This is NO JOKE Three peope in my family have swine flu and im really scared as one of them's my mum. She is in quarinteen for a week. The other two are my auntie, who gave it to by mum, and my cousin. I'm most scared about my mum though. I was looking up symptoms on the internet and I found a website and it says you are more suseptable to the virus if you suffer from thyroid problems and my mum has since she was twelve. I need help. What should do? Fantasy girl
Sorry about your family. About your mum - Well she's being treated by a doctor, right? So I would say just try to make things easy on her.
Fantasy. Deep breath. Exhale. Im sure you know by now that I work as a Spanish interpreter. The medical industry is one of my biggest clients, comprising easily 80% of what I do in a day. Swine Flu started in Mexico. I translate for all of those doctors. Swine Flu is a very bad case of the flu, but still, it's a flu. Treatment follows the same course as one would for any flu. It's gonna be a wopper of a flu, but still, it's the flu. Unfortunately, the media engine known as American Television has blown this thing completely out of proportion.
thanks marina, wreybrise I know its only a bad case of the flu but from all the people who have died from it I dont want it to happen to me too. Some people think thats selfish but if you knew what it was like... A few days ago we were joking about swine flu, how it isnt as bad as people have said. But when it hits home... last night she looked awefull I felt so sorry for her. I want to help but I cant because I dont want to get it. I want this nightmare to be over!!!
My daughter and I had it. To be honest, I didn't really notice much difference to regular flu. As long as your mother is in medical care, there's not much else you can do other than try not to panic. I'm sure everything will be fine.
It can be a nasty form of influenza, but most people weather it well, especially if they are under proper medical care. Take it seriously, but don't panic. Everyone in the family should be meticulous about washing their hands, and avoiding touching eyes, nose, mouth unnecessarily. Disinfect frequently touched surfaces such as door handles and sink taps, telephones. Everyone should make sure to keep fluid levels up, especially if infected. Dehydration is one of the more serious aspects of the illness, and can put a strain on internal organs.
THYROID?! Sh!T. I have those symptoms, and so does my bro, we've been ill for about a week now and we both have thyroid problems. Eeek. I think I have swine flu Don't panic though, it's only harmed people who are practically knocking on deaths door anyway, I.E very sick elderly people. I'm sure it'll go by without much notice, she's being looked after.
Swine flu actually started in America. And it really isn't that much of a problem. It is just about more dangerous than normal flu, unless you have other conditions in which case it's a lot more dangerous (although that still doesn't make it that dangerous), and is restricted in how it spreads. It's also showed no sign of mutation other than what is expected, which means it is far more stable than most people though. Most people don't even need medical care. And when I say 'most,' I mean almost everyone. This is also the best-prepared country in the world. Normal flu can kill people, and does so almost as much as swine flu. Do you know anyone who has been killed by normal flu?
Fantasy, take it seriously, but dont freak and begin to think that your family is in mortal peril. In general, 90-95% victims of the H1N1 virus will feel absolutely terrible, probably worse than a 'normal' flu, but most have without problems. The global freakout over the Swine Flu, I feel, was completely unnecessary because it has made everyone much more afraid than they really need to be. Thank both the WHO (world health organiztion) and the media for that. The original statistics were very, very scary, primarily because it hit in Mexico first, and the Mexican health regulations arent the best. After it hit the United States, Australia, and some parts of Europe, the prognosis statistics were much brighter. For instance, out of the 28,000 cases of swine flu in the United States, only 0.04% were even close to death, about the same death toll the typical form of influenza takes as well. Just take care of your family, take extra care with your personal hygiene until the virus has been defeated. Ash, dont expect the worst. Thyroid problems are really common symptoms for everything from an ear infection to the common cold.
While I am not minimizing the danger, more people die every year from the plain, old garden variety flu than have been killed by the swine flu. Be sensible and everything will be fine.
Sort of. Mexico IS technically part of the Americas, but it is not part of the United States. Also only partially true. The lack of any vaccine, and a lower natural immunity in the population, is a cause for concern. Fatalities are mostly found in people with other serious medical conditions, although a few of the deaths have been in individuals who seemed to be otherwise healthy. All influenza is dangerous, and this one does make some people very sick who normally don't get very ill from other forms of influenza -- there have been higher incidences of people in their twenties and thirties getting very sick than with other types of flu, because of the absence of natural immunity.
The virus has been traced back to Wisconsin. That isn't in Mexico. This is no more dangerous than normal flu - it just infects a different age group. It doesn't even spread well, apparently, although it stays on surfaces for longer than normal flu. Any flu can kill people who have no other health problems. This one isn't unique.
I've heard of the Wisconsin livestock connection, but not sure how solid that is, or whether it is the first point of origin. The first human cases were the Mexico outbreak. Unique or not, it is a problem. Regular flu is a problem also. And as I stated, there are elements of concern about H1N1 relative to other forms of influenza.
Maybe gallow's thinking about the # of reported cases in the U.S. For some reason, Wisconsin seems to have the highest #. Vera Cruz, Mexico, is considered to be where it originated.
No, a Wisconsin teenager had the virus after he helped butcher pigs. I find it interesting that the American media hasn't reported this, although BBC Alba has. I bet it was the main news in Mexico. Whilst its actions may be similar to the pandemic just after the First World War, the virus itself is not as similar as people suspected. It does not have the same acids, and is less able to transmit between people. It also cannot produce anything but community-level transmission because of this. We shouldn't be paying much attention to what the virus does geographically, just what it is biologically. And, biologically, it (having been around for a few years now) seems to be a more stable virus than normal flu although it cannot transmit as efficiently.
It's just starting to hit our city now. Our university has a few cases, but scarily it's a pateint on the ward I work in that got rushed back to the acute hospital last night, with severe breathing difficulties. She has flu symptoms, so I'm hoping it's not the H1N1, that it's something else. We have twentyfive patients on the ward, and all of them are elderly and at risk of complications if it hits. We're waiting to hear back about both the patient (she's critical at the moment) and the cause. Cross your fingers for both to be good news. I think the worst part of it is that she yakked (vomited) all over me when I took her down to x-ray on Friday. I've been being quite sociable recently, and on Saturday night I was out with a doctor from an oncology ward. This scares me silly. I know, as a health (almost) professional, that swine flu is just a type of flu, and flu is generally something that people like myself with no serious underlying medical conditions, especially respiratory ones, need worry too much about. But knowing about the chain of infection, and how easily viruses spread, makes me now sit back and wonder, if I'm infected, how many other people have I infected? I'll let you guys know if it is the swine flu or not. Chances are, if it is, I'll be banished from placement until I'm out of the incubation period, so I'll have plenty of time to post.
It's odd to see people I know talk about swine flu. Nobody here has it. Before this thread, I'd only heard of it on the media. Fantasy girl, I am sure your mom's going to be fine. Don't worry about it. It's not that having the flu isn't serious, but you're not going to lose anyone to it. Just make your mom feel comfortable and cared for .
Swine flu doesn't spread as easily as normal flu, and the elderly seem to be largely immune to this virus And I don't think it's transmitted that way - it's either through surfaces an infected person has touched, or when they sneeze. Wow, I read a lot on this...
Oh, I just found an article about the teen in Wisconsin. Never heard about that before. Although I guess his swine flu isn't considered to be part of the current H1N1 because it says it didn't result in transmission of the virus to anyone else. So it went from pig directly to him, but then stopped there.
The propagation pattern and rates ARE important. A virus that kills 0.1% of its victims and is likeluy to infect 10 million people is more of a threat than one which kills 80% of its victibs but is contained to a population of a few hundred people. "Pandemic" rating is a measure of the propagation pattern, how easily and rapidly it spreads, and whether it can be reasonably contained. On tonight's news there were two more H1N1 fatalities in Massachusetts: a thirteen year old, and a sixty-four year old. Sixty-four isn't an octogenarian, but some people might consider that elderly.
Perhaps a complete tangent, but I saw a science program on the study of flu viruses and discovered what the H and the N in their names are. The H is the gene that the virus uses to get into a cell, and the N is the gene that the virus uses to get back out again. Which variant of these two genes a virus has determines the number that goes after each letter.
If you compare it to pneumonia, swine flu is nothing. According to Wkipedia: Sounds pretty damn serious, but we don't freak out when someone gets pneumonia (unless it's an 80-year-old grandmother or infant child etc). We say "aww, that really sucks". Even infants are usually fine. I think most of us are fated to suffer through pneumonia some day. I've had it twice - the bacterial kind - which I would have died from w/o antibiotics. Fortunately, I was never really in any danger. It did totally knock the crap out of me, much as I expect swine flu would do, but it's still nothing to worry about for one who is in otherwise good health and living in a country where proper care is easily accessable. If we're not gonna freak out about pneumonia, then I don't even care about swine flu. Sorry! I don't mean to be insensitive. It's nasty, like any other illness. You should take precautions, keep clean, take care of yourself and feel sympathy for those who suffer - just like you would/should always do. But swine flu will pass, fade into history. Pneumonia is forever. I save my deepest concern for problems that persist.
Pneumonia is also a complication that often arises from flu. It is not a disease in and of itself, but it is a serious condition. When combined with other flu complications, it can be fatal. Yes, there are more lethal illnesses, percentagewise, than influenza. But again, there are two separate aspects of any disease you need to take into account when considering how great a threat a disease poses: 1. How dangerous is the disease once contracted? What is the mortality rate with and without prompt treatment, and what long term systemic damage are survivors legft with? 2. What is its propagation? To what degree can the propagation be contained, and how rapidly does it spread through the population, with and without identification of infected carriers? It is the latter aspect that is of the greater concern with H1N1. That is what the pandemic classification means, that in essense there is nothing anyone can do to prevent the spread of the disease throughout the population. On an individual basis, H1N1 may not be all that alarming. But combined with its pandemic nature, and with no means to innoculate the most vulnerable members of the population, it needs to be taken seriously. Not with panic, but not with casual contempt either. There are two kinds of hysteria. One is to overreact, and live in fear of everyone who sniffs or complains of a headache. The other is to bury one's head in the sand and believe nothing, take no precautions. Whistling in the graveyard. The middle ground is to follow common sense precautions, particularly when you know you are in the presence of infected persons. Fantasy girl started this thread because members of her own householf were diagnosed with H1N1, and she was stredding over it. Somehow, this has again become a pointless debate over whether the global health organizations are overreacting. By now, her family is probably fully recovered.
