• This could be a bad year for the flu

    From RonO@rokimoto557@gmail.com to talk-origins on Sat Dec 20 20:57:07 2025
    From Newsgroup: talk.origins

    https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/flu-season-states-severity-new-variant-k-vaccines-kids-rcna250056

    The article claims that there have already been 49,000 hopitializations
    and 1,900 influenza deaths this season. Depending on what they are
    counting this could be a really tragic year. They count the influenza mortality two different ways. Most of the time they are referring to
    the 20,000 to 50,000 annual deaths that we observe associated with
    influenza, but this number includes a lot of people that got the flu,
    but died of pneumonia. For the 2023-2024 flu season we had 45,000
    deaths for flu and pneumonia, but only 4,000 cases claimed for Influenza
    as a separate category even though most of the 45,000 deaths were
    triggered by influenza. This is why it is important to know what classification that 1,900 number is. If it is for influenza mortality
    that would mean that around half the mortality of the entire 23-24 flu
    season has already occurred. If it is counting the infected that died
    of pneumonia then it isn't so bad, but the K strain seems to be more
    virulent and is sending more people to the hospital than past strains.

    Data collection started September 28, 2025, and we are just entering the
    peak season from Dec to Feb. If they are just counting the influenza mortality and not influenza and pneumonia this looks like it is going to
    be a very bad year.

    RFK canceling the mRNA influenza vaccine looks like a very big mistake.
    The mRNA trial had just been completed and the mRNA vaccine was found to
    be more effective than the killed virus vaccine, likely because they had chosen wrong for the vaccine strains and the vaccine strains were not a
    good match for the major virus infecting people. The mRNA vaccine could
    have been made for the K strain, and likely would have been more
    effective than the current vaccine because WHO and the CDC chose wrong
    again, and a virus similar enough to the K strain was not included in
    this season's vaccine.

    Ron Okimoto

    --- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From JTEM@jtem01@gmail.com to talk-origins on Sun Dec 21 16:26:33 2025
    From Newsgroup: talk.origins

    On 12/20/25 9:57 PM, RonO wrote:
    https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/flu-season-states-severity- new-variant-k-vaccines-kids-rcna250056

    The article claims that there have already been 49,000 hopitializations
    and 1,900 influenza deaths this season.
    <Quote>
    Every year, influenza viruses cause an estimated 9.2rCo35.6 million influenza-related infections, 139 000rCo708 000 hospitalizations,
    and 12 000rCo56 000 deaths in the United States [1].
    </Quote>

    https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11175696/

    Why do you keep spreading panic?

    The virus you describe can't exist, at least not natural. So it's
    either a hoax or another Plandemic. Either way, you're serving the
    1% and not any of us.
    --
    https://jtem.tumblr.com/

    --- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From RonO@rokimoto557@gmail.com to talk-origins on Sun Dec 21 17:11:24 2025
    From Newsgroup: talk.origins

    On 12/21/2025 3:26 PM, JTEM wrote:
    On 12/20/25 9:57 PM, RonO wrote:
    https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/flu-season-states-severity-
    new-variant-k-vaccines-kids-rcna250056

    The article claims that there have already been 49,000
    hopitializations and 1,900 influenza deaths this season.
    <Quote>
    Every year, influenza viruses cause an estimated 9.2rCo35.6 million influenza-related infections, 139 000rCo708 000 hospitalizations,
    and 12 000rCo56 000 deaths in the United States [1].
    </Quote>

    https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11175696/

    Why do you keep spreading panic?

    The virus you describe can't exist, at least not natural. So it's
    either a hoax or another Plandemic. Either way, you're serving the
    1% and not any of us.

    You need to deal with reality. Do you even know what you are claiming?
    I have already put up the articles claiming that Japan and Europe are
    seeing the same thing with the K Strain, and it is a virus that is not
    closely related to any of the vaccine strains used for this years
    vaccine. They are observing elevated hospitalizations, and the NBC news article was claiming 1900 deaths this early in the flu season. The
    2025-2026 season started data collection Sept 28th.

    https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/influenza-general/us-flu-activity-takes-big-jump-2-deaths-kids-confirmed

    This is another news piece about the same data. Vaccination isn't going
    to do much against the K strain. All the world can hope for is that the
    K strain isn't highly pathogenic and mortality will be limited. The
    largest effect of vaccination is reducing the number of
    hospitalizations, but we can't rely on the existing vaccine to do that.
    That isn't spreading panic that is just telling things like they are.
    The only thing that we can do about the current situation is produce an
    mRNA vaccine against the K strain, but that likely isn't going to happen because my guess is that it would only save about as many people as
    normally die in car accidents every year, and that isn't enough
    incentive to act.

    Ron Okimoto

    --- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From JTEM@jtem01@gmail.com to talk-origins on Sun Dec 21 23:48:21 2025
    From Newsgroup: talk.origins


    Emotionally unstable, intellectually challenged, RonO wrote:

    On 12/21/2025 3:26 PM, JTEM wrote:

    On 12/20/25 9:57 PM, RonO wrote:
    The article claims that there have already been 49,000
    hopitializations and 1,900 influenza deaths this season.
    >> <Quote>
    Every year, influenza viruses cause an estimated 9.2rCo35.6 million
    influenza-related infections, 139 000rCo708 000 hospitalizations,
    and 12 000rCo56 000 deaths in the United States [1].
    </Quote>

    https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11175696/

    Why do you keep spreading panic?

    The virus you describe can't exist, at least not natural. So it's
    either a hoax or another Plandemic. Either way, you're serving the
    1% and not any of us.

    You need to deal with reality.

    Like how if we divide the 56k worst cases we might expect by your
    1,900 figure that works out to either 29 months in a single year
    or nothing approaching a bad flu year.
    --
    https://jtem.tumblr.com/

    --- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Kerr-Mudd, John@admin@127.0.0.1 to talk-origins on Mon Dec 22 10:55:13 2025
    From Newsgroup: talk.origins

    On Sun, 21 Dec 2025 17:11:24 -0600
    RonO <rokimoto557@gmail.com> wrote:

    On 12/21/2025 3:26 PM, JTEM wrote:
    On 12/20/25 9:57 PM, RonO wrote:
    https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/flu-season-states-severity-
    new-variant-k-vaccines-kids-rcna250056

    The article claims that there have already been 49,000
    hopitializations and 1,900 influenza deaths this season.
    <Quote>
    Every year, influenza viruses cause an estimated 9.2rCo35.6 million influenza-related infections, 139 000rCo708 000 hospitalizations,
    and 12 000rCo56 000 deaths in the United States [1].
    </Quote>

    https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11175696/

    Why do you keep spreading panic?

    The virus you describe can't exist, at least not natural. So it's
    either a hoax or another Plandemic. Either way, you're serving the
    1% and not any of us.

    You need to deal with reality. Do you even know what you are claiming?
    I have already put up the articles claiming that Japan and Europe are
    seeing the same thing with the K Strain, and it is a virus that is not closely related to any of the vaccine strains used for this years
    vaccine. They are observing elevated hospitalizations, and the NBC news article was claiming 1900 deaths this early in the flu season. The 2025-2026 season started data collection Sept 28th.

    https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/influenza-general/us-flu-activity-takes-big-jump-2-deaths-kids-confirmed

    This is another news piece about the same data. Vaccination isn't going
    to do much against the K strain. All the world can hope for is that the
    K strain isn't highly pathogenic and mortality will be limited. The
    largest effect of vaccination is reducing the number of
    hospitalizations, but we can't rely on the existing vaccine to do that.
    That isn't spreading panic that is just telling things like they are.
    The only thing that we can do about the current situation is produce an
    mRNA vaccine against the K strain, but that likely isn't going to happen because my guess is that it would only save about as many people as
    normally die in car accidents every year, and that isn't enough
    incentive to act.


    Anti-vaxxers are in charge, WCPGW?
    --
    Bah, and indeed, Humbug

    --- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From RonO@rokimoto557@gmail.com to talk-origins on Mon Dec 22 10:49:24 2025
    From Newsgroup: talk.origins

    On 12/21/2025 10:48 PM, JTEM wrote:

    Emotionally unstable, intellectually challenged, RonO wrote:

    On 12/21/2025 3:26 PM, JTEM wrote:

    On 12/20/25 9:57 PM, RonO wrote:
    The article claims that there have already been 49,000
    hopitializations and 1,900 influenza deaths this season.
    <Quote>
    Every year, influenza viruses cause an estimated 9.2rCo35.6 million
    influenza-related infections, 139 000rCo708 000 hospitalizations,
    and 12 000rCo56 000 deaths in the United States [1].
    </Quote>

    https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11175696/

    Why do you keep spreading panic?

    The virus you describe can't exist, at least not natural. So it's
    either a hoax or another Plandemic. Either way, you're serving the
    1% and not any of us.

    You need to deal with reality.

    Like how if we divide the 56k worst cases we might expect by your
    1,900 figure that works out to either 29 months in a single year
    or nothing approaching a bad flu year.

    GIGO. We are only a couple weeks into what is called the peak season
    where most the infections occur. Peak season runs to Feb or March. Oct
    and Nov are considered early season when infections start to rise from
    their lowest levels of the year.

    Ron Okimoto

    --- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From RonO@rokimoto557@gmail.com to talk-origins on Tue Jan 6 11:52:44 2026
    From Newsgroup: talk.origins

    On 12/20/2025 8:57 PM, RonO wrote:
    https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/flu-season-states-severity- new-variant-k-vaccines-kids-rcna250056

    The article claims that there have already been 49,000 hopitializations
    and 1,900 influenza deaths this season.-a Depending on what they are counting this could be a really tragic year.-a They count the influenza mortality two different ways.-a Most of the time they are referring to
    the 20,000 to 50,000 annual deaths that we observe associated with influenza, but this number includes a lot of people that got the flu,
    but died of pneumonia.-a For the 2023-2024 flu season we had 45,000
    deaths for flu and pneumonia, but only 4,000 cases claimed for Influenza
    as a separate category even though most of the 45,000 deaths were
    triggered by influenza.-a This is why it is important to know what classification that 1,900 number is.-a If it is for influenza mortality
    that would mean that around half the mortality of the entire 23-24 flu season has already occurred.-a If it is counting the infected that died
    of pneumonia then it isn't so bad, but the K strain seems to be more virulent and is sending more people to the hospital than past strains.

    Data collection started September 28, 2025, and we are just entering the peak season from Dec to Feb.-a If they are just counting the influenza mortality and not influenza and pneumonia this looks like it is going to
    be a very bad year.

    RFK canceling the mRNA influenza vaccine looks like a very big mistake.
    The mRNA trial had just been completed and the mRNA vaccine was found to
    be more effective than the killed virus vaccine, likely because they had chosen wrong for the vaccine strains and the vaccine strains were not a
    good match for the major virus infecting people.-a The mRNA vaccine could have been made for the K strain, and likely would have been more
    effective than the current vaccine because WHO and the CDC chose wrong again, and a virus similar enough to the K strain was not included in
    this season's vaccine.

    Ron Okimoto


    https://www.cbsnews.com/news/flu-season-cases-rise-cdc-data-doctors-visits/

    https://www.cdc.gov/fluview/surveillance/2025-week-52.html

    This is the highest hospitalization rate this early in the flu season
    since 1997. The CDC is now claiming 5,000 deaths from flu. This is up
    over 3,000 from 2 weeks ago (1900). What CDC mortality measure is
    important, but the CDC isn't clear about what they are claiming. The
    CDC has several ways to track flu mortality. Where flu is the cause of
    death is the one category. This category had only 4,000 deaths in the
    entire 2023-2024 flu seasons. If this is what the the CDC is talking
    about this is going to be a very bad year. The CDC also has a category
    where flu was a major influence in the death and that was around 23,000.
    They also have a category of influenza and Pneumonia (45,000 deaths in 2023-2024) because most of the influenza mortality is due to pneumonia triggered by the influenza infection. So if we already have 5,000
    deaths caused by the flu this is going to be a very bad year if the CDC
    is using the first category classification.

    Because the chose the wrong vaccine strains again this year, vaccination
    is not expected to do much against the K strain that is infecting most
    people around the world at this time.

    Ron Okimoto

    --- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From RonO@rokimoto557@gmail.com to talk-origins on Fri Jan 9 19:45:55 2026
    From Newsgroup: talk.origins

    On 1/6/2026 11:52 AM, RonO wrote:
    On 12/20/2025 8:57 PM, RonO wrote:
    https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/flu-season-states-severity-
    new-variant-k-vaccines-kids-rcna250056

    The article claims that there have already been 49,000
    hopitializations and 1,900 influenza deaths this season.-a Depending on
    what they are counting this could be a really tragic year.-a They count
    the influenza mortality two different ways.-a Most of the time they are
    referring to the 20,000 to 50,000 annual deaths that we observe
    associated with influenza, but this number includes a lot of people
    that got the flu, but died of pneumonia.-a For the 2023-2024 flu season
    we had 45,000 deaths for flu and pneumonia, but only 4,000 cases
    claimed for Influenza as a separate category even though most of the
    45,000 deaths were triggered by influenza.-a This is why it is
    important to know what classification that 1,900 number is.-a If it is
    for influenza mortality that would mean that around half the mortality
    of the entire 23-24 flu season has already occurred.-a If it is
    counting the infected that died of pneumonia then it isn't so bad, but
    the K strain seems to be more virulent and is sending more people to
    the hospital than past strains.

    Data collection started September 28, 2025, and we are just entering
    the peak season from Dec to Feb.-a If they are just counting the
    influenza mortality and not influenza and pneumonia this looks like it
    is going to be a very bad year.

    RFK canceling the mRNA influenza vaccine looks like a very big
    mistake. The mRNA trial had just been completed and the mRNA vaccine
    was found to be more effective than the killed virus vaccine, likely
    because they had chosen wrong for the vaccine strains and the vaccine
    strains were not a good match for the major virus infecting people.
    The mRNA vaccine could have been made for the K strain, and likely
    would have been more effective than the current vaccine because WHO
    and the CDC chose wrong again, and a virus similar enough to the K
    strain was not included in this season's vaccine.

    Ron Okimoto


    https://www.cbsnews.com/news/flu-season-cases-rise-cdc-data-doctors-visits/

    https://www.cdc.gov/fluview/surveillance/2025-week-52.html

    This is the highest hospitalization rate this early in the flu season
    since 1997.-a The CDC is now claiming 5,000 deaths from flu.-a This is up over 3,000 from 2 weeks ago (1900).-a What CDC mortality measure is important, but the CDC isn't clear about what they are claiming.-a The
    CDC has several ways to track flu mortality.-a Where flu is the cause of death is the one category.-a This category had only 4,000 deaths in the entire 2023-2024 flu seasons.-a If this is what the the CDC is talking
    about this is going to be a very bad year.-a The CDC also has a category where flu was a major influence in the death and that was around 23,000.
    -aThey also have a category of influenza and Pneumonia (45,000 deaths in 2023-2024) because most of the influenza mortality is due to pneumonia triggered by the influenza infection.-a So if we already have 5,000
    deaths caused by the flu this is going to be a very bad year if the CDC
    is using the first category classification.

    Because the chose the wrong vaccine strains again this year, vaccination
    is not expected to do much against the K strain that is infecting most people around the world at this time.

    Ron Okimoto

    https://abcnews.go.com/Health/flu-activity-continues-climb-us-15-million-cases/story?id=129052785

    The CDC is increasing the mortality numbers to 7,400 deaths due to
    influenza from 5,000 in just a few days. The news article is hyping it
    as a record high. It is currently a 10 year high for children visiting doctor's offices for the flu. Hospitalizations are expected to be
    higher because they missed the K strain in the current vaccine, and vaccination's major effect is reducing hospitalizations.

    Ron Okimoto

    --- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Martin Harran@martinharran@gmail.com to talk-origins on Sat Jan 10 10:13:29 2026
    From Newsgroup: talk.origins

    On Fri, 9 Jan 2026 19:45:55 -0600, RonO <rokimoto557@gmail.com> wrote:

    On 1/6/2026 11:52 AM, RonO wrote:
    On 12/20/2025 8:57 PM, RonO wrote:
    https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/flu-season-states-severity-
    new-variant-k-vaccines-kids-rcna250056

    The article claims that there have already been 49,000
    hopitializations and 1,900 influenza deaths this season.-a Depending on >>> what they are counting this could be a really tragic year.-a They count >>> the influenza mortality two different ways.-a Most of the time they are >>> referring to the 20,000 to 50,000 annual deaths that we observe
    associated with influenza, but this number includes a lot of people
    that got the flu, but died of pneumonia.-a For the 2023-2024 flu season >>> we had 45,000 deaths for flu and pneumonia, but only 4,000 cases
    claimed for Influenza as a separate category even though most of the
    45,000 deaths were triggered by influenza.-a This is why it is
    important to know what classification that 1,900 number is.-a If it is
    for influenza mortality that would mean that around half the mortality
    of the entire 23-24 flu season has already occurred.-a If it is
    counting the infected that died of pneumonia then it isn't so bad, but
    the K strain seems to be more virulent and is sending more people to
    the hospital than past strains.

    Data collection started September 28, 2025, and we are just entering
    the peak season from Dec to Feb.-a If they are just counting the
    influenza mortality and not influenza and pneumonia this looks like it
    is going to be a very bad year.

    RFK canceling the mRNA influenza vaccine looks like a very big
    mistake. The mRNA trial had just been completed and the mRNA vaccine
    was found to be more effective than the killed virus vaccine, likely
    because they had chosen wrong for the vaccine strains and the vaccine
    strains were not a good match for the major virus infecting people.
    The mRNA vaccine could have been made for the K strain, and likely
    would have been more effective than the current vaccine because WHO
    and the CDC chose wrong again, and a virus similar enough to the K
    strain was not included in this season's vaccine.

    Ron Okimoto


    https://www.cbsnews.com/news/flu-season-cases-rise-cdc-data-doctors-visits/ >>
    https://www.cdc.gov/fluview/surveillance/2025-week-52.html

    This is the highest hospitalization rate this early in the flu season
    since 1997.-a The CDC is now claiming 5,000 deaths from flu.-a This is up >> over 3,000 from 2 weeks ago (1900).-a What CDC mortality measure is
    important, but the CDC isn't clear about what they are claiming.-a The
    CDC has several ways to track flu mortality.-a Where flu is the cause of
    death is the one category.-a This category had only 4,000 deaths in the
    entire 2023-2024 flu seasons.-a If this is what the the CDC is talking
    about this is going to be a very bad year.-a The CDC also has a category
    where flu was a major influence in the death and that was around 23,000.
    -aThey also have a category of influenza and Pneumonia (45,000 deaths in >> 2023-2024) because most of the influenza mortality is due to pneumonia
    triggered by the influenza infection.-a So if we already have 5,000
    deaths caused by the flu this is going to be a very bad year if the CDC
    is using the first category classification.

    Because the chose the wrong vaccine strains again this year, vaccination
    is not expected to do much against the K strain that is infecting most
    people around the world at this time.

    Ron Okimoto
    https://abcnews.go.com/Health/flu-activity-continues-climb-us-15-million-cases/story?id=129052785

    The CDC is increasing the mortality numbers to 7,400 deaths due to
    influenza from 5,000 in just a few days. The news article is hyping it
    as a record high. It is currently a 10 year high for children visiting >doctor's offices for the flu. Hospitalizations are expected to be
    higher because they missed the K strain in the current vaccine, and >vaccination's major effect is reducing hospitalizations.


    Irish hospitals are close to overwhelmed with flu cases. https://www.imt.ie/news/number-of-hospitalised-flu-patients-the-equivalent-of-two-large-hospitals-08-12-2025/

    I was listening to a discussion with consultants on radio last week
    and they said the problem is primarily with children; it's not just
    them getting flu, it's them getting *very sick* with it and quite
    often kept in hospital for a period and discharged, only to come back
    a week later. As one consultant put it, "We used to fix them and that
    was that; now we fix them and they come back and back."

    The consultants both were convinced that poor uptake on the flu
    vaccine is a major factor; they are having relatively few problems
    with over 65s where the uptake has been over 75%; the uptake in
    children has been less than 25%, even though it is free in the form of
    a nasal spray for children 2-17, the group who are presenting most.
    The programme included interviews with people in A&E in Ireland's
    largest children's hospital; one woman who was back for a second time
    with her very sick young daughter, said "We chose not to get the
    vaccine." I was waiting for the interviewer to ask her how she now
    felt about that choice, but he didn't ask her.

    The consultants did admit that this year's vaccine isn't the right
    strain but they said it still does help - like the Covid vaccine, it
    won't stop people getting sick but it will substantially reduce the
    risk of getting *very* sick.

    --- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From RonO@rokimoto557@gmail.com to talk-origins on Sat Jan 10 08:07:08 2026
    From Newsgroup: talk.origins

    On 1/10/2026 4:13 AM, Martin Harran wrote:
    On Fri, 9 Jan 2026 19:45:55 -0600, RonO <rokimoto557@gmail.com> wrote:

    On 1/6/2026 11:52 AM, RonO wrote:
    On 12/20/2025 8:57 PM, RonO wrote:
    https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/flu-season-states-severity- >>>> new-variant-k-vaccines-kids-rcna250056

    The article claims that there have already been 49,000
    hopitializations and 1,900 influenza deaths this season.-a Depending on >>>> what they are counting this could be a really tragic year.-a They count >>>> the influenza mortality two different ways.-a Most of the time they are >>>> referring to the 20,000 to 50,000 annual deaths that we observe
    associated with influenza, but this number includes a lot of people
    that got the flu, but died of pneumonia.-a For the 2023-2024 flu season >>>> we had 45,000 deaths for flu and pneumonia, but only 4,000 cases
    claimed for Influenza as a separate category even though most of the
    45,000 deaths were triggered by influenza.-a This is why it is
    important to know what classification that 1,900 number is.-a If it is >>>> for influenza mortality that would mean that around half the mortality >>>> of the entire 23-24 flu season has already occurred.-a If it is
    counting the infected that died of pneumonia then it isn't so bad, but >>>> the K strain seems to be more virulent and is sending more people to
    the hospital than past strains.

    Data collection started September 28, 2025, and we are just entering
    the peak season from Dec to Feb.-a If they are just counting the
    influenza mortality and not influenza and pneumonia this looks like it >>>> is going to be a very bad year.

    RFK canceling the mRNA influenza vaccine looks like a very big
    mistake. The mRNA trial had just been completed and the mRNA vaccine
    was found to be more effective than the killed virus vaccine, likely
    because they had chosen wrong for the vaccine strains and the vaccine
    strains were not a good match for the major virus infecting people.
    The mRNA vaccine could have been made for the K strain, and likely
    would have been more effective than the current vaccine because WHO
    and the CDC chose wrong again, and a virus similar enough to the K
    strain was not included in this season's vaccine.

    Ron Okimoto


    https://www.cbsnews.com/news/flu-season-cases-rise-cdc-data-doctors-visits/ >>>
    https://www.cdc.gov/fluview/surveillance/2025-week-52.html

    This is the highest hospitalization rate this early in the flu season
    since 1997.-a The CDC is now claiming 5,000 deaths from flu.-a This is up >>> over 3,000 from 2 weeks ago (1900).-a What CDC mortality measure is
    important, but the CDC isn't clear about what they are claiming.-a The
    CDC has several ways to track flu mortality.-a Where flu is the cause of >>> death is the one category.-a This category had only 4,000 deaths in the
    entire 2023-2024 flu seasons.-a If this is what the the CDC is talking
    about this is going to be a very bad year.-a The CDC also has a category >>> where flu was a major influence in the death and that was around 23,000. >>> -aThey also have a category of influenza and Pneumonia (45,000 deaths in >>> 2023-2024) because most of the influenza mortality is due to pneumonia
    triggered by the influenza infection.-a So if we already have 5,000
    deaths caused by the flu this is going to be a very bad year if the CDC
    is using the first category classification.

    Because the chose the wrong vaccine strains again this year, vaccination >>> is not expected to do much against the K strain that is infecting most
    people around the world at this time.

    Ron Okimoto

    https://abcnews.go.com/Health/flu-activity-continues-climb-us-15-million-cases/story?id=129052785

    The CDC is increasing the mortality numbers to 7,400 deaths due to
    influenza from 5,000 in just a few days. The news article is hyping it
    as a record high. It is currently a 10 year high for children visiting
    doctor's offices for the flu. Hospitalizations are expected to be
    higher because they missed the K strain in the current vaccine, and
    vaccination's major effect is reducing hospitalizations.


    Irish hospitals are close to overwhelmed with flu cases. https://www.imt.ie/news/number-of-hospitalised-flu-patients-the-equivalent-of-two-large-hospitals-08-12-2025/

    I was listening to a discussion with consultants on radio last week
    and they said the problem is primarily with children; it's not just
    them getting flu, it's them getting *very sick* with it and quite
    often kept in hospital for a period and discharged, only to come back
    a week later. As one consultant put it, "We used to fix them and that
    was that; now we fix them and they come back and back."

    The CDC is noting higher child mortality this flu season in the US, but
    the numbers are so low that I don't know if it is significantly higher
    for this time of the year. There are more child hospitalizations.


    The consultants both were convinced that poor uptake on the flu
    vaccine is a major factor; they are having relatively few problems
    with over 65s where the uptake has been over 75%; the uptake in
    children has been less than 25%, even though it is free in the form of
    a nasal spray for children 2-17, the group who are presenting most.
    The programme included interviews with people in A&E in Ireland's
    largest children's hospital; one woman who was back for a second time
    with her very sick young daughter, said "We chose not to get the
    vaccine." I was waiting for the interviewer to ask her how she now
    felt about that choice, but he didn't ask her.

    The K strain seems to be more virulent than the other flu strains that
    made it into the vaccine, and it looks like it is going to be worse than average for this year in all categories. The K strain wasn't included
    in the vaccine. Both WHO and the CDC missed the K strain when selecting
    the vaccine strains. The K strain just seems to have exploded all over
    the world after the vaccine strains were selected. They have chosen
    wrong 2 years in a row.

    The vaccine isn't expected to do much against the K strain, so it isn't
    just lower vaccination rates. They chose wrong last season, but were
    lucky that infections were split between a virus that was accounted for
    by the vaccine and one that wasn't. This season over 80% of the
    infections are what they are calling the K strain that the vaccine again missed. This is where mRNA vaccines could do a lot of good. The trials
    last year indicated that the mRNA vaccine did better than the standard
    flu vaccine, likely, because the mRNA vaccine can make the mRNA to what
    is infecting the population. They could make an mRNA vaccine to the K
    strain, but it would, probably, only save 10s of thousands instead of
    millions like the covid vaccine.

    Ron Okimoto

    The consultants did admit that this year's vaccine isn't the right
    strain but they said it still does help - like the Covid vaccine, it
    won't stop people getting sick but it will substantially reduce the
    risk of getting *very* sick.


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  • From RonO@rokimoto557@gmail.com to talk-origins on Tue Jan 13 12:49:48 2026
    From Newsgroup: talk.origins

    On 1/9/2026 7:45 PM, RonO wrote:
    On 1/6/2026 11:52 AM, RonO wrote:
    On 12/20/2025 8:57 PM, RonO wrote:
    https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/flu-season-states-
    severity- new-variant-k-vaccines-kids-rcna250056

    The article claims that there have already been 49,000
    hopitializations and 1,900 influenza deaths this season.-a Depending
    on what they are counting this could be a really tragic year.-a They
    count the influenza mortality two different ways.-a Most of the time
    they are referring to the 20,000 to 50,000 annual deaths that we
    observe associated with influenza, but this number includes a lot of
    people that got the flu, but died of pneumonia.-a For the 2023-2024
    flu season we had 45,000 deaths for flu and pneumonia, but only 4,000
    cases claimed for Influenza as a separate category even though most
    of the 45,000 deaths were triggered by influenza.-a This is why it is
    important to know what classification that 1,900 number is.-a If it is
    for influenza mortality that would mean that around half the
    mortality of the entire 23-24 flu season has already occurred.-a If it
    is counting the infected that died of pneumonia then it isn't so bad,
    but the K strain seems to be more virulent and is sending more people
    to the hospital than past strains.

    Data collection started September 28, 2025, and we are just entering
    the peak season from Dec to Feb.-a If they are just counting the
    influenza mortality and not influenza and pneumonia this looks like
    it is going to be a very bad year.

    RFK canceling the mRNA influenza vaccine looks like a very big
    mistake. The mRNA trial had just been completed and the mRNA vaccine
    was found to be more effective than the killed virus vaccine, likely
    because they had chosen wrong for the vaccine strains and the vaccine
    strains were not a good match for the major virus infecting people.
    The mRNA vaccine could have been made for the K strain, and likely
    would have been more effective than the current vaccine because WHO
    and the CDC chose wrong again, and a virus similar enough to the K
    strain was not included in this season's vaccine.

    Ron Okimoto


    https://www.cbsnews.com/news/flu-season-cases-rise-cdc-data-doctors-
    visits/

    https://www.cdc.gov/fluview/surveillance/2025-week-52.html

    This is the highest hospitalization rate this early in the flu season
    since 1997.-a The CDC is now claiming 5,000 deaths from flu.-a This is
    up over 3,000 from 2 weeks ago (1900).-a What CDC mortality measure is
    important, but the CDC isn't clear about what they are claiming.-a The
    CDC has several ways to track flu mortality.-a Where flu is the cause
    of death is the one category.-a This category had only 4,000 deaths in
    the entire 2023-2024 flu seasons.-a If this is what the the CDC is
    talking about this is going to be a very bad year.-a The CDC also has a
    category where flu was a major influence in the death and that was
    around 23,000. -a-aThey also have a category of influenza and Pneumonia
    (45,000 deaths in 2023-2024) because most of the influenza mortality
    is due to pneumonia triggered by the influenza infection.-a So if we
    already have 5,000 deaths caused by the flu this is going to be a very
    bad year if the CDC is using the first category classification.

    Because the chose the wrong vaccine strains again this year,
    vaccination is not expected to do much against the K strain that is
    infecting most people around the world at this time.

    Ron Okimoto

    https://abcnews.go.com/Health/flu-activity-continues-climb-us-15- million-cases/story?id=129052785

    The CDC is increasing the mortality numbers to 7,400 deaths due to
    influenza from 5,000 in just a few days.-a The news article is hyping it
    as a record high.-a It is currently a 10 year high for children visiting doctor's offices for the flu.-a Hospitalizations are expected to be
    higher because they missed the K strain in the current vaccine, and vaccination's major effect is reducing hospitalizations.

    Ron Okimoto

    https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/influenza-general/north-dakota-confirms-pediatric-flu-deaths-some-states-note-surge-flu-activity

    This article is putting a number on pediatric flu deaths at 17 so far
    this season. The CDC was indicating that this was a record number this
    early in the flu season, but the number is obviously pretty low.
    Overall number is 7,400 influenza deaths.

    Ron Okimoto

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