Remember to wash your hands with soap and water and plenty of friction! No hand sanitizer is a substitute for washing your hands with potable water. Using a hand sanitizer like the PureWorks line of products from ItKillsGerms.com is a possible adjunct to maintaining your health and preventing sickness.
From veterinary sciences and the animal industry to hospitals and the clinical setting to schools, restaurants, public restrooms, gyms and in your own home and house, a waterless handwash is a great way to keep the bugs like bacteria, viruses, molds, fungi, and spores at bay and your well being at its utmost priority.
ItKillsGerms.com
Saturday, February 23, 2008
MSNBC Flu Article. It Kills Germs.com
Flu season expected to get worse
Vaccine doesn’t match most circulating viruses, health officials say
Video
Mean flu season
Feb. 15: The late-breaking flu season is putting elderly and young children in peril. NBC's Robert Bazell reports.
Nightly News
INTERACTIVE
Weekly influenza estimates
Who’s got the flu state-by-state
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Still time for your flu shot
Flu Season Still Going Strong
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Flu Hits Its Peak In R.I.
Flu vaccine may not provide enough protection
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updated 5:43 p.m. MT, Fri., Feb. 15, 2008
ATLANTA - The flu season is getting worse, and U.S. health officials say it's partly because the flu vaccine doesn't protect against most of the spreading flu bugs.
The flu shot is a good match for only about 40 percent of this year's flu viruses, officials at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday.
That's worse than last week's report when the CDC said the vaccine was protective against roughly half the circulating strains. In good years, the vaccine can fend off 70 to 90 percent.
Story continues below ↓advertisement
Infections from an unexpected strain have been booming, and now are the main agent behind most of the nation's lab-confirmed flu cases, said Dr. Joe Bresee, the CDC's chief of influenza epidemiology.
It's too soon to know whether this will prove to be a bad flu season overall, but it's fair to say a lot of people are suffering at the moment. "Every area of the country is experiencing lots of flu right now," Bresee said.
This week, 44 states reported widespread flu activity, up from 31 last week. The number of children who have died from the flu has risen to 10 since the flu season's official Sept. 30 start.
Those numbers aren't considered alarming. Early February is the time of year when flu cases tend to peak. The 10 pediatric deaths, though tragic, are about the same number as was reported at this time in the last two flu seasons, Bresee said.
The biggest surprise has been how poorly the vaccine has performed.
A bad match
Each winter, experts try to predict which strains of flu will circulate so they can develop an appropriate vaccine for the following season. They choose three strains — two from the Type A family of influenza, and one from Type B.
INTERACTIVE
Test your IQ
Is it a cold, the flu or something else?
Usually, the guesswork is pretty good: The vaccines have been a good match in 16 of the last 19 flu seasons, experts said.
But the vaccine's Type B component turned out not to be a good match for the B virus that has been most common this winter. And one of the Type A components turned out to be poorly suited for the Type A H3N2/Brisbane-like strain that now accounts for the largest portion of lab-confirmed cases.
“Typically, they’re very successful at that, but this is just one of those years where it was a little off, and it hasn’t been as good of a match," John Silcox of the Fort Wayne-Allen County, Ind., Department of Health told WISE-TV in Fort Wayne.
"So that’s why we’re perhaps seeing a little bit more flu.”
Over the years, the H3N2 flu has tended to cause more deaths, Bresee said.
Click for related content
Flu season in full swing
Flu in U.S., Canada shows drug resistance
Under-the-tongue vaccine could help lick the flu
That may be little comfort for the suffering masses. In Philadelphia, Health Commissioner Donald F. Schwarz cited what he called an unusually sharp increase in the number of people with the flu. Emergency room doctors said they were seeing more cases and worse symptoms than last year.
“This year’s been more virulent. People last year had a mild case of the flu and stayed home. This year, they feel a lot more miserable, and we’re treating accordingly," Dr. Ben Usatch of Lankenau Hospital told WCAU-TV in Philadelphia.
The flu appears to be taking a heavy toll on college students. At the University of Kentucky, in Lexington, doctors have been seeing 20 to 30 students a day with flu symptoms, said Gregory Moore, director of University Health Services. He said conditions on campuses were usually prime for the flu to attack.
“People are living in close proximity,” Moore told WLEX-TV in Lexington. “Unfortunately, some of our students aren’t eating well or sleeping well.”
“I woke up with a fever, started around 101, went up to 103 by the time it was over,” said Elizabeth Shemwell, a student at the university. “Body aches, fever chills, headache, everything. The works — I had it.”
This week, the World Health Organization took the unusual step of recommending that next season's flu vaccine have a completely different makeup from this year's. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is expected to make its decision about the U.S. vaccine next week.
H3N2 strains are treatable by Tamiflu and other antiviral drugs, but the other, H1N1 Type A strains are more resistant. Of all flu samples tested this year, 4.6 percent have been resistant to antiviral medications. That's up from less than 1 percent last year.
"This represents a real increase in resistance," Bresee said.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Vaccine doesn’t match most circulating viruses, health officials say
Video
Mean flu season
Feb. 15: The late-breaking flu season is putting elderly and young children in peril. NBC's Robert Bazell reports.
Nightly News
INTERACTIVE
Weekly influenza estimates
Who’s got the flu state-by-state
Related stories
What’s this?
Still time for your flu shot
Flu Season Still Going Strong
Flu Vaccine Outgunned By Two Different Strains
Flu Hits Its Peak In R.I.
Flu vaccine may not provide enough protection
Most popular
• Most viewed • Top rated • Most e-mailed
Clinton soldiers on, into a darkening horizon
Saudi Arabia arrests 57 men for flirting at mall
Was Romanian base a CIA prisoner site?
Homeless chef lived in London airport for years
Civil rights activist Johnnie Carr dies at 97
Most viewed on msnbc.com
Bill would keep credit card companies honest
Insurer fined $9M for dropping cancer patient
Devastation of trawling visible from space
Woman charged in fatal Minn. school bus crash
‘Hero’ girl recovering after SUV shooting
Most viewed on msnbc.com
Clinton soldiers on, into a darkening horizon
Saudi Arabia arrests 57 men for flirting at mall
Gene studies confirm ‘out of Africa’ theories
Civil rights activist Johnnie Carr dies at 97
Was Romanian base a CIA prisoner site?
Most viewed on msnbc.com
updated 5:43 p.m. MT, Fri., Feb. 15, 2008
ATLANTA - The flu season is getting worse, and U.S. health officials say it's partly because the flu vaccine doesn't protect against most of the spreading flu bugs.
The flu shot is a good match for only about 40 percent of this year's flu viruses, officials at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday.
That's worse than last week's report when the CDC said the vaccine was protective against roughly half the circulating strains. In good years, the vaccine can fend off 70 to 90 percent.
Story continues below ↓advertisement
Infections from an unexpected strain have been booming, and now are the main agent behind most of the nation's lab-confirmed flu cases, said Dr. Joe Bresee, the CDC's chief of influenza epidemiology.
It's too soon to know whether this will prove to be a bad flu season overall, but it's fair to say a lot of people are suffering at the moment. "Every area of the country is experiencing lots of flu right now," Bresee said.
This week, 44 states reported widespread flu activity, up from 31 last week. The number of children who have died from the flu has risen to 10 since the flu season's official Sept. 30 start.
Those numbers aren't considered alarming. Early February is the time of year when flu cases tend to peak. The 10 pediatric deaths, though tragic, are about the same number as was reported at this time in the last two flu seasons, Bresee said.
The biggest surprise has been how poorly the vaccine has performed.
A bad match
Each winter, experts try to predict which strains of flu will circulate so they can develop an appropriate vaccine for the following season. They choose three strains — two from the Type A family of influenza, and one from Type B.
INTERACTIVE
Test your IQ
Is it a cold, the flu or something else?
Usually, the guesswork is pretty good: The vaccines have been a good match in 16 of the last 19 flu seasons, experts said.
But the vaccine's Type B component turned out not to be a good match for the B virus that has been most common this winter. And one of the Type A components turned out to be poorly suited for the Type A H3N2/Brisbane-like strain that now accounts for the largest portion of lab-confirmed cases.
“Typically, they’re very successful at that, but this is just one of those years where it was a little off, and it hasn’t been as good of a match," John Silcox of the Fort Wayne-Allen County, Ind., Department of Health told WISE-TV in Fort Wayne.
"So that’s why we’re perhaps seeing a little bit more flu.”
Over the years, the H3N2 flu has tended to cause more deaths, Bresee said.
Click for related content
Flu season in full swing
Flu in U.S., Canada shows drug resistance
Under-the-tongue vaccine could help lick the flu
That may be little comfort for the suffering masses. In Philadelphia, Health Commissioner Donald F. Schwarz cited what he called an unusually sharp increase in the number of people with the flu. Emergency room doctors said they were seeing more cases and worse symptoms than last year.
“This year’s been more virulent. People last year had a mild case of the flu and stayed home. This year, they feel a lot more miserable, and we’re treating accordingly," Dr. Ben Usatch of Lankenau Hospital told WCAU-TV in Philadelphia.
The flu appears to be taking a heavy toll on college students. At the University of Kentucky, in Lexington, doctors have been seeing 20 to 30 students a day with flu symptoms, said Gregory Moore, director of University Health Services. He said conditions on campuses were usually prime for the flu to attack.
“People are living in close proximity,” Moore told WLEX-TV in Lexington. “Unfortunately, some of our students aren’t eating well or sleeping well.”
“I woke up with a fever, started around 101, went up to 103 by the time it was over,” said Elizabeth Shemwell, a student at the university. “Body aches, fever chills, headache, everything. The works — I had it.”
This week, the World Health Organization took the unusual step of recommending that next season's flu vaccine have a completely different makeup from this year's. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is expected to make its decision about the U.S. vaccine next week.
H3N2 strains are treatable by Tamiflu and other antiviral drugs, but the other, H1N1 Type A strains are more resistant. Of all flu samples tested this year, 4.6 percent have been resistant to antiviral medications. That's up from less than 1 percent last year.
"This represents a real increase in resistance," Bresee said.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Updated Flu data from It Kills Germs.com
PureWorks
Dear Distributors and Customers:
Here is some great information regarding the recent explosion of reported cases of flu. You can see from the official CDC map that the flu has literally taken over the USA and is offically "widespread" in all but a few states. We have shown you this map several times since the flu season started. You can compare this one to the last few and see how effective the flu is at vectoring throughout the country. The flu is wreaking havoc everywhere and is causing lots of misery, loss of productivity and even loss of life. The following article (link at bottom) is interesting because it openly admits that the manufacturing of the flu vaccine is a "best guess" which is complicated by lots of variable. One of the largest variables is the fact that germs mutate at an unprecedented rate and they keep scientists guessing.
We have said it many times and I suspect that we will say it many more...The best thing to do is to own your health and stop playing the guessing game...If you want to be healthy, kill the germs before they get into your system!!! The proper regimen will keep you happy and healthy...FYI!
Flu shot doesn't protect from most viruses
The U.S. flu season is getting worse. And U.S. health officials in Atlanta say it's partly because the flu vaccine doesn't match most of the circulating viruses.
FULL STORY is available here: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23187315/
Mark Franks
Visit ItKillsGerms.com for more information.
Corporate Office has moved, It Kills Germs.com
PureWorks
Dear Distributors,
PureWorks is proud to announce that our office is relocating! Last year we remodeled our conference center to offer a convenient place for distributor meetings. We have also made some recent changes to move our office headquarters into the same building. The new address is 4126 South 500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84123. The new headquarters will be a well-situated one-stop-shop. All our phone numbers and emails will remain the same so please feel free to contact us. If there is a day next week were you have some trouble contacting us please be patient with us, excuse our dust and we'll contact you as soon as possible if we do miss you. In case of a real emergency call Skyler at 801-884-8337.
Your Friends at,
ItKillsGerms.com
Pureworks, LC
Dear Distributors,
PureWorks is proud to announce that our office is relocating! Last year we remodeled our conference center to offer a convenient place for distributor meetings. We have also made some recent changes to move our office headquarters into the same building. The new address is 4126 South 500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84123. The new headquarters will be a well-situated one-stop-shop. All our phone numbers and emails will remain the same so please feel free to contact us. If there is a day next week were you have some trouble contacting us please be patient with us, excuse our dust and we'll contact you as soon as possible if we do miss you. In case of a real emergency call Skyler at 801-884-8337.
Your Friends at,
ItKillsGerms.com
Pureworks, LC
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