* The elderly are better protected from influenza when younger people in contact with them are vaccinated. The elderly are the ones most likely to die from complications of influenza.
And now this...
* The risk of schizophrenia for an individual is increased 7-fold when the mother is exposed to the virus during the first trimester.
Understand that by the time a woman knows she is pregnant, immediately gets a shot, and then waits for it to become effective, the first trimester is just about over.
Here's the evidence.
Serologic Evidence of Prenatal Influenza in the Etiology of Schizophrenia
And if you don't care about the elderly or your future progeny, there's always that once in a generation epidemic such as the one in 1917-1918 that seemed mostly to kill those who were young, healthy, and strong. For some reason, the body's reaction to this particularly virulent strain caused rapid pulmonary destruction which led to cyanosis (turning dark blue) and death. Very nasty!
Anyone for a flu shot?
Look for them after labor day, and make sure you get one weeks before your Thanksgiving vacation.- Bill
My specialty within BME is a field called systems physiology. Basically I'm trained to use sophisticated mathematical, statistical, and technical tools to do the kind of research that a normal physiologist does. After grad school, I did research in heart muscle physiology - especially during heart attacks - using sophisticated imaging (contrast echocardiography) and image processing techniques.
