Flu Vaccine Update: The 2013 Flu Shot

Somewhere in between hot summer weather turning to autumn, bright red leaves falling from trees, and snowflakes starting to fall, the fifth season of the year sets in — flu season.
Flu season officially starts in the late fall and continues into the early spring. And breaking out your sweaters and hanging up your Halloween decorations means it's time for your annual flu shot. Flu vaccines are already available at local pharmacies and drug stores and will make its way into clinics across the country. Here’s what you need to know about this year’s flu vaccine.

The 2013 Flu Vaccine

For the 2013-2014 flu season, there will be two vaccines: a trivalent vaccine that is made from three inactivated viruses researchers believe will be prevalent during flu season, and a quadrivalent vaccine containing four inactivated viruses.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the trivalent vaccine consists of these three flu strains:

• an A/California/7/2009 (H1N1)pdm09-like virus;
• an A(H3N2) virus antigenically like the cell-propagated prototype virus A/Victoria/361/2011;
• a B/Massachusetts/2/2012-like virus.

For the quadrivalent vaccine, the CDC recommends it contain, “two influenza B viruses include the above three viruses and a B/Brisbane/60/2008-like virus.”
The quadrivalent vaccine will be in much shorter supply—vaccine manufacturers have projected they will make between 135 and 139 million doses of the flu shot for this season, and about 30 to 32 million of those will be the quadrivalent vaccine. Most of the the quadrivalent will be in the nasal spray form.
"The CDC has a very complicated way of mapping and tracking all these different viruses going around, and they try to predict which strains will be most rampant this year," says Kathryn Teng, MD, a physician in the department of internal medicine and director of clinical integration of personalized healthcare at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio. They usually get it right, but not always.

Who Needs a Flu Shot?

Just because you got a seasonal flu shot last year doesn't mean you're off the hook this season. "The flu vaccine is different from year to year," says Dr. Teng, so that means it's a different vaccine every year. "Plus, the vaccine only lasts for a few months at a time.”
It takes two weeks after vaccination for antibodies to develop against the flu viruses, so people should not put off getting the shot.
Generally, anyone with a compromised immune system should protect themselves every flu season with a flu shot. This generally includes:

• Pregnant women
• The elderly
• Anyone with a chronic condition like diabetes or asthma
• Anyone taking medications that suppress the immune system
• Anyone with HIV or AIDS

People who live or work around chronically ill people (such as in a nursing facility or hospital) should also get vaccinated to protect themselves. All children over the age of 6 months old, as well as teenagers, should get the flu vaccine each year.
There are four different types of flu vaccine available:

• The regular shot approved for those 6 months and older.
• A high-dose shot approved for those 65 years and older.
• An intradermal shot approved for those 18 to 64 years old, a vaccine where the needle only goes into the skin, not the muscle.
• A nasal-spray vaccine, made with a live, weakened virus given as a nasal spray, is approved for those 2 to 49 years old who are in good health. The CDC notes this vaccine does not cause the flu.

If I Get the Shot, Can I Get the Flu?

Even if you get your recommended flu vaccine, you may still get sick.
It's important to understand that the flu shot has its limits as to how well it can protect you, and that it may not be able to completely shield you from getting a strain of the flu. But that doesn't mean that it's not still important to your health for you to get a flu shot — especially if you're at a high risk for developing severe complications of the flu.
If you get a flu shot and still end up getting sick with the flu, there's a benefit. "It [the flu vaccine] makes it less severe," says Teng. So you'll have less debilitating symptoms and be back on your feet faster than you would if you hadn't gotten your flu shot.
Of course, frequent hand washing and avoiding contact with sick people are also important in warding off the flu. But this year's combined flu shot should make protecting yourself just a little less painful, with only one needlestick to go through.

Ten Things You Need to Know Today

Your daily look at late-breaking news, upcoming events and the stories that will be talked about today:
1. STOCKS HIT RECORD AFTER FED KEEPS STIMULUS IN PLACE
Wall Street cheers the Federal Reserve's decision to maintain its $85 billion-a-month bond-buying program.
2. NAVY YARD GUNMAN GAVE NO CLEAR WARNING
During two hospital visits in the weeks before the rampage, Aaron Alexis complained of insomnia – but denied having any thoughts of harming himself or others, officials say.
3. FLASHPOINT IN ATTEMPT TO SCUTTLE OBAMACARE
A fight looms in Congress over conservatives' efforts to yank the funding from Obama's health care overhaul.
4. WHERE AN ISLAMIST STRONGHOLD IS UNDER SEIGE
Egyptian security forces encircle a town near Cairo that was the scene last month of an attack by suspected Morsi supporters that left 15 police officers dead.
5. ASSAD ARGUES HIS CASE
The Syrian dictator insists in a TV interview that terrorists, not his regime, were to blame for last month's deadly chemical weapons attack.
6. HOW HIGHER EDUCATION HAS BEEN TRANSFORMED IN AFGHANISTAN
Since the U.S.-led invasion in 2001, the number of college students in the country has soared 26-fold to almost 204,000 – as many as a fifth of them women.
7. MANUEL MUSCLES UP
The tropical storm that devastated Acapulco over the weekend strengthens into a hurricane and takes fresh aim at Mexico's northwestern coast.
8. WHY OBESE PEOPLE ARE LESS LIKELY TO SURVIVE CANCER
One reason may be that doctors often short them on chemotherapy by not basing the dose on size.
9. AND THE WINNER IS...
The AP's Lynn Elber predicts "House of Cards" will earn the Emmy on Sunday for best drama. Fellow AP critic Frazier Moore says it'll be "Breaking Bad."
10. EX-HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMP DIES AT 70
Ken Norton was best known for defeating Muhammad Ali, breaking Ali's jaw and sending him to the hospital in a bout in 1973.

Ken Norton Dead: Former Muhammad Ali Rival, Heavyweight Boxing Champion Dies At 70

 

LAS VEGAS — He was the second man to beat Muhammad Ali, breaking Ali's jaw and sending him to the hospital in their 1973 heavyweight fight.
Ken Norton frustrated Ali three times in all, including their final bout at Yankee Stadium where he was sure he had beaten him once again.
Norton, who died Wednesday at the age of 70, lost that fight for the heavyweight title. But he was forever linked to Ali for the 39 rounds they fought over three fights, with very little separating one man from the other in the ring.
"Kenny was a good, good fighter. He beat a lot of guys," said Ed Schuyler Jr., who covered many of Norton's fights for The Associated Press. "He gave Ali fits because Ali let him fight coming forward instead of making him back up."
Norton is the only heavyweight champion never to win the title in the ring, and boxing fans still talk about the bruising battle he waged with Larry Holmes for the title in 1978. But it was his first fight with Ali that made the former Marine a big name and the two fights that followed that were his real legacy.
Few gave Norton, who possessed a muscular, sculpted body, much of a chance against Ali in their first meeting, held at the Sports Arena in San Diego, where Norton lived. But his awkward style and close-in pressing tactics confused Ali, who fought in pain after his jaw was broken.
"Ali tore up his ankle while training and we were going to call the fight off but didn't," former Ali business manager Gene Kilroy said. "Ali said it's not going to be that tough."
It was, with Norton breaking Ali's jaw in the early rounds and having his way with the former champion for much of the night. The loss was even more shocking because Ali had only lost to Joe Frazier in their 1971 showdown and was campaigning for the title he would win again the next year against George Foreman in Zaire.
"Norton was unorthodox," Kilroy said. "Instead of jabbing from above like most fighters he would put his hand down and jab up at Ali."

Kilroy said after the fight Norton visited Ali at the hospital where he was getting his broken jaw wired. Ali, he said, told him he was a great fighter and he never wanted to fight him again.
Ken Norton Jr., a coach with the Seattle Seahawks, confirmed his father's death to The Associated Press before handing the phone to his wife, too distraught to talk.
Norton had been in poor health for the last several years after suffering a series of strokes, Kilroy said.
"He's been fighting the battle for two years," he said. "I'm sure he's in heaven now with all the great fighters. I'd like to hear that conversation."
Norton didn't have long to celebrate his big win over Ali. They fought six months later, and Ali won a split decision.
They met for a third time on Sept. 28, 1976, at Yankee Stadium and Ali narrowly won to keep his heavyweight title.
Norton would come back the next year to win a heavyweight title eliminator and was declared champion by the World Boxing Council when Leon Spinks decided to fight Ali in a rematch instead of facing his mandatory challenger. But on June 9, 1978, he lost a brutal 15-round fight to Holmes in what many regard as one of boxing's epic heavyweight bouts and would never be champion again.
Norton finished with a record of 42-7-1 and 33 knockouts. He would later embark on an acting career, appearing in several movies, and was a commentator at fights.
Former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson, who visited Norton at the veteran's hospital in the Las Vegas suburb of Henderson, tweeted: "Ken Norton was always nice to me even when I was just an amateur fighter. He always treated me like I was somebody. Remarkable man."
Ken Norton Jr. was a linebacker for 13 years in the NFL, playing for Dallas and San Francisco, and coaches the position for the Seahawks. He and his father were estranged for a time in the 1990s before finally reconciling.
Norton always gave his father credit for his career, saying he learned how to train hard by watching him go for early morning runs when he was a child.
"It's been noted that my father and I are on speaking terms and everything's back together now," Norton Jr. said in 1995. "It's part of what I do. No matter what I do, I can't get away from boxing."
Norton, born Aug. 9, 1943, in Jacksonville, Ill., started boxing when he was in the Marines, and began his pro career after his release from duty in 1967. He lost only once in his early fights but had fought few fighters of any note when he was selected to meet Ali.
At the time, Ali was campaigning to try to win back the heavyweight crown he lost to Joe Frazier in 1973.
After that bruising first bout, they faced off two more times, including the final fight at Yankee Stadium on a night when police were on strike and many in the crowd feared for their safety. The fight went 15 rounds and Ali won a decision.
Kilroy said Ali and Norton never had any animosity toward each other and became good friends over the years. Still, Norton always thought he had won all three fights.
Norton would come back in 1977 to win an eliminator against Jimmy Young and was declared champion by the WBC when Spinks was stripped of the title.
His fight against Holmes in 1978 at Caesars Palace was his last big hurrah, with the two heavyweights going back and forth, trading huge blows inside a steamy pavilion in the hotel's back lot. The fight was still up for grabs in the 15th round and both fighters reached inside themselves to deliver one of the more memorable final rounds in heavyweight history.
When the decision was announced, two ringside judges favored Holmes by one point while the third favored Norton by a point.
Norton was badly injured in a near fatal car accident in 1986. He recovered but never regained his full physical mobility.
"The doctors said I would never walk or talk," Norton said at an autograph session in 2011 in Las Vegas, lifting his trademark fedora to show long surgical scars on his bald head.
Kilroy said Norton was visited at the hospital by former fighters, including Tyson, Earnie Shavers and Thomas Hearns.
Norton fought only five more times after losing his title to Holmes. His final fight came Nov. 5, 1981, when he was knocked out in the first round by Gerry Cooney at Madison Square Garden.
Information on services and other survivors was not immediately released by the family.

Winning Powerball Numbers For September 18 Drawing: 7, 10, 22, 32, 35 And 19

The winning Powerball numbers for September 18 are 7, 10, 22, 32, 35 and the Powerball number is 19.
According to the Powerball website, there was one winning ticket sold in South Carolina for the $399,400,000 grand prize.
Wednesday's jackpot was the fourth-largest prize in the lottery's history and the fifth-largest of any U.S. lottery, the Multi-State Lottery Association said.
Powerball is played in 43 states, Washington and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
The odds of winning the Powerball lottery jackpot are 1 in 175,223,510.