I've read somewhere that the 23 month old was actually a Mexican that was brought up to the US for treatment and then passed away.
I am concerned about this! DH is a truck driver and will be in TX this week. Truck drivers going in and out of Mexico concern me. DH interacting with those drivers concern me. We have a 4 yr old and a 7 month old so that concerns me the greatest. If DH gets this from somebody and brings it home...Oh I could go on and on. Maybe I am just paranoid or maybe it is my anxiety (though the citalopram does help with that) but I am just freaking out about this. I don't know what I would do if DH gets it and can't come home or if my boys get it. I wasn't too worried about it since we live in PA, but now I see cases in NJ and NY. We are going to be on vacation very close to NJ this summer so I really hope this will die down a bit by then. It worries me more because of DH being everywhere and can easily get it... I work in a pharmacy too so I am always in contact with sick people.
I've read somewhere that the 23 month old was actually a Mexican that was brought up to the US for treatment and then passed away.
I am concerned about this! DH is a truck driver and will be in TX this week. Truck drivers going in and out of Mexico concern me. DH interacting with those drivers concern me. We have a 4 yr old and a 7 month old so that concerns me the greatest. If DH gets this from somebody and brings it home...Oh I could go on and on. Maybe I am just paranoid or maybe it is my anxiety (though the citalopram does help with that) but I am just freaking out about this. I don't know what I would do if DH gets it and can't come home or if my boys get it. I wasn't too worried about it since we live in PA, but now I see cases in NJ and NY. We are going to be on vacation very close to NJ this summer so I really hope this will die down a bit by then. It worries me more because of DH being everywhere and can easily get it...
With your young children, I can certainly understand your concerns. I have to say, though, that I deal with people coming up from Mexico daily (I work in a government office in Texas), and many people in my town commute back and forth daily, and we haven't had a single suspected case, let alone confirmed one. I think the thing for your DH to remember is to be aware, wash his hands, especially after shaking the hands of fellow truck drivers, and maybe eat in his truck while in Texas, rather than in a restaurant with people milling around. I'm sure everything will be fine, but if somehow he does contract it, he will not be able to stay at home a few days, but it wouldn't be anything permanent, just until he gets through the illness.
Last edited by Kim_Star060404; 04-30-2009 at 11:03 AM.
After you touch public buildings/objects (playground equipment, etc)
- keep away from large, public gatherings
- report symptoms at the FIRST instance (tamiflu has shown to be effective in the first 48 hours of this virus)
- have a little food and water at the ready in case you have to stay home or they shut down your local grocer, etc.
- if you are sick, for goodness sake, stay the heck home please
The World Health Organization raised the threat level to Level 5 today. Only one more level (Level 6) and the government can legally declare martial law, shut down all schools, ban any public gatherings and order mass quarantines etc., etc..
Basically at Level 6 that means Constitutional Rights are non existent if the government so deems.
And if we are eventually ordered to self quarantine ourselves in our homes ... sooner or later EVERYONE has to go out to get food.
Anybody worried yet?
No. I think you are seriously getting carried away. I'm hearing a lot of things today that are flat out WRONG. I heard someone say thousands have already died in Mexico. Uh, no. I am actually shocked at the stuff I'm reading. Why such fear?
That being said, I try to keep a good deal of food in my home. I have a list to stock my 30 day supply (or more) that I've been working on lately. We have water too.
My friend did a chapter topic (at TOPS) on hand washing. I know people who do not wash their hands as much as they should (they are the ones that get sick the most often, too!)
No. I think you are seriously getting carried away. I'm hearing a lot of things today that are flat out WRONG. I heard someone say thousands have already died in Mexico. Uh, no.
Darn right. I checked the World Health Organization website where they have a daily update. As of today, May 1, there are one hundred and fifty-six confirmed cases of H1N1 in Mexico and NINE deaths. And the US has one hundred and nine confirmed cases and one death. (I write those numbers out so there can be no question!) Of course one is too many, but that number is hardly thousands. As KimStar pointed out, "pandemic" basically means just "confirmed cases in more than one WHO zone or in x number of countries". So take common-sense precautions, wash hands often/use hand sanitizers, stay home from work or school and get thee to a doctor if you're sick (REALLY sick with fever, aches, nausea or diarrhea), cover your mouth when you cough/sneeze, cough/sneeze into your elbow, eat healthy foods and drink plenty of fluids. Speculating about whether this virus comes from an evil scientist in a rogue lab will not accomplish anything. This too shall pass! In six months we'll wonder what all the fuss was about! In the words of FDR, the only thing we have to fear is fear itself!
It's a concern because it's a new strain of flu that has killed people in Mexico... HOWEVER, so far most cases have been no more severe than the regular seasonal flu. Which, keep in mind, also kills some people each year (usually elderly individuals who are already compromised).
I'm in public health and most people I work with recognize the potential of this to become worse, but also will tell you that at the moment it's no big deal.
My son called me last night to tell me he just got word the school he and my dil teach at is closing down for two weeks.
Not a happy camper....he is the boys track coach and has to meet the bus this morning and tell all the frosh/soph they will be going back home instead of the frosh/soph championships....his team will have to forfeit their last 2 meets which means (unless the other high schools close too) they will not win league which was almost a given....they will miss the individual league championships which means several of his students will not make state....my dil has to cancel her big show for her dance squad...the big fundraiser for the year....one kid has the flu.
Better safe than sorry?
Personally, I think it is silly to close the school....but what if.....a whole bunch of kids got sick...or God forbid....one or more died....
I think I already had it.
Seriously!
I just got over a bizarre flu about a week and a 1/2 ago. Since the symptoms seemed part mild cold and part stomach bug I wrote the whole thing off as "the crud". It seemed like a weird time to get sick but it wasn't so bad so I didn't worry (ok lies, it sucked for about 2 days).
Then, I'm in my 30's, never had a flu shot, and have only ever had flu once. I credit this to a childhood on the farm using animals as pillows, making mudpies, and burying dead things I happened to find. Purell had yet to be invented.
The timing may seem off, but I live by a major airline hub. And I don't think they catch these things until they are well on their way around the world.
With symptoms and timing making sense, I'm going to assume I've had it. Never felt bad enough for the doctor, stayed home and didn't spread it. Really, this whole thing is overblown.
Oh my goodness, this thing is the biggest joke ever. I suppose we should all be happy there isn't something bigger out there to report but the last thing we need is people getting the wrong information and freaking out.
I'm an Animal Science major in college and we had a class about Animal Health. My sorority advisor is the teacher of that class and she has a PhD in animal diseases. She's worked with APHIS (Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service) to test all sorts of birds during the bird flu freak out. She's also gone to England to do testing for another bird-related disease... it's name has left me. Sorry I'm giving you a little history of her life but I figure it's best to explain why I trust her. She's not worried yet, so I figure it's best not to worry either.
Also, I read a news article about how a doctor was saying this was a strain of mutant flu- it contains swine flu, bird flu, and a little bit of the human flu too. Are you kidding me? Dr. Hall says that's highly unlikely because they would have needed to meet in one host and had insane circumstances to allow a molding like that.
I'll start worrying when the swine flu deaths reach regular flu death numbers.
Oh my goodness, this thing is the biggest joke ever. Also, I read a news article about how a doctor was saying this was a strain of mutant flu- it contains swine flu, bird flu, and a little bit of the human flu too.
Are you kidding me? Dr. Hall says that's highly unlikely because they would have needed to meet in one host and had insane circumstances to allow a molding like that.
I wouldn't quite classify this as a big joke. It was a strain of flu thats never been seen before and it scared a lot of scientists all over the world. As it turned out it was not as bad as they thought. I think what really happened was that we got lucky ... this time.
Also your Dr. Hall I'm sorry but I have heard a dozen doctors and scientists talk about how this is the first strain with mixtures of animal and human virus. Even I understand that it doesn't have to be in all three animals (bird, swine and human) at the same time to mutate.
The virus could have jumped from avain to swine and mutated and then from swine (with avain virus in it) to human and mutate again and then human to human thus having all three mutated viri together in a daisy chain effect.
According to the World Health Organization whom I trust more than any single doctor or scientist, says that a killer flu pandemic is not a matter of IF ... it's a matter of when.
Like I said .. I think we got lucky. The good that came out of all this media hype is that it has raised the public and goverment awareness so that if God forbid something really nasty pops up we'll be ready or at least readier than what we were.
We're not really out of the woods yet. We can't consider ouselves lucky until the disease has run it's course. I was watching some medical professionals discuss it one night, and then did some internet searching to confirm, but the flu that killed 20 to 40 million people in 1918/19 (which has been said to be the worst pandemic in recorded history - killing more people than Black Death Bubonic Plague in the middle of the fourteenth century), started out as a flu that was fairly mild in the Spring of 1918, and mutated into the deadly strain that returned in the fall to kill millions.
It's not time to panic, but concern is prudent. The thing is though, that we should always be concerned.
About two weeks ago I got a respiratory flu, and it didn't seem worse than any normal flu. I know that doctors don't really want to give antibiotics or antivirals except in extreme cases. I'm also on medicare, which is unlikely to to approve antiviral medications (I don't have "enough" of a track record of compromised immunity - I do have confirmed immunity issues, but not severe or frequent enough for the bureaucracy of medicare's satisfaction). Regardless, I didn't have any reason to think that I wouldn't recover normally. At it's peak, I did have a fever of 102.5 which is exceedingly rare for me, in fact, a temperature over 98.4 is very unusual for me.
Still, I didn't go in to the walk-in clinic until I'd been sick for 4 days, and by then I had pneumonia (it really only started feeling unusual at about midnight on the 3rd day).
In my case, it's likely that the virus triggered a secondary bacterial infection, because antibiotics have been obviously helpful (I'm on my second course, though). I have immunity and autoimmunity issues, and have scar tissue on my lungs (probably due to the autoimmune disease, worsened by a reaction to NSAIDs that caused asthma symptoms). I wasn't concerned before, but I realize that I am one of the folks at risk, because it was amazing how quickly my symptoms went from manageable, "normal" flu to pneumonia. I knew when it felt like my ribs had been kicked in by a mule, that something wasn't right.
My husband joked to the doctor that maybe I had the swine flu, and the doctor laughed but said "it's entirely possible." Hubby got the same flu the day after we saw the doctor, and his progressed normally and didn't need any intervention. Now, I doubt that we had swine flu, just the "regular" flu, but I do have a new respect for flu viruses, because I now understand how people can die of the flu, especially folks with immunity or other health issues, but also people who seek medical treatment only as a last resort. I never realized how quickly "not too bad, just uncomfortable" can become "can't breathe."
I work in a pharmacy too so I am always in contact with sick people.
