rainman

How has H1N1 scare affected you, and your area. Our school has an absence rate of 28%, it may close tomorrow.

bolivianbaby

H1N1 doesn't scare me, the vaccine does though.

My daughter's school has had a lot of students out lately with it, but everyone seems to recover from it with no side effects.

thorpbrian

IT'S THE FLU PEOPLE!!!! Just the flu....It's not any worse than any other flu. It's just that the media has told you to be more worried about it. 36,000 people die of complications from the flu every year and that number is from BEFORE the H1N1 (please don't call it swine flu) scare. Very young children, the elderly and people with weakened immune systems can die of complications from the flu. This fact didn't change with H1N1. Over 2,000 people got H1N1 at WSU and most reported it was very mild.

Personally, I've never had a flu shot and haven't had the flu in well over 15 years.

click

I truly believe the media is over-reacting over the whole N1H1 flu. It's just like any other flu strain, same symptoms, same effects. Unfortunately there are people who die of the other "not-so-popular" flu strains just like they do in the case of N1H1. But the bottom line is there's a lot of government's funds involved so they have to make a big fuss. Shame on them for creating panic just to get their hands on the money.

I am personally not scared of the N1H1...it's just a flu with a more popular name. I protect myself by eating extra citrus fruits and having tea with honey. I will not have a flu-shot. But that's my decision, each should do as they see fit.

Tony G.

IT is actually the flu, but it changed. You see Back in 1928 the flu was introduced into humans by the pig. Both carriers have different systems so the virus changed dramatically. We have vaccines for the regular flu, and we are used to it. But when the swine flu was re introduced into humans, it had a different reaction, after all it is a completely different carriers...

Personally, i had a big scare.
Our school closed for 3 weeks, then we came back and just a few weeks ago, i presented signs of it. I was kicked out of the school (literally, they called my parents and left me outside of the school LOL) and my mom came to pick me up. I had to go to the hospital to get tests done or else i wouldnt be allowed in the school (it is necessary). I was there for a good 3 hours, and i turned out negative.

thorpbrian, maybe you're immune?

thorpbrian

I'm not immune. Actually, last time I remember having the flu I was almost deathly ill for 2 weeks. I credit regular hand washing and living in a fraternity for 4 years (builds up a heck of an immune system after an initial bad cold when moving in) to not getting sick often.

What's funny is it's the people that seem to worry the most and do the most "precautionary" things that seem to get sick the most often. Like getting a flu shot and getting an EVEN WORSE strain of the flu because the strain of flu you end up getting is different than the one in the flu shot. Also, overuse of anti-bacterial hand sanitizer seems to be a common culprit of eventually giving someone a very strong strain of flu. Anti-bacterial hand sanitizer kills 99.9% of germs, essentially leaving .01% of the strongest germs behind....

The thing about the flu is that the strain is different EVERY YEAR. I've yet to see reason, besides the media overhyping it, why this strain is much worse than any other yearly strain.

Gotta add one thing when you cough or sneeze DON'T COVER YOUR MOUTH WITH YOUR HAND!!!! You should be coughing or sneezing into the crook of your elbow or the front of your shoulder.

sirdarksol

H1N1/09 is, indeed, very similar to the yearly flu. In fact, H1N1 (not the 09 strain, but the overall category) is responsible for about half of human flu infections worldwide. It is significantly responsible for seasonal flu outbreaks.

There are three reasons that this particular flu (H1N1/09) is being watched carefully:
First of all, it is more contagious than the seasonal flu. It seems to spread more easily, and those who are infected remain contagious longer than with the typical seasonal flu (this is why many businesses are going by a "seven days or twenty four hours after final symptom passes, whichever is longer," policy).
Second, it contains genetic code from a wide range of strains of flu, making it a more likely candidate to species hop. If this strain goes to an avian or swine host and then back, there is a possibility that it will have the lethality of the 1928 pandemic, which killed primarily healthy adults.
Third, it possesses the ability to infect deep lung tissue, something the seasonal flu typically can't. Most people get a mild infection, but some end up with respiratory symptoms that hang on for weeks, often involving a lengthy hospital stay. I have a friend who had the deep-lung infection and said it was far worse than the typical flu.

I'm not scared of it, but I certainly am cautious. I don't want to get this flu (although I may have already had it), but more for the sake of those around me than my own. My wife works with premature infants, and I work with folks who are developmentally and physically handicapped. Both of these groups are at higher risk of infection.

Edit: With regards to covering your mouth with you cough or sneeze: Ideally, cover your mouth with hands and immediately wash them. Your hands will contain the sneeze better than shoulder or elbow will, and are more easily cleaned than your clothing. However, most people will not be able to wash their hands immediately after sneezing. If you touch anything after sneezing/coughing, you contaminate it. Therefore, unless you have a sink nearby, the above post is correct, shoulder or elbow is better. When you can, clean them as best you can (so that when your boss places a friendly hand on your shoulder while he's looking at your work, he doesn't get sick, too)

eiginh

Wow Lucky you! You get to skip out on school and test negative!

MaddieLynn

Did you know that vitamin D can be more effective at preventing the flu than the flu shot? Also, that gargling 1-2x a day w/ warm salt water and swabbing out your nostrils once a day with warm salt water can be very effective at preventing the flu? When flu germs enter through your nose or mouth, it takes approx. 3 days for them to multiply into great enough numbers to make you sick. By gargling with warm salt water, you can kill them off before they can make you sick.

Beth1965

Intersting thread. I have not been afraid of the virus. Though i ahve had a "cold" for nearly a month now I think I should probably get myself checked out.
I do think the media had done a heck of a job of scaring people.
Beth

thorpbrian

I've been yelling at....errrr....telling anyone who will listen that is between the ages of 16 and 50 that is in good health that a flu shot is a waste of time and money. Unless you are in bad health, a child, a health care worker or elderly you shouldn't be getting a flu shot. In part the flu shot shortage has been caused by people who don't need them getting flu shots.

I actually think its funny that most of my friends that I know who regularly get flu shots get sick EVERY YEAR and all my friends who don't rarely ever get sick.

H1N1 being blown out of proportion is part of the reason I no longer "watch" the news very often. They're all about ratings anymore and take everything to one extreme or the other. If you watched nothing but news channels all day you might think the world was going to end at any second. Thank god for being able to read the news online from a nearly infinite amount of sources.

eiginh

That's why I like CNN the best, they don't talk about nonsense. Well usually they don't. Our company hired a doctor to give us free flu shots and I ended up getting the flu anyways. That's the last and only flu shot I'm ever getting again. MaddieLynn can you provide sources for that? That's something I didn't know and would like to try!

Amanda

People at my school are in a "Swine Flu" frenzy. But I'm not too worried...it's just another strain of flu.

aquarist48

Hello Rainman. I have moved your thread to "general discussion" since there isn't actually a poll to vote on.
Thanks and have a good weekend!
Ken

MaddieLynn

Here's where I got the flu prevention tips from:

http://mommylife.net/archives/2009/1...revention.html

I can't remember where I saw the thing about Vit. D, but I know that I've seen it in a lot of places... try googling "Vitamin D flu prevention" or something like that.

Beth1965

I always start taking vitamin D when I feel start feeling the least bit "off".

rainman

I was going to make one, but I felt that the topic was too broad for a poll. I figured you would move it for me. Thanks

thorpbrian

Yeah, if I do watch the news it's usually CNN. I read a lot on their website also. However, I do occassionally watch both Fox News and MSNBC for the pure "wow, I can't believe this actually passes as legitimate unbiased news" entertainment value.

Red1313

The thing about the H1N1 that is going around now is that it IS different then the regular flu. Typically the young and the old are the ones who get the flu. People in they're prime (18-35) usually have a healthy enough immune system to handle it. H1 however ISN'T going after the typical categories. People in they're prime seem to be the ones who come down with it more often then the typical higher risk categories. On my campus we have 2 confirmed cases of H1 in the residences and 5 more suspected cases. Is this flu being over hyped? Of course. However at the same time It's an issue separate from the typical flu.

Hoping the best for everyone.