posted on July 13, 2009 11:53:17 AM new
I have someone down with it in my office, and another who has gone home ill. Yikes.
I don't think the NHS is going to be able to cope with this very well. Locally, a children's library is being changed into distribution centre for Tamiflu. I don't know how easy it will be to be positively diagnosed anyway, as doctors seem to be unwilling to do so without tests which they are equally unwilling to order.
posted on July 13, 2009 12:26:10 PM new
It has pretty much run through our schools, especially the Middle School, where at one point we had 20% absenteeism. Getting a definitive diagnosis was difficult and most kids stayed out of school the required 7 days (most of them willingly I'd wager) whether they had H1N1 or some other bug.
One child at my children's camp has come down with it.
The good news is that if you're going to get H1N1, now's a good time to do so. I wouldn't intentionally contract the flu or have my kids do so, but it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world. Protection against what MIGHT be coming in the Fall would be useful.
posted on July 13, 2009 03:48:44 PM new
Far more folks have it worldwide now than had it back when the news had us all wearing those silly masks, but nobody seems too upset about it now.
posted on July 13, 2009 04:45:59 PM new
Yes, instead the focus is on Michael Jackson.
Mivona, I read that Great Britain physicians will be using anti-virals immediately for those patients that they believe have Swine Flu rather than wait for Lab results. If your medical care is similar to that found in the U.S., money will be the deciding factor.
Hopefully a vaccine will be ready before this fall, when a greater number of more severe cases is expected. But will a vaccine rushed to develop and approve be safe and effective.
posted on July 13, 2009 05:01:59 PM new
No schools are to be closed here anymore in London as the virus is uncontained, so it is seen as having no benefit.
If people get sick, they are not to go to the doctor, but instead ring a phone number instead. If it is believed to be swine flu, then Tamiflu will be prescribed and someone else has to go and collect it for the patient.
I have flu shots every year, to little effect, as I always get ill anyway. I am quite skeptical about a vaccine for this.
posted on July 13, 2009 08:21:04 PM new
Profe51, there's not much concern now because this is a relatively benign virus right now (just as the 1918 virus had a mild first wave). It doesn't sell papers or get people to watch TV news; celebrity deaths do, so they get coverage.
H1N1 is being closely monitored by medical authorities because of the fear of what might be coming in the Fall. If it follows the 1918 script, that later, second wave, flu will strike down those with healthy immune systems by means of a cytokine storm in otherwise healthy strapping young people.
That's why some people are having swine flu parties in hopes of getting infected now, which is expected to have some protective value if and when the flu morphs into something much more deadly.
I guess we'll have to each judge for ourselves how effective we think the (not-yet-available) vaccine is and whether it is a sensible thing to do given its side effects when the time comes.
posted on July 13, 2009 09:09:08 PM new
I understand cash. Our family cemetery has a whole raft of graves from those who died in the 1918 flu, A half dozen kids among them. My grandfather went out with his brothers and sons to help bury neighbors who had died. My grandmother made them strip outside the house and scrub down with lye soap before they came in then boiled their clothes. A lot of good that did. I'll take their flu shot if they get one done for whatever use it is, but I'll also stay home and wait it out. I have guns, good fences and big grouchy dogs.
One thing I have found very interesting about the 1918 pandemic is the statistical correlation between Parkinson's/ Alzheimer's disease and flu survivors. Several studies have indicated a very high rate of those conditions among those who had, but did die of that flu. My mother had 9 brothers and sisters and 6 died with either Alzheimer's or Parkinson's and in several cases both. She didn't. They survived the flu, she and 2 other sisters never got it. Neither had Alzheimer's or Parkinson's.
posted on July 13, 2009 09:51:31 PM new
Everyone encouraged me to get a flu shot last winter but I've always been hesitant about them because years ago many people in the community where I resided became ill after getting theirs and claimed they would never have another one. Last year almost everyone I know got a flu shot again and still got sick, some more than once. I didn't get a shot and had only a mild case of flu so I can't decide whether I really want to get one some day.
I'm not surprised that flu spreads so fast. Watch the habits of others while they are out in public, shopping for groceries, eating in restaurants, etc and many are disgusting. Last winter it seemed that each time we went for groceries, no matter the store, there was always a clerk coughing into their hand or wiping their nose as they ran the items across the scanner and it freaked me out each time.
That's interesting about the connection to Alzheimer's or Parkinson's, Profe. I had never heard that before.
My ex-wife's mother survived the 1918 flu, and later died of Parkinson's.
There's also a related disease called encephalitis lethargica (EL), documented in Oliver Sacks' "Awakenings" that responds (temporarily) to L-Dopa. The dopamine connection links Parkinson's and EL, although EL was not a gradual progressive disease.
