaneously (as all things with a genome will do), and it's population genetic structure changes as it reproduces and certain strains are knocked down by vaccinations. Every year there will be some strains that are not stopped by vaccination - these increase in frequency (more people will be infected, which means more of that strain will be reproduced). The following year the vaccine may target this strain, as it now has higher prevalence.

    There's no conspiracy in this process (unless you want to believe in one, I see no reason for it myself). It's evolution by a combination of natural and artificial selection on the virus, and humans playing catch-up with vaccines.
  • MANdown_145
    MANdown_145 Posts: 46
    I have taken the flu shot twice in my life time and twice I have Contracted the flu virus. It's like I'm paying to get the flu......just saying
  • HMVOL7409
    HMVOL7409 Posts: 1,588 Member
    I have taken the flu shot twice in my life time and twice I have Contracted the flu virus. It's like I'm paying to get the flu......just saying

    You do not contract the flu from the vaccine; major misconception. It does take about 2 weeks to immune your body so the likely hood is that you were already exposed before the vaccination or became exposed directly afterwards. Also yes, they do predict based on what strands they've seen elsewhere in the world to vaccinate against; but even so after receiving the vaccination, you can contract another strand as well.
  • beccarockslife
    beccarockslife Posts: 816 Member
    I have taken the flu shot twice in my life time and twice I have Contracted the flu virus. It's like I'm paying to get the flu......just saying

    You didn't catch it from the jab, it's not a live vaccine. I've had it every year for nearly 10 years and have never had anything more than a head cold.
  • tabi26
    tabi26 Posts: 535 Member
    I have taken the flu shot twice in my life time and twice I have Contracted the flu virus. It's like I'm paying to get the flu......just saying

    You didn't catch it from the jab, it's not a live vaccine. I've had it every year for nearly 10 years and have never had anything more than a head cold.

    I've only ever gotten one flu shot in my life....the one for "swine flu".....two months later....I had swine flu....never had a flu ever in my life until that year, and have never had a flu since....will NEVER get a flu shot ever again!
  • Contrarian
    Contrarian Posts: 8,138 Member
    I don't worry about it. I have a hat made of tinfoil that makes me look delightfully like a Hershey's Kiss.
  • avir8
    avir8 Posts: 671 Member
    The vaccine is dead virus, so that your body can develop immunity to that strain. You may feel symptoms but trust me it is not the full extent to which you would have the flu had you not recieved the vaccine. If you did get sick, then it's most likely another strain that was not given to you in the vaccine.
  • Celeigh12
    Celeigh12 Posts: 763 Member
    I have taken the flu shot twice in my life time and twice I have Contracted the flu virus. It's like I'm paying to get the flu......just saying

    Some years they predict the right flu strain for the vaccine, some years they don't. If they get it wrong, you're not protected.
  • californiagirl1950
    californiagirl1950 Posts: 885 Member
    The latest research actually is showing that the flu shots do not work. As for myself I never get the shot. There are 2 products I use for myself and my hubby, they stop the virus in its tracks.
    One is ZiCam, the other is ossilococcinum. They are natural and I swear by them. My hubby used to get sick each year and be sick for weeks on end. When we started living together, I told him he would take the ossilo or else. He finally gave in and was shocked at how soon he was better. Now at the first sign of the flu he is asking for it

    . This is just my opinion as is every one else who posted here.. Take what you like and leave the rest.
  • RobynC79
    RobynC79 Posts: 331 Member
    The latest research actually is showing that the flu shots do not work. Just saying. I for one, never get the shot. There are 2 products I use for myself and my hubby, they stop the virus in its tracks.
    One is ZiCam, the other is ossilococcinum. They are natural and I swear by them. My hubby used to get sick each year and be sick for weeks on end. When we started living together, I told him he would take the ossilo or else. He finally gave in and was shocked at how soon he was better. Now at the first sign of the flu he is asking for it.

    If you claim there is 'recent research', you should cite it - 'just saying' doesn't really cut it.

    Also, ZiCam is proposed effective (with doubts) against rhinovirus - the cold. Not the flu, which is a rather different and more severe thing. And Ossilococcinum (a product that is mathematically 100% sugar and water - the active ingredient (duck liver....) is diluted to 1 in 10^400) is a placebo. If it works for you - keep doing it. The placebo effect is a very real thing.
  • issyfit
    issyfit Posts: 1,077 Member
    I do think the CDC is largely funded by the drug companies and thus the CDC pushes for everyone to get shots every year whether really helpful or not. I don't usually get flu shots but did this year only because hubby is undergoing chemo so can't risk getting a virus.
  • NicoleisQuantized
    NicoleisQuantized Posts: 344 Member
    To me it just seems strange that every year the flu changes and they always have a shot for the new strain.

    LMAO

    Threads such as these are funnier when you are a scientist.
  • californiagirl1950
    californiagirl1950 Posts: 885 Member
    The latest research actually is showing that the flu shots do not work. Just saying. I for one, never get the shot. There are 2 products I use for myself and my hubby, they stop the virus in its tracks.
    One is ZiCam, the other is ossilococcinum. They are natural and I swear by them. My hubby used to get sick each year and be sick for weeks on end. When we started living together, I told him he would take the ossilo or else. He finally gave in and was shocked at how soon he was better. Now at the first sign of the flu he is asking for it.

    If you claim there is 'recent research', you should cite it - 'just saying' doesn't really cut it.

    Also, ZiCam is proposed effective (with doubts) against rhinovirus - the cold. Not the flu, which is a rather different and more severe thing. And Ossilococcinum (a product that is mathematically 100% sugar and water - the active ingredient (duck liver....) is diluted to 1 in 10^400) is a placebo. If it works for you - keep doing it. The placebo effect is a very real thing.


    I was actually saying "just saying about myself never getting a flu shot" not just saying about the research.
  • RobynC79
    RobynC79 Posts: 331 Member
    The latest research actually is showing that the flu shots do not work. Just saying. I for one, never get the shot. There are 2 products I use for myself and my hubby, they stop the virus in its tracks.
    One is ZiCam, the other is ossilococcinum. They are natural and I swear by them. My hubby used to get sick each year and be sick for weeks on end. When we started living together, I told him he would take the ossilo or else. He finally gave in and was shocked at how soon he was better. Now at the first sign of the flu he is asking for it.

    If you claim there is 'recent research', you should cite it - 'just saying' doesn't really cut it.

    Also, ZiCam is proposed effective (with doubts) against rhinovirus - the cold. Not the flu, which is a rather different and more severe thing. And Ossilococcinum (a product that is mathematically 100% sugar and water - the active ingredient (duck liver....) is diluted to 1 in 10^400) is a placebo. If it works for you - keep doing it. The placebo effect is a very real thing.


    I was actually saying "just saying about myself never getting a flu shot" not just saying about the research.

    So... no citations of this 'latest research' then? Ok.
    LMAO

    Threads such as these are funnier when you are a scientist.

    Indeed. However, I do think it's a bit unreasonable to expect a lay person with no biology background to understand how vaccines are made. The idea that 'there's flu strains, and then magically there's vaccines, so there has to be something going on there', is not that outrageous.

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