Ahira's Hangar

So...it sucks to be in Mexico right now, but is anyone here worried about the swine flu? I heard on the news that some countries have actually banned imports of raw pork and pork products from Mexico and some parts of the US. Which makes absolutely no sense. I guess they're attempting to look pro-active, but they just end up looking clueless about basic science.

I'm not personally concerned, but I'm following this story with interest. The medical community here seems to be right on top of things - such preparedness is no doubt a legacy of the SARS scare a few years back.

but not my younger son's high school or older son's university yet...

The powers might have been greater, but the abilities were not.

--A

Got an email from work today that said the swine flu is spreadign so fast in our county that if we call in sick with flu like symptoms we have to report to employee health and get cleared before we can return to work. Should be interesting (in a potentially bad way) for a while, especially since the vaccines will not be out until the middle of October.

Last night on the CBC news, they looked at how Canada might learn from Australia's experience with H1N1, particularly an outbreak that happened in Melbourne. One big discovery was that the spread of the virus throughout that city was directly linked to public school transportation routes. So far, though, I haven't heard about mass school closings in Winnipeg. Health Canada is considering providing only vaccination against H1N1 and skipping the regular seasonal flu vaccine.

We're being encouraged to get both here. At work we all got the seasonal flu vaccination already, and my hub and boys got theirs at a local pharmacy. Since I work at a hospital, we will be amongst the first to get the swine flu vaccine as soon as it ships in October, with priority being given to getting the staff vaccinated ASAP. My hub and boys will get their swine flu shots as soon as it is available to the general public. The swine flu attacks children and healthy young adults, and is thus dangerous to groups not normally affected very much by the seasonal flu.

My hub does volunteer work for the schools, and with both of the kids being students, it just seemed right for them to get their shots. Schools are a freaking breeding ground for disease!

The email we got at work said the county health department said the swine flu strain going around right now is nasty - fever, cough, headache, muscle achiness, vomiting, and diarrhea - all showing up in one patient simultaneously or in various combinations of symptoms for any particular person.

Well, that's just lovely!

According to four Canadian studies (not yet peer-reviewed), the regular seasonal flu shot may actually increase a person's risk of getting the swine flu. The World Health Organization is examining those studies now.

I don't do flu shots. Make me feel worse than the flu does. Anyway, I'm pretty resistant to stuff like that...only got sick once in the past...hell...two years probably. Just when I started work.

I really think the swine flu is not that serious....in the same amount of time that 3,000 people died of it, something like 50,000 died of regular flu.

Seems the real problem is it compromises the immune system to such an extent that other infections, especially bacterial ones apparently, are much more threatening.

--A

Well that, and as I said, the swine variety hits younger people, who would not normally be affected by regular seasonal flu, very hard. Most deaths fom the seasonal flu come from the elderly and infirm (people with longterm conditions such as asthma or HIV or cancer) which is why all people over a certain age and people with chronic medical conditions that lower their immunity are very strongly encouraged to get seasonal flu shots every year. The swine flu hits and kills otherwise healthy children and people in their teens and twenties.

I know that public health is worried that the seasonal flu and swine flu strains might exchange genetic material and form a new even worse sort of flu over the winter once both get into wide circulation.

I'm getting to be in that age group for which flu shots are recommended (both the seasonal flu and the H1N1), but I'm allergic to the preservative in the vaccine. So I'm going to have to take my chances....

I've only had the flu once in my life, in college. Rarely do I even get sick with a cold (tho I snorfle a lot from allergies ). So I'm not too worried.

Would take an awful lot to make me panic. We're so used to the flu that we forget what a terrible thing it was 100 years ago. And we forget that before that, there was no flu. For something so virulent and lethal, we sure adapted damn fast. Death rate is too low for swine flu to worry me yet. A combination could be interesting.

(Swine flu killed 30 people in SA in total. Most of them with already compromised immune systems. More people are murdered here every day.)

--A