I realize I am not the most educated in Health Care on the board but I have heard many reports that the Swine Flu is WAY more prevalent than originally reported. They're saying that tens of thousands of mild cases in NYC are out there, and I am sure it's the same for the rest of the country. (note the sad yet adorable pic on the cover of the NYT today)

A lot of my friends have had this terrible respiratory illness, thinking it's a bad cold that lasts for like 10 days. including myself (see asthma thread)....and a bunch of other people I work with all at the same time.
I wouldn't be surprised if this is exposure to and mild cases of this flu...

anyone else getting this terrible summer
"cold" going around?

About 30,000 people in the U.S. of A. die every year thanks to influenza.

yes. I realize this. The Swine FLu isn't more deadly than any other flu.

a flu with cold like symptons sounds like a pretty kick ass flu

200-some cases in indiana now, i think, according to NPR

some of you seem to get sick ALL the time. I haven't missed a day of work in years. Maybe you just have a low tolerance for discomfort, or are just screaming wiggly poonanies, but for some reason you're allowed to have meaningless, trivial problems. America has gone down the shitter and, like the fedora, it's never coming back.

it's just the virus you are getting.
doesn't matter how you react. it's the same virus.

like my brother had chicken pox for 2 days and was still playing outside.

I had it for a month and was hallucinating from 103 deg fevers

I have a terrible immune system and get sick constantly.

other than allergies, i get sick about once a year. and i get SICK.


then i'm done

Dr. Tiller. Now more than ever.

Man, that's a great scientific sample of one, crack.

Is that accurate? I read that H1N1 has a 2% kill rate, which I thought was much, much more significant than "any other flu". I haven't researched or anything and am likely as much a victim of the hype than actually am aware of the "situation".

My dad (an MD) thinks that the real test for H1N1 is going to be this winter when the "flu" comes out in full force. I guess we'll see. I am not overly worried about this though.

from what I have read, and others will know more, these flu epidemics will go in waves.
and it's likely what your dad said, that this is the initial wave and it will come back and kick us in the ass in a few mos.

I hope I DID have it then!

i saw some dudes with fedoras dancing at a club last week like they were justin timberlake. it was pretty hilarious.

I'm pissed off that they lifted the travel ban to Mexico, since it removed my excuse for not spending a week down there on business next month.

My daughter has had the same resp virus that my son had, and possibly a sinus situation due to mold in our place.

She stopped drinking fluids and was dehydrated and in the ER at Loyola per her dr yesterday for IV fluids. They told me she didn't fit the bill of swine. That there IS just a plain ol respiratory virus going around, like there ALWAYS has been and will be before Swine ever made it's appearance.

Be concerned but seriously, everyone needs to try and put some fucking perspective on this stuff. Viruses go around, doesn't mean it's swine every time you cough for a few days.

I know one parent on my parenting group who accepted a fucking diagnosis of swine OVER THE PHONE from her imbecile dr's office. You don't do that. That's stupid as fuck. Her kid has the same symptoms mine did and got over them after a few days more or less. Esme's doing splendid today and back to herself minus the congestion and cough.

Think about it too, the pollen level has been out of this world this season. The air is more polluted then ever in big cities(umm NY, Chicago, L.A.-three cities with some of the highest counts of swine cases), the rains have been relentless this season. Moisture is everywhere. The mold counts have been unusually high as well.

I have a feeling a lot of this is exposure to the above mixed with a regular cold, takes on a new life. I mean shit, we have mold in here like I said before. If we get a cold it lasts longer because we're already breathing this toxin into our lungs, our ability to fight it off is harder.

Just a thought.

There are several seasonal viruses besides influenza that produce cold-like symptoms. CDC website has some good maps. And regardless of which virus you get, you treat them all the same -- although with the influenza vaccine, there is some level of prevention.

And from a virulence standpoint, the new H1N1 variant (swine flu) has a slightly higher mortality rate than the seasonal influenza virus; but that is from questionable data.

The real deal is the bird flu. That virus goes directly from birds to humans -- as opposed from birds to pigs to humans; and it's mortality rate is greater than 50% affecting 20-30 years old. Now that's something to be concerned about.

LooGAR chastising another boarder for insensitivity. Charli asking everyone to keep things in perspective.

Next: Radcliffe enjoys Animal Collective?

<--- home for day 2 of some kind of cold/flu thing. sore throat, and congestion (heh, mistyped that "conjection") and very very low-grade fever now and then.

but i get sick easily.

3 others are sick at work.

I somehow doubt it's teh swine flu though. (can't help but be mildly worried, but what can you do). last time I had some mild cold symptoms I called the health care line here and went through all the screening questions. I had actually just been to the doctor 2 days before. In the end the nurse told me I probably caught something at the doctor's office and should just stay home and drink tea. Heh heh.

those symptoms are what tons of people have.
exactly what I am talking about.

yes, true, the thing is that I usually get this kind of thing at least 3 times a year. don't normally have any kind of fever, but the other stuff is same-old for me.

Isn't the swine flu bad because nobody saw it coming so there isn't a vaccine? Once there is a vaccine the dangers should drop dramatically, right?

Not necessarily. The last time I heard, the H1N1 swine flu strain was going to be put into this year's vaccine. These strains used are only predictors of the likely virulent strains. And these strains have to be produced 9 months ahead of time -- plenty of time for a new strain to emerge or a known strain to mutate.

The issue with the swine flu is that the flu season in southern hemisphere -- going on currently -- give an opportunity for the virus to mutate. The current strain in the US that had everyone going nuts produced less severe symptoms than normal seasonal influenza. Given the right tweak during the southern hemisphere's flu season, the genetic makeup of the swine flu could produce a much more virulent strain -- and thus, the intended 2009-2010 vaccine using the current swine flu would not cover it. Likely a pandemic waiting to happen, but probably no less severe than the strain in 2006.

In 2006 a Type B influenza predominated (H1N1 is Type A) -- which normally makes up a minority of infections. This was not covered by the vaccine and resulted in a much more severe pandemic. Time will tell....

My little brother in Melbourne has swine flu. He's fine. Though I keep telling him he's probably gonna die.

Apparently Victoria has the highest infection rate per capita anywhere in the world.

I've had fatigue, a sore throat, lung and sinus congestion for a couple of weeks now. I've been writing it off to allergies, but it is a more significant reaction than I remember from previous years.

Although H1N1 hasn't killed many people, the people it has killed have been disproportionally young and healthy compared to other flus. This is unusual and a cause for some concern. It may not be a world-wide killer pandemic plague, but it should be taken seriously.