Flu Vaccines an Important Annoyance
Sara Franco
ENC 1101
Pro. Yvetta Ingram

The Influenza virus, commonly known as the flu, is a common disease that had it's first outbreak in 1918-1919 killing around 50 to 100 million people. Though it's not sure exactly but it's speculated that the outbreak began in Haskell County, Kansas, a tiny county in the corner of Kansas (Barry). Influenza virus is a viral infection which causes problems to the respiratory system which in some cases can lead to hospitalization or in severe cases even death. Symptoms include high fever, coughing, sore throat, runny and/or stuffy nose, body aches, headaches or migraines, fatigue and diarrhea and vomiting which mostly occurs in children. Treatment includes getting prescribed antibiotics by a health care professional, taking decongestants for breaking up mucus, cough medicines for sore throats and coughs, plenty of rest, drinking plenty of fluids and placing cool damps towels on the forehead and neck to help bring down fevers, and covering up with blankets and warm clothes to soothe the chills away. The flu vaccination didn't first appear until 1938, almost 19 years after the first outbreak, by Jonas Salk and Thomas Francis. The vaccine has been continuously perfected since it's creation in 1938 and has saved, and continues to save, billions of lives from influenza. It's important for someone's health to get the flu vaccine each year. However, most of the population doesn't get the vaccination at all. Getting the vaccine can significantly reduce the risk of spreading the flu to others and protecting themselves from possibly getting more then just the flu. Each year the Flu Virus mutates which causes someone who has had the flu to not be immune anymore. The National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases has explained in a video that with vaccine immunity or natural immunity antibodies, natural protein that fights off infections, will attach to the HA protein on the Influenza virus keeping the virus from attaching to cells in the body and stopping spread of infection. However, if someone were to not have that natural protection or vaccinated protection then the flu virus will attach to body cells entering them and causing infection. As this occurs the virus starts to replicate causing slight changes in the HA and NA proteins that are coating the virus until eventually, as people pass the virus on to one another, the virus continues to mutate as it replicates changing it from its original form that the vaccines at the time will become useless and people that has had the flu before can get it again. Influenza is classified into three types A, B and C. Even though there are only three types of the Flu type A and B can be broken down further. The proteins that cover the virus, hemagglutinin (H) and neuraminidase (N), each have their own subtypes in type A. Hemagglutinin (H) has 18 different subtypes and neuraminidase (N) has 11 different subtypes. While type B doesn't have subtypes it does break into different types of strands according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). From this, as mentioned before, when the virus replicates it mutates creating significant difference making scientists try to figure out and predict which type of flu is going to be the one that is spreading around each flu season. The seasonal flu vaccine contains two types of type A flu, A (H1N1), A (H3N2) and type B flu, the vaccine protects from these flu types and any flu types that are relating to these. Besides the fact that the Influenza virus is mutating each year for survival, our body's natural immune response to the vaccine does indeed eventually wear off. When someone is getting the flu vaccine they are creating an imitation of antibodies to fight against the flu. It's not the body's natural antibody response. They don't really produce the same quality and