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.

I have spent the last 20 minutes learning exciting things about Streptococcus pneumoniae. Apparently, about 40% of the population at any given time have strep wandering about in their systems. There are more than 30 identified strains, some of which are antibiotic resistant, and some of which are total monsters. The same strep that causes pneumonia (especially in adults) causes most children's ear infections.

There's a vaccine for S. pneumoniae now, but the CDC is worried that is it not in common enough use.

There was a whole other lot about autolysis and glucose in the vaccine and the fact that on an agar culture, tiny little streps go in pairs (diplococci) and look like the seeds in the middle of a plaintain. I happened on an online textbook about bacteriology, and kind of got sucked in.

Huh. I had strep almost non-stop as a baby. I wonder how many of my numerous cousins had inner ear infections at the time.

Is there something about the survivors and ancestors of the 1918 flu having immunity? Again, with the foggy memory. If so, I'm screwed if it reappears in a similar form, because I think half of my genetic component didn't get exposed.

Is there something about the survivors and ancestors of the 1918 flu having immunity?

Hell, no. Flu is constantly mutating. That's why you can get it every year.

huh. I got disconnected. I had honest-to-god strep (as opposed to the shorthand drs often use, which is antibio treatable, but not real strep) when I was 16, coming back from the USSR. OH MY GOD. That was hideous. Shred your throat, swell it up, pour acid down it, start vomiting, paste with huge white puspockets, that's strep. I probably lost 15 lbs while I had a 2 inch growth spurt. I half hope that the three days it went untreated innoculated me. That was BAD. And it made me crave pork chops coated in peanut butter upon my recovery.

Betsy, I meant immunity to that particular variant and its like.