Heard on the radio last week that this has been the most dangerous flu season in years. The stat was that 198 of 100,000 people were hospitalized with it. That is .2% of the population. On top of that, this year's vaccinewas a bit over 25% effective. So that means it would only have prevented hospitalization of .05% of the population. The treatment for those hospitalized consists of Tamiflu and IV fluids as the worst symptom of severe flu is dehydration, which can be avoided by drinking water and sport drinks. And to avoid this evidently horrific run on hospitals, we should all get a vaccine that costs $25 a pop, for a total of $7.5 BILLION a year to big pharm. This isn't the Plague people, it's what amounts to nature's weight loss program. A couple of days off work (for those of you who can do that, last time I had the flu I was still working, but at the time I worked alone), you lose a couple of pounds, take some OTC meds like Imodium and Tylenol, and end up detoxed after a couple of days. I don't see the emergency for most people.