Your Flu Risk May Depend On When You Were Born

The year in which you were born may predict your risk of getting some types of the flu, a new study of people in Asia and the Middle East suggests. Researchers found that the people in this study who were born before 1968 were less susceptible to a certain strain of the flu than those born in 1968 or later, because this older group had been more exposed to a similar strain as children. In the study, the researchers looked at data from more than 1,400 people, predominantly in Asia and the Middle East, who had been infected at any point in their lives with two strains of the bird flu called H5N1 and H7N9. The new findings could help researchers predict which age groups are most at-risk for infection and severe illness in future flu pandemics, said the study, published today (Nov. 10) in the journal Science. A “pandemic” means that an illness is very widespread and infects a lot of people. [Flu Shot Facts & Side Effects (Updated for 2016-2017)] “In the past, we always assumed that when pandemic flu viruses emerge from animals, the human population is an immunological blank slate,” said lead study author Katelyn Gostic, a graduate student in ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). In other words, researchers assumed that everyone’s immune system would be defenseless against a new, widespread strain of the flu, she said.   But the new results suggest the opposite: that a lot of people might a...
Source: Healthy Living - The Huffington Post - Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news