Speaker: We are near the flu season. New Jersey is mandating flu vaccine for lot of the kids. New York is highly recommending 6 months go up to age 18. Should we get a flu shot?
Michael Marcus: I believe everybody should get a flu shot. Clearly the recommendations that have come from the Center of Disease Control and the vaccine of programs is that all patients between, and all children between the ages of 6 months and 18 years should get a flu vaccine. And some states are actually mandating that before they are allowed to enter school on a year over year basis.
They have mandated this because we have learned that influenza. First, it is a very serious virus. It's the most common vaccine preventable virus in our population, and it's responsible for more deaths every year than any other vaccine preventable virus.
Speaker: Of 36000, I think last year?
Michael Marcus: Yeah, that is 36000, and it is certainly a number that is a concern, and the bottom line is that this infection is transmitted through our population through our children. It's been shown over and over again, that if you prevent children from getting the vaccine by vaccinating them, you prevent parents and grandparents and the rest of the population from having an epidemic of this infection.
Speaker: The flu situation, there were some cases where people obviously some children died, and they told they had most of that resistant staph, and flu at the same time. Is that true?
Michael Marcus: It is true. What we have learned is that influenza affects both the structure of the lung, and the immune system, in a way that allows secondary infections to occur. And in the most recent flu season, infection with MRSA, a resistant type of staph aureus bacteria, actually occurred in addition to the influenza infection. And it's this combination infection that was most likely the cause of many of the deaths that we saw.
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