2015-16 Flu shot

not that i have heard of. there is a series of hep shots for teenagers, iirc. not sure which ones.

a lot of it is for drug users and sexually active people, people who work around hep b patients, and etc.

 

just saw a tv ad for high dose flu vaccine. first flu vaccine ad i've ever seen. ask your doctor if you're over 65.

 

In the U.S. it is one of the core vaccines given to infants and recommended for nearly all 18 years and younger.

For unvaccinated adults it's a bit complicated, but the following are the more common indications to recommend vaccination:

-Those at risk for blood/body fluid exposure (health care workers, public safety workers, correctional facility workers, etc.)
-Certain chronic medical conditions:

-HIV infection
-Diabetics <60 years old
-dialysis dependent patients
-chronic liver disease​

-Sexually active and not in a long-term monogamous relationship
-IV drug users (recent or active)
-recently or actively seeking or treated for STDs
-men who have sex with men
-sexual partners and household contacts of those with hepatitis B+
-international travelers to endemic areas

 

Thanks, my reading was much as iplug posted, and suggested that my Dr. here has an inaccurate picture of my (actually boring) personal life

Differently, Hep C is a pretty adept liver killer, transmitted in all the usual ways, but not yet with a 'prior' vaccine - do I have that right? The cure (as known to me) is not at all fun.

In other terms, news reports suggest that humans exist on earth to make this Planet Herpes Simplex. Perhaps it is no wonder that Space Aliens are staying away?

For old people here, would you agree that large-gauge blood-draw needles have become less painful? Thinking about laser deburring.

 

Yes, no vaccine for Hep C at this time.

For Hep C, in the last couple of years we now have three new FDA approved drugs that have increased the cure rate to as much as 90%. 30 years ago this was only ~5%.

The newer agents still require weeks (but usually significantly fewer - as little as 12) of treatment, and in some cases do not require combination with interferon and ribavirin (which are the usual agents that cause malaise, aches, nausea, insomnia, etc.).

The least fun part about the newest agents is probably their cost - typically well into the tens of thousands dollars for a course of treatment in the U.S..

 

So THAT'S why our PCP was asking me and the DW about our sex lives and whether we were monogamous, etc. I thought it odd at the time given a 47-year history, but even odder as we were both in the examining room, and if I had said anything about a "side-piece", my DW would probably have killed me on the spot, thus negating our good Doctor's best efforts.
As an "older people", I would say that blood drawing does seem less painful, and I know for a fact that they only have to draw 1 vial now as opposed to 2 or even 3 vials in the recent past to get a full panel of test results. I asked the phlebotomist and he said that procedures had been changed to make more efficient use of the blood drawn.

 

if you tell most doctors today that you're monogamous, there jaws hit the floor in disbelief. oh well, one more generation, and the agony should be just about over.

 

Must be a Boston thing.

Anyway, is it just me, or unlike past years when we start getting flooded with media scare stories about this is going to be one of the worst flu seasons ever -- and then it never happens -- I have seen very little media hype about the flu or flu shots this fall.