Swine Flu

[cmotherofpirl]

Nature isn't done playing this year. A new H3N2 variant has turned up in Canadian nursing homes and is possibly the same strain in Mexico that has killed so many there.

[url="http://www.flutrackers.com/forum/showthread.php?p=229174"]http://www.flutrackers.com/forum/showthread.php?p=229174[/url]

[Adrestia]

[quote name='cmotherofpirl' post='1860261' date='May 6 2009, 10:18 PM']Nature isn't done playing this year. A new H3N2 variant has turned up in Canadian nursing homes and is possibly the same strain in Mexico that has killed so many there.

[url="http://www.flutrackers.com/forum/showthread.php?p=229174"]http://www.flutrackers.com/forum/showthread.php?p=229174[/url][/quote]
so all those pigs in Egypt were slaughtered for no reason... it was Brisbane all along!!

[southern california guy]

[quote name='cmotherofpirl' post='1859060' date='May 5 2009, 07:48 PM']The flu is NOT a cold, there is a world of difference - even a mild case of the flu can knock you flat on your back for days, and leaves coughing and exhaustion that can last a weeks.
It is a moderate fever, chills, neck and back pain, headache, endless coughing, exhaustion, possible diarrhea and vomiting, and a feeling you were hit by a medium-sized car. Those are NOT the symptoms of a cold, and it sure lasts more than two days.[/quote]

I live in Southern California, near the Mexican border. Don't worry the over hyped "Swine flu" DOES start with fever, chills, neck and back pain, headache, diarrhea and vomiting. But the symptoms don't include endless coughing. My brother -- who's a salesman -- got sick down in Mexico. I got sick up here, and it's going around at work. We both had the same symptoms.

Here's an actual breakdown of the way the ultra-terrifying "SWINE FLU" runs it's course

1. It starts with a slight fever (chills, neck and back pains, headache), OR NO FEVER, diarrhea, and possibly vomiting (This lasts for a day or two).

2. Day three and four you WILL get the slight fever (chills, neck and back pains, headache). You will also get a sore throat, as well congestion in your throat that almost makes you choke when you wake in the morning. You may still have the diarrhea, and you will feel VERY tired.

3. Day five you will be pretty much over it. You may still have a little bit of a runny nose and a slight cough. And any lingering symptoms beyond day five are similar to a mild cold.


So there it is. Day three and four are the two days you should definitely take off from work. Get plenty of sleep, drink plenty of water, and take plenty of vitamin C.

Edited May 7, 2009 by southern california guy

[cmotherofpirl]

[quote name='southern california guy' post='1860283' date='May 7 2009, 12:31 AM']I live in Southern California, near the Mexican border. Don't worry the over hyped "Swine flu" DOES start with fever, chills, neck and back pain, headache, diarrhea and vomiting. But the symptoms don't include endless coughing. My brother -- who's a salesman -- got sick down in Mexico. I got sick up here, and it's going around at work. We both had the same symptoms.

Here's an actual breakdown of the way the ultra-terrifying "SWINE FLU" runs it's course

1. It starts with a slight fever (chills, neck and back pains, headache), OR NO FEVER, diarrhea, and possibly vomiting (This lasts for a day or two).

2. Day three and four you WILL get the slight fever (chills, neck and back pains, headache). You will also get a sore throat, as well congestion in your throat that almost makes you choke when you wake in the morning. You may still have the diarrhea, and you will feel VERY tired.

3. Day five you will be pretty much over it. You may still have a little bit of a runny nose and a slight cough. And any lingering symptoms beyond day five are similar to a mild cold.


So there it is. Day three and four are the two days you should definitely take off from work. Get plenty of sleep, drink plenty of water, and take plenty of vitamin C.[/quote]

So you are one of the CDC confirmed cases?

[southern california guy]

[quote name='cmotherofpirl' post='1860597' date='May 7 2009, 06:26 AM']So you are one of the CDC confirmed cases?[/quote]

No and I'm not going to go and get checked to see if I had it (Can they tell from the anti-bodies?). I strongly suspect that I did though.

The flu I described is the flu that is going around right now down here in Southern California and Mexico.

[Adrestia]

[quote name='southern california guy' post='1861384' date='May 7 2009, 10:01 PM']No and I'm not going to go and get checked to see if I had it (Can they tell from the anti-bodies?). I strongly suspect that I did though.

The flu I described is the flu that is going around right now down here in Southern California and Mexico.[/quote]
You suspect it because you had similar symptoms? Do you know how many viruses cause those symptoms? Unless you actually live/work/travel near a confirmed case, it's not likely at all.

That being said, I'm not suggesting that you get tested.

[cmotherofpirl]

[quote name='southern california guy' post='1861384' date='May 8 2009, 12:01 AM']No and I'm not going to go and get checked to see if I had it (Can they tell from the anti-bodies?). I strongly suspect that I did though.

The flu I described is the flu that is going around right now down here in Southern California and Mexico.[/quote]
The strain in Mexico is more severe than you describe, has killed 44 people usually by a secondary infection of atypical pneumonia. Currently there are over 3000 confirmed H1N1 cases with double or triple the number suspected, and Canada has isolated a new strain of the old virus now circulating.

[southern california guy]

[quote name='tgoldson' post='1861433' date='May 7 2009, 09:29 PM']You suspect it because you had similar symptoms? Do you know how many viruses cause those symptoms? Unless you actually live/work/travel near a confirmed case, it's not likely at all.

That being said, I'm not suggesting that you get tested.[/quote]

Here's a little bit of a newspaper article from yesterday:

[b]SAN DIEGO COUNTY ----Health officials said Friday that 19 cases of swine flu previously reported as probable have all been confirmed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The confirmations bring the total number of confirmed cases in the county to 51.[/b]

It's going around down here and the symptoms that the people with the confirmed cases had were exactly the same as mine.

My boss did get a secondary infection and began developing pneumonia. But he got to the doctor and was able to treat it with antibiotics.

[moon_child_anne]

[quote name='lost_in_this_world' post='1855535' date='May 2 2009, 02:09 PM']so we have two unconfirmed cases of swine flu at my college. which means the carnival we were supposed to have today is canceled and so is everything until sunday. if they are confirmed positive we prolly wont have classes all week.


i think this whole thing is stupid. yes people should be informed about it and if they have symptoms they should have it checked out but to cancel everything??? i just think its silly. a lot of ppl die every year of the regular flu, just take some precautions but to cancel everything??


our school is now losing about 80,000 dollars because Ludacris was going to have a concert this evening and now we had to cancel him.[/quote]


Better safe than sorry. Maybe it can be rescheduled???

[Adrestia]

[quote name='southern california guy' post='1863099' date='May 9 2009, 07:15 PM']Here's a little bit of a newspaper article from yesterday:

[b]SAN DIEGO COUNTY ----Health officials said Friday that 19 cases of swine flu previously reported as probable have all been confirmed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The confirmations bring the total number of confirmed cases in the county to 51.[/b]

It's going around down here and the symptoms that the people with the confirmed cases had were exactly the same as mine.

My boss did get a secondary infection and began developing pneumonia. But he got to the doctor and was able to treat it with antibiotics.[/quote]
I'm glad you're okay.

[Tab'le De'Bah-Rye]

PAX,
Hey doesn't it say in the old testament to cook your meat well and not taste the blood of an animal, even if there is a spot of blood in an egg(bird flu possibly?). I know i have a friend who's dad is from south america and they sometimes don't even have half cooked meet? Could this be the problem and have these issues been around for thousands of years. Just the last 50 that we've been properly diagnosing and only the last 20 that we go media mad on such things?

[dairygirl4u2c]

the reason these schools shuit down etc is because of uncertainty. mixed with a lot of politics of course.

it looks like it's like the regular flu exceppt resistant to some antiviral meds. if that's the case, then it's going too far probably to shut them down. ie, the only people who are going to die, are those who would have died with regular flu but for the shots they got. read, this includes babies and the elderly mostly. it wouldn't even kill that full hypothetical amount, cause the swine flu is only resistanct to *some* of the shots, not all of them etc.

with that said, i dont think my analysis is necessarily true, but that seems to be what people are getting at. ie, it could be more deadly, even beyond who might have otherwise been saved by a normal flu shot. more healthier people might be dying. if that's teh case, then there is cause for concern, and the uncertainty remains of how far the helathy are dying and why etc.
this is the shred of uncertainty that justfiies some more extreme actions, perhaps.

[Adrestia]

[quote name='Tab'le Du'Bah-Rye' post='1864098' date='May 11 2009, 04:18 AM']PAX,
Hey doesn't it say in the old testament to cook your meat well and not taste the blood of an animal, even if there is a spot of blood in an egg(bird flu possibly?). I know i have a friend who's dad is from south america and they sometimes don't even have half cooked meet? Could this be the problem and have these issues been around for thousands of years. Just the last 50 that we've been properly diagnosing and only the last 20 that we go media mad on such things?[/quote]
That has nothing to do with flu transmission.

[cmotherofpirl]

Many people suffering from swine influenza, even those who are severely ill, do not have fever, an odd feature of the new virus that could increase the difficulty of controlling the epidemic, said a leading American infectious-disease expert who examined cases in Mexico last week.

In April, medical workers at Taoyuan Airport, in northern Taiwan, checked passengers for fever.
Fever is a hallmark of influenza, often rising abruptly to 104 degrees at the onset of illness. Because many infectious-disease experts consider fever the most important sign of the disease, the presence of fever is a critical part of screening patients.

But about a third of the patients at two hospitals in Mexico City where the American expert, Dr. Richard P. Wenzel, consulted for four days last week had no fever when screened, he said.

“It surprised me and my Mexican colleagues, because the textbooks say that in an influenza outbreak the predictive value of fever and cough is 90 percent,” Dr. Wenzel said by telephone from Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, where he is chairman of the department of internal medicine.

While many people with severe cases went on to develop fever after they were admitted, about half of the milder cases did not; nearly all patients had coughing and malaise, Dr. Wenzel said.

Also, about 12 percent of patients at the two Mexican hospitals had severe diarrhea in addition to respiratory symptoms like coughing and breathing difficulty, said Dr. Wenzel, who is also a former president of the International Society for Infectious Diseases. He said many such patients had six bowel movements a day for three days.

Dr. Wenzel said he had urged his Mexican colleagues to test the stools for the presence of the swine virus, named A(H1N1). “If the A(H1N1) virus goes from person to person and there is virus in the stool, infection control will be much more difficult,” particularly if it spreads in poor countries, he said.

The doctor said he had also urged his Mexican colleagues to perform tests to determine whether some people without symptoms still carried the virus.

He also said he had examined patients and data at the invitation of Dr. Samuel Ponce de León, who directs Mexico’s national vaccination program.

Dr. Wenzel said that an unusual feature of the Mexican epidemic, which complicates the understanding of it, was that “in recent months five different influenza viruses have been circulating in Mexico simultaneously.”

Pneumonia rates at one of the hospitals Dr. Wenzel visited, the National Institute for Respiratory Diseases, reached 120 per week recently compared with 20 per week during the past two years, suggesting a possible relation to the swine flu.

The pneumonias that the flu patients developed did not resemble the staphylococcal lung infections that were believed to be a common complication in the 1918-1919 influenza pandemic, Dr. Wenzel said.

He said the two Mexican hospitals were well prepared for an outbreak of respiratory disease. Mexican doctors activated a program to allay anxiety among staff members, offering the staff information, a hot line, psychological support and medical examinations.

“This aspect of epidemic response is not well appreciated in the United States in my estimation, yet is critical for success,” Dr. Wenzel said. “We haven’t put nearly enough into managing fear among health workers.”

NEW YORK TIMES

[southern california guy]

[quote name='cmotherofpirl' post='1865728' date='May 12 2009, 08:31 PM']Many people suffering from swine influenza, even those who are severely ill, do not have fever, an odd feature of the new virus that could increase the difficulty of controlling the epidemic, said a leading American infectious-disease expert who examined cases in Mexico last week.

In April, medical workers at Taoyuan Airport, in northern Taiwan, checked passengers for fever.
Fever is a hallmark of influenza, often rising abruptly to 104 degrees at the onset of illness. Because many infectious-disease experts consider fever the most important sign of the disease, the presence of fever is a critical part of screening patients.

But about a third of the patients at two hospitals in Mexico City where the American expert, Dr. Richard P. Wenzel, consulted for four days last week had no fever when screened, he said.

“It surprised me and my Mexican colleagues, because the textbooks say that in an influenza outbreak the predictive value of fever and cough is 90 percent,” Dr. Wenzel said by telephone from Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, where he is chairman of the department of internal medicine.

While many people with severe cases went on to develop fever after they were admitted, about half of the milder cases did not; nearly all patients had coughing and malaise, Dr. Wenzel said.

Also, about 12 percent of patients at the two Mexican hospitals had severe diarrhea in addition to respiratory symptoms like coughing and breathing difficulty, said Dr. Wenzel, who is also a former president of the International Society for Infectious Diseases. He said many such patients had six bowel movements a day for three days.

Dr. Wenzel said he had urged his Mexican colleagues to test the stools for the presence of the swine virus, named A(H1N1). “If the A(H1N1) virus goes from person to person and there is virus in the stool, infection control will be much more difficult,” particularly if it spreads in poor countries, he said.

The doctor said he had also urged his Mexican colleagues to perform tests to determine whether some people without symptoms still carried the virus.

He also said he had examined patients and data at the invitation of Dr. Samuel Ponce de León, who directs Mexico’s national vaccination program.

Dr. Wenzel said that an unusual feature of the Mexican epidemic, which complicates the understanding of it, was that “in recent months five different influenza viruses have been circulating in Mexico simultaneously.”

Pneumonia rates at one of the hospitals Dr. Wenzel visited, the National Institute for Respiratory Diseases, reached 120 per week recently compared with 20 per week during the past two years, suggesting a possible relation to the swine flu.

The pneumonias that the flu patients developed did not resemble the staphylococcal lung infections that were believed to be a common complication in the 1918-1919 influenza pandemic, Dr. Wenzel said.

He said the two Mexican hospitals were well prepared for an outbreak of respiratory disease. Mexican doctors activated a program to allay anxiety among staff members, offering the staff information, a hot line, psychological support and medical examinations.

“This aspect of epidemic response is not well appreciated in the United States in my estimation, yet is critical for success,” Dr. Wenzel said. “We haven’t put nearly enough into managing fear among health workers.”

NEW YORK TIMES[/quote]

I don't know. I still think that they're sort of "Crying Wolf".. Like I say, these symptoms all sound VERY familiar. It sounds like the flu I had that just went around down here. And it was a very mild flu, with many people working right through it.

What's going to happen if a bug -- that's honestly bad -- gets detected in the future? Who's going to listen?