flu vaccine

We don't get the flu vaccine, by choice, for several reasons, firstly, for a
healthy person, flu is usually unpleasant, not dangerous, secondly, it's
only 70-80% effective and thirdly it just hasn't been around long enough for
anyone to have evaluated any long term consequences of yearly vaccines, so
I'd rather have flu once every 10 years, then a jab every year.

Recently DS has had a virus, not flu as far as I know, but something, it's
been going round, but it seems he's had it an awful lot more severely than
others, verging on hospitalisation at times. Temp went above 105F, he had a
fever for 6 full days, we're on day 9 now and he's still a limp rag, he also
had what the doctor called an allergic reaction to virus, as in, he broke
out in hives allover and the virus is the only possible source, they
appeared before he had any medication.

Obviously I don't know yet how the rest of his recovery will go, but it does
have me wondering, even though there is nothing tangible that makes him
unhealthy, what would the affect of flu be on him. He doesn't appear to have
a weakened immune system, as he only has the normal number of other
infections, possibly less than normal considering we moved in the fall. The
only possible issue is his weight, but I can't see why that would make him
have the virus so much worse than everyone else, only that it might now take
longer to recover as he's lost weight and really has no reserves left.

I haven't seen any ads for the flu vaccine in the last month or so, but I
expect it's still possible to get this years, do you think that would be
worth it? I'm torn about next year, but at least we have 6+mths to figure
that out. Is there any tests that we could have done to see if there is any
underlying reason why he was so ill?

Cheers

Anne


.

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