Yes. I have the Yay!Flu. If you saw the state of my finances and knew my true level of responsibility you would call it the Yay!Flu too. As would any hypothetical sprog.

I am pretty sure what killed Jim Henson was bacterial pneumonia, so, in disease terms, kind of a "piano dropped on your head" kind of illness. In the sense that it is unlikely to happen, but when it does, hello to the dirt nap.

Most flu-related deaths are from secondary bacterial pneumonia. It's dangerously easy to catch when your immune system has been compromised. (And in this modern era of antibiotics, completely treatable if you catch it early. Which Jim Henson did not.)

So, flu shot --> no flu --> no weakened immune system for bacterial pneumonia to infect --> no death.

When I got pneumonia last year, it was an aftereffect of the flu.

Hey, that was two Springs ago! Yea!

Didn't he die of strep(ish)? Does strep often follow the flu? Or is it more lethal when it does, you're saying?

Or is it more lethal when it does, you're saying?

This. Influenza is rarely lethal by itself -- it almost always kills by weakening your immune system and leaving you vulnerable to bacteria you would normally fight off.

(The 1918 strain also killed by provoking such a violent immune response that patients' white cells essentially devoured their own lungs, but that was special circumstances.)

(The 1918 strain also killed by provoking such a violent immune response that patients' white cells essentially devoured their own lungs, but that was special circumstances.)

I vaguely recall hearing something about the fact that those with robust immune systems, if they contracted, were pretty much doomed because of the response. But that may have been another flu. Or I was waking up and misunderstood.

Mom had pneumonia a couple years ago. Over TG. I took leave to take care of her. It wasn't fun. Delerious moms aren't.

I have had the flu once in the past 10 years, and while that edition of the flu knocked me silly and kept me coughing for weeks afterwards (my doctor suspects I have mild asthma, which slows down recovery a lot)

See, I have the same mild asthma, and this has happened to me a couple of times now. The last time it happened, it was a year and more before I stopped coughing. I'm getting my shot tomorrow.

This is what I had always heard about Henson's death: [link] [link]

About eighteen months earlier I'd had a sudden vicious strep infection (the only one I'd ever had) that nearly killed me. Not long after Henson died my Docor theorized that I'd been on the beginning of the bellcurve before it got big and trackable. It was only theory, of course, since any culture of the thing was long gone. Creeped me out nonetheless.

I vaguely recall hearing something about the fact that those with robust immune systems, if they contracted, were pretty much doomed because of the response.

Yup -- the one plague in history where being outside the 20-40-and-healthy demographic was a plus.

he 1918 strain also killed by provoking such a violent immune response that patients' white cells essentially devoured their own lungs, but that was special circumstances.

Ish. Sometimes I wish I'd paid more attention in Biology, and then I remember, no I don't.