We have reached the time of year when flu shots are given. Most people think that all flu shots are the same. That is not true. The components of flu shots change every year. There are many different strains of flu. Each year the scientific community looks at the prevailing strains and provides a vaccine that contains those strains. Most of the time they are accurate. That means that people receiving the flu vaccine will be protected. Sometimes other strains pop up unexpectedly. That means the flu vaccine will not be helpful if someone is exposed to that new strain. That is one of the reasons that some people will argue that they got the flu shot but got the flu anyway. Another reason is that there are other illnesses that can mimic the flu in terms of symptoms. If someone gets one of those illnesses, they again may think they got the flu even though they received the vaccine. This year there are four different strains contained in the flu vaccine. There are two Type A influenza viruses: H1N1, H3N2. There are two Type B viruses: B/Victoria lineage and B/Yamagata lineage. As of Sept. 10, there were [...]