IT IS flu time again in Europe and North America, and this year there is increasing evidence that the vaccination could save lives, especially if given to people over 65 and those likely to come into contact with them.
Determining the benefits of flu shots has been difficult, partly because flu often leads to death apparently via other causes, notably heart attack, and it is these that appear on death certificates. One US study this year failed to find any impact on death rates.
But at a meeting in Malta last week Ake Ortqvist of the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm,…
