Swine Flu

[crazy canuck]

Meri, I did read.  You said probably.  That is just silly.

Here is a post from a doctor you will find interesting.  It is posted on the Globe and Mail website to combat the kind of myths you are talking about.

Q: Myself and two of my children have already had the flu this season (we're in Vancouver and our school has been hit hard). We don't know for sure if it was H1N1, but it likely was. Do we still need to be vacinated?

A: Eventhough we had a peak of flu last spring going into the summer, the reality is that the majority of people who had symptoms during that time did not have H1N1 - there were other viruses circulating in the community at that time. Certainly if you had a positive test for H1N1 I don't think you need to run out and get vaccinated, but otherwise, the odds are you didn't have H1N1.

Here is the link to the rest of the interview.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/health/h1n1-swine-flu/h1n1-myth-busters/article1340101/

[crazy canuck]

And as for my family, it's all moot. We got it before the vaccine was even made available... two months before. *shrugs*

I repeat.  DO NOT ASSUME YOU HAD H1N1 JUST BECAUSE YOU THINK YOU HAD THE FLU!

If H1N1 was not confirmed then get vaccinated.

[merithyn]

So now who's playing doctor?

In our town, the hospitals and public health departments told all of the schools that the only flu going around throughout the months of August and September was H1N1. There were NO OTHER FLUS in the area. In mid-September, they stopped testing anyone for H1N1 for that reason, stating that if someone has the flu, it is H1N1. They then re-iterated the symptoms and sent out a sheet with the differences between seasonal allergies, a cold, and the flu. My family had a very obvious case of the flu.

Our area has been hit very hard by H1N1, as I've said. I don't really care what someone in the Globe said somewhere else entirely. I'm telling you what the doctors and hospitals in our area who have been dealing with this every day for the past few months are telling everyone here. It isn't being stupid or playing doctor to actually listen to them and heed their advice. It is, so you said a few posts ago, stupid to go against what the doctors are saying.

Now, that being said, if my family hadn't already been hit, Jeremy would have gotten the vaccine, but I doubt I would have vaccinated anyone else.

I will say it again, I don't believe that this flu is any more of a danger to the rest of my kids than any other. I think the media is out of control on it, I think the numbers are overblown, and until I see something that proves otherwise, I will continue to think so.

[crazy canuck]

Ok, so now you are changing your answer from "probably had it" to definitely had it.  For your sake I hope you are right.

I will say it again, I don't believe that this flu is any more of a danger to the rest of my kids than any other. I think the media is out of control on it, I think the numbers are overblown, and until I see something that proves otherwise, I will continue to think so.

Hopefully you and yours wont be one of the statistics that proves the experts were right about this.

[merithyn]

Ok, so now you are changing your answer from "probably had it" to definitely had it.  For your sake I hope you are right.

I will say it again, I don't believe that this flu is any more of a danger to the rest of my kids than any other. I think the media is out of control on it, I think the numbers are overblown, and until I see something that proves otherwise, I will continue to think so.

Hopefully you and yours wont be one of the statistics that proves the experts were right about this.

I said "probably" because no one tested positive for it in a lab. I also said "probably" because that's what I meant: all probability points to Jeremy, Carter and myself having already had H1N1. Given the information at hand, the logical conclusion is that we've had it, everyone in the house has been directly exposed, and there is no point to getting the vaccine. In addition, despite what BB tried to imply, the vaccination is in short supply around here at the moment. My liaison at the PHD has pretty much said that he doesn't know if there will be enough to vaccine all of the kids in the schools. (I'm the health secretary where I work, which means I'm the one that's been tracking the illnesses and symptoms. Despite what you may think, I actually do know what I'm talking about as it refers to our community.)

I'm sorry that this illness has you so frightened. I'm sorry that the media is leading with every death from H1N1, especially the children. What they aren't saying, though, is how this directly compares to seasonal flus. As of now, according to the PHD, the state of Illinois - one of the hardest hit with H1N1 in the country in terms of confirmed and uncomfirmed cases - has not had an increase in the number of deaths due to flu from last year or the year before that. We are on par with previous years as of the month of September. What HAS increased, at least in Champaign County, is the number of doctor visits due to the flu, which makes sense given the way the media has pushed this out there. The number of hospitalizations at the two local hospitals, however, has not increased, and so far *knock wood* we've had no deaths.

Don't think I'm underestimating the danger. The kids with H1N1 are sicker than with the seasonal flu. There are more cases clustered closer together, and it's spreading faster than normal. H1N1 is quite obviously more dangerous than what we normally deal with.

What I question is if it's as dangerous as the media is making it out to be.

[Berkut]

So now who's playing doctor?

In our town, the hospitals and public health departments told all of the schools that the only flu going around throughout the months of August and September was H1N1. There were NO OTHER FLUS in the area.

Wow, that is pretty incredible.

[merithyn]

Wow, that is pretty incredible.

How so?

[Berkut]

Wow, that is pretty incredible.

How so?

Just never heard of anything like that - how could they know such a thing? I guess they must have tested every single person, or some great majority, of the people who had the flu, so they could tell it was all H1N1.

How long did it take for your kids test results for H1N1 to come back? I've heard differing reports about how long it takes.

Are the doctors in your area telling everyone to not bother with the H1N1 shot then, since it has already gone through, so no worries?

[Berkut]

Both Jake and Melanie are scheduled for H1N1 shots this Saturday.

They aren't happy about it either.

[lustindarkness]

I imagine next drill wekend I'll be stuck with some kind of flu vaccine.

[ulmont]

The CDC did have a chart, and I'll see if I can find it tomorrow, that basically showed that every tested flu for a while was h1n1.

[Berkut]

The CDC did have a chart, and I'll see if I can find it tomorrow, that basically showed that every tested flu for a while was h1n1.

I guess that does make some sense, since the H1N1 was going around outside the normal flu season.

Still, I am surprised the advice from doctors is to skip the vaccine, even for those people who did not catch it the first time around.

[merithyn]

Just never heard of anything like that - how could they know such a thing? I guess they must have tested every single person, or some great majority, of the people who had the flu, so they could tell it was all H1N1.

How long did it take for your kids test results for H1N1 to come back? I've heard differing reports about how long it takes.

Are the doctors in your area telling everyone to not bother with the H1N1 shot then, since it has already gone through, so no worries?

Starting in August, a flu moved through the schools. The first several dozen cases were all encouraged to get tested for H1N1. All flu cases came back positive for H1N1 and no other strains. (Not all "flus" were actually flus, I should add. Seasonal allergies and colds were also around.) As the flu continued on - and more and more people came down with it - the doctors' offices, EDs, and Public Health were overwhelmed. At some point in the beginning of September, they ran out of the strips to test everyone, so they sent out a letter to the schools telling everyone that the only flu in the area was H1N1, so it should be assumed that if you have the flu, that's what it is. With this letter, they included a card that explained the difference in symptoms between a cold, seasonal allergies, a seasonal flu, and H1N1.

It was about this time that Carter and Jeremy got sick. They had every symptom of H1N1, a few of the seasonal flu, and their usual seasonal allergy problems, including asthma issues. I took them to the doctor, who said yes, probably H1N1 with some seasonal allergies, gave them some meds for the asthma and some anti-viral spray for the flu, and sent us all home. He, like all of the other doctors in the area, had run out of the test strips. I came down with it three days later. No one else in the house has had the same aches, pains, and chills, but the other two kids have had low-grade fevers off and on for the past few weeks.

The Public Health Department is encouraging all those who did not test positive for H1N1 on the strips to get the vaccine, to be on the safe side. When I spoke with the PHD school liaison, I told him that I didn't really think we needed it and why. He agreed that most likely, we didn't, but it wouldn't hurt to get the vaccine. Then I asked if there were enough vaccinations with the first go-round. He said that to be honest, he didn't think there would be, then said that since he already knows my opinion on vaccines anyway (that not all vaccines are necessary), he didn't figure I'd be getting them. I told him probably not.

I don't know what is going on in other parts of the world, but in our little area, this is what's happening. More than 10% of our staff and students have been out since the third week of school - roughly 70-80 people every day for two months - some kids out for as long as three weeks while they fight off the extreme weakness and high fever that seems to be the biggest indicator that it's H1N1 over seasonal flus.

This flu is hitting fast and hard, but around here, it hasn't been any more dangerous than any other flu. The symptoms are more profound, but only one of our kids have been hospitalized, and she had a compromised immune system. Maybe we're just lucky, but it seems to me more likely that, like the Bird Flu, this is being blown way out of proportion by the media.

[merithyn]

I guess that does make some sense, since the H1N1 was going around outside the normal flu season.

Still, I am surprised the advice from doctors is to skip the vaccine, even for those people who did not catch it the first time around.

It depends on the doctor. Some say, "Eh, it doesn't hurt, might help, may as well get it even if you've already had the flu." Others say, "It doesn't help, you're already protected, don't bother."

I tend to side with the "don't get it" faction than the other.

[Berkut]

But what does your doctor(s) say?