swine flu vacctination

It's not like it's hard to administer to patients. They offer intranasal vaccines which takes 2 seconds and no needles, assuming you're pretty much in perfect condition prior to vaccination.

Oh yes, and like he said, you can't be allergic to eggs.

Er, kind of. Not-so-popular conjugate vaccines use bacteria to protect against bacterial spread/invasions. I don't know any except Meningitis vaccines, though. The statement that vaccines don't protect against bacteria is completely wrong, though. They very much so protect you from bacteria, because a lot of "infections" for a lack of better words are simply collective bacterium infestations.

Ahh my apologies; you're right! I got carried away trying to hammer home the "THERE'S A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN BACTERIA AND VIRUSES" point that most people in the world don't understand, and of course bugs (no pun intended) the heck out of biologists.

Panicking about H1N1 isn't nesesary, but neither is ignoring it.

froz, chances are, if you had contracted H1N1 and it didn't do much to you is because your inmune system "Killed" it right? if so, how could it mutate?

I forgot that lesson of the prokaryote realm so don't kill me >_>

Your immune system responds to foreign invaders at different speeds. To particles it has already seen before, such as the inactivated H1N1 viruses found in the vaccine, it can respond fast enough to destroy these activated particles before they can do anything to the body. However, to completely new and foreign bodies, your immune system can react in a nearly infinite number of ways. In some cases it may be lucky enough to instantly recognize the invader based on the structure of your T-cells and how they interact with the invading surface, and in other cases it can't react in time to stop something it has never seen before begin attacking (such as HIV).

In the case of H1N1, if you contracted it and got over it, your body was able to fight it off and from then on will recognize the virus fast enough to stop future infections. That's why many people have said they are "immune" to it after they've gotten it; after every viral infection your body does build up its immunity against the virus for the future.

However, viruses operate like living organisms in that they also multiply and evolve, and like bacteria are capable of evolving and mutating into different forms every so often, mostly in response to their environment. Influenza viruses are some of the fastest mutating viruses on the planet, which is why you need to get a new seasonal flu vaccine every fall; by the time the next year rolls around, the annual virus has changed just enough to render your old vaccine useless.

So you ask how it can mutate? When viruses find hosts in which to multiply, they can mutate with every increasing generation. Their hosts are those who are not able to fight off the infection fast enough (such as those who do not get vaccinated), and thus someone who is not protected against H1N1 could contract the particle, develop symptoms, become a breeding ground for the virus where it then mutates into a new form, and then spread the virus to those around them. This is why I said it's imperative for people to get the vaccine in order to protect their communities: by choosing to risk becoming a vessel for viruses to mutate in, you're not only risking your life at the hands of something that could become far worse inside you, but also risk spreading that far worse disease to your family, friends, and peers.

That's basic vaccine/immune system/virus mutation theory in a nutshell. Sorry for being long-winded again; I don't get paid to write these things, I'm not some government employee trying to "spread liberal propaganda," and heck, it's not like I even get credit or recognition for doing this. I love writing about topics like these and am dual majoring in two fields to be able to do just this when I've graduated. My only hope is that people understand the facts, are educated enough to be aware of the myths, and realize the importance of proper infectious disease defense.