I woke up yesterday morning feeling like a hatchet was buried deep in my prefrontal cortex. I was running a 39.6˚C (103.28˚F) fever that blistered my lips and had me shivering uncontrollably. My joints were achy and my muscles were sore. My nose was stuffy and my throat was itchy. My chest felt likeit was weighed down with bricks; I couldn’t take a deep breath without feeling like I was dragging a two-ton trailer out of my windpipes.

And I thought I had escaped flu season this year.

I get a flu shot every year and I had one in November of last year to prepare for the colder months. I received it rather late last year because I forgot to schedule it ahead of time. The country follows the Southern Hemisphere schedule of vaccination beginning two to three months before the peak flu season of July to August. Still, I hadn’t expected it to strike so late (it’ll be summer soon here in the Philippines). I’m not one to fall sick often but when I do get sick, I don’t escape easily. I’m just hoping that I don’t pass this around to anyone else in the household.

The CDC recently reported that 23% of the influenza viruses identified in their current monitoring and surveillance belong to a strain that is not included in this season’s vaccine.  I have no idea how the vaccines that we receive correlate with US vaccine production, but if what I am feeling today is an indication of new strains cropping up, then I worry very much about the unvaccinated population.  

Today, I am shutting out the world as I recuperate from this virus. Food will be takeout (do I hear the boys whooping in joy?). And I’m hanging a sign on my bedroom door, the one that says: