The medical world received some bad news in early October 2004.  An announcement was made by Chiron Corporation, the company contracted to produce a majority of America’s flu vaccines for this season, failed to come through.  Its license had been suspended, and there weren’t going to be any vaccines.

 

Since that announcement, the American people have been paying close attention to any recent developments of the influenza virus (more commonly known as the “flu”).  The limited supply of flu vaccines that are available have been reserved for the sick, elderly, and high risk candidates.  The young and healthy are encouraged to wait out the season, and tough out the flu without the vaccine. 

 

There’s good news.  Catching the flu these days isn’t exactly the same as catching the bubonic plague in the 14^th century.  Between 1347 and 1350, the Bubonic Plague—or “Black Death”—killed one out of every three people living in Europe.  Other epidemics hit various parts of Europe in the 1300s, 1400s, and 1500s.  As recently as the 1855, the plague spread through China and India, killing over ten million people.

 

That’s not going to happen with your standard flu.  The majority of people who are infected with influenza this year (that could be as many as 30 million people in the United States alone) will recover in a week or two.  The only groups whose health is seriously at risk are the elderly (over sixty-five years old), very young children, and those with chronic illness.

 

That’s not to say that catching the flu is like taking a walk in the park.   It can be excruciatingly painful even for someone who is young and healthy.  In 1918-1919, a severe case of influenza known as the “Spanish Flu” turned into an epidemic.  Some estimates claim that the flu of that year took more lives than World War I (possibly more than 40 million people worldwide). 

 

Fortunately, increased awareness, new medications, and better health conditions—especially in industrialized nations like the United States—should help to keep the flu season from getting out of control.  However, the influenza virus mutates very easily, and it’s nearly impossible to ever predict how severe the flu for the upcoming season will be.

 

If you need to hear some good news, this might help.  If you come down with the usual symptoms—fever, headache, tiredness, sore throat, and body aches—you can rest assured that you don’t have the bubonic plague.  While these were all symptoms of the illness, Black Death has been virtually wiped out in recent generations.  If anything, you might have a cold, or a mild case of the flu (both of which pale in comparison to Black Death).   

 

If the bubonic plague has been wiped out, why can’t doctors conquer the flu?  They might someday, but it’s a little more difficult.  Black Death was spread by fleas and rats, and it thrived in dirty and unsanitary locations.  As wealth increased over the years, living conditions naturally improved.  As a result, it became harder for an epidemic of the bubonic plague to spread.  It wasn’t a miraculous medical invention that conquered Black Death—it was the development of a high standard of living.

 

The flu is a little more tricky.  Influenza is caused by an ever-changing virus.  Because the virus is constantly mutating, doctors and scientists have to continually create new vaccines to combat it.  If the exact same virus appeared year after year, it would be easy to virtually eliminate the flu.