26 year old Dies of Sepsis after getting Flu

A Wisconsin newlywed started to feel sick with the flu on a Monday. By Friday, she was dead.

Katie McQuestion, a 26-year-old radiology technician got a flu shot to comply with hospital policy and had no underlying medical conditions, but she caught the flu and developed a serious complication from it. The Kenosha, Wisconsin, resident was shopping with her mom when she said she wasn’t feeling well. She felt aches, chills, and headaches, and was vomiting and coughing, but didn’t have a high fever. The next day, she went home sick from work and started on antibiotics the day after. But on January 1, she was rushed to the emergency room with a low temperature, high blood pressure, and a high heart rate. She died on Jan. 2.

“the CDC sent an advisory to doctors noting that one component of this year’s flu vaccine was only partially protective against the predominant flu virus, known as influenza A (H3N2), which has mutated since the current flu shots were made. DC Director Dr. Thomas Frieden said it takes four months to make a new flu vaccine even using newer cell-based technologies, too long to be helpful in the current flu season.“, Frieden told Reuters.

The CDC published they can not prove if the flu vaccine actually even works effectively, claiming the process of doing so is “challenging” on their website:

“While determining how well a flu vaccine works is challenging, in general, recent studies have supported the conclusion that flu vaccination benefits public health, especially when the flu vaccine is well matched to circulating flu viruses.”

Some say you should still get a flu shot, but …

A government study says this year’s flu vaccine is only 23 percent effective. Its formula did not account for the strain blamed for most of the cases this winter.

And research seems to show that the immune system’s performance depends more on environment than on genes.

The vast majority of people who get a flu shot are helped by it, Kenosha County Health Officer Cynthia Johnson told WISN.

“For the majority of people, they should get vaccinated because this is a very unusual case, and it typically doesn’t happen,” Johnson told the news channel.

The CDC also continues to recommend that all people 6 months and older get the vaccine because it prevents at least some flu viruses. The flu shot can also reduce the potential number of complications and hospitalizations among those who do become ill.