A Drunk and Smallpox

[ablelba]

Hmmm.  This could be a message about vaccinations or an illness in general.  They say that this year's flu shot will not work against one of the viruses. Perhaps a virus we thought we irradiated will come back?

Influenza frequently mutates, so the annual flu vaccine is a bit of a crap shoot. Here's a link about this year's flu efficacy;

http://www.cnn.com/2017/11/08/health/flu...index.html

Hopefully, the dream does not indicate a return of smallpox, or any other virus such as ebola. However, the only virus that has ever been eradicated by human efforts was smallpox. Also I am not aware of any vaccine (other than the smallpox vaccine) that is given with the little two-pronged pitchfork, so to me it was a very scary dream...

If you plan to get a flu shot, try to get "Flublok" as it may be more effective.

It's probably also a good idea to take 4000 to 6000 units of Vitamin D3 each day from about Oct 1 to March 31. Besides being good for bones, Vit D3 is one of the things that allows all of us to maintain immunity against viral infections. During the sunny months of the year, we make our own Vit D when the sun hits the skin. It only takes about 20 min of Summer sun to make the full daily requirement. But when the days get short and cold, the light is less intense, and not as much hits our skin. Vit D levels go down, the antiviral immunity gets less effective, and starting in October, we are all more likely to get viral infections like colds and the flu.

I work in Pharmacy, and people are coughing in my face all Winter long. As a personal experiment, I did not get a flu shot from 2009 to 2014, and took 6000 units of Vit D each day, Oct to March. In those 5 years, I did not get a cold, or the flu. That's only data from one person, but its intriguing.
I also talked my doctor into ordering Vitamin D blood levels. During that time, the labs changed their lower reference limit for Vitamin D in blood from about 20 ng/ml to about 45 ng/ml. Taking 6000 units a day for a 200-lb male gave me a blood level of 50 to 60 ng/ml.
Young sharecroppers working in California in the Summer have a blood level of about 80 ng/ml, so that's probably a good upper limit. There is no known benefit from levels of 100ng/ml and above, and toxic effects begin at about 400 ng/ml. So if you take about 3000 units a day for each 100 lb of body weight, that will probably get you into the right zone....