Posted on 11/16/2009 10:24:32 AM PST by fanfan
OTTAWA Despite the recent surge in H1N1 deaths, the nation's chief public health officer says the pandemic virus appears no deadlier than regular seasonal influenza and that there could actually be substantially fewer flu deaths than normal this season.
Although H1N1 is disproportionately infecting more children and otherwise healthy young adults, "the mortality rate from this (H1N1) is no worse than seasonal flu," Dr. David Butler-Jones said.
"The individual risk of severe disease or dying if you happen to get the flu is very similar today as it was back in June. It's just that we're starting to see a lot more people affected," he said.
Experts said the rates of serious illness and death are far from the levels predicted for a novel pandemic virus and that, based on the information available up until now, H1N1 is not on track to causing disease and death on the scope or scale of the flu pandemics of the 20th century.
(Excerpt) Read more at ottawacitizen.com ...
How did you fare finding the vaccine?
Sigh. The 36K number is a statistically modelled figure, not tested cases, and even then, 90% to 95% of these generalized fatalities are over 60 to 65. Flu never kills hundreds of children a year; the CDC itself now says about 540 kids so far have died. Most of the fatalities from swine H1N1 are children and vigorous young adults or middle aged adults, not the elderly with one foot in the grave, like regular flu.
And the pandemic is not over yet; it’s just beginning.
You really, really need to educate yourself because what you are saying it just not accurate.
which is fine with me...
flu is afterall, flu....antibiotics don't help except with secondary infections.....
its hype and hysteria....
stay healthy, eat and drink well, and SLEEP ...oh, and stay away from work or other people when you are sick....just like regular flu....
gastroenteritis affects people differently...as does hepatitis....
certainly people are capable of becoming quite ill with any flu, or disease, and they do it in various degrees....
I don't question people sick with flu....I maintain though that we don't have the true numbers...I maintain that there are lots of "things" going around..and that a sinus infection or bronchitis can last for weeks with a cough, etc....
3000 people a DAY die of malaria.......3000!
Yes I did, they swabbed way up my sniffer. I got the call a couple of days later. Thankfully we are all ok now. Took a full 2 weeks to get 100% back.
Flu is flu? Not exactly. There are different strains, and there are variations in virulence. However, I do agree that the general symptoms are the same.
It’s early for widespread seasonal flu (at least in PA, where it usually doesn’t hit a larger number of people until January or after); most of the flu right now is H1N1.
I would also say that Tamiflu is useful if you have a chronic disease or condition, or if you are hospitalized, that puts you at risk for a more severe case of flu. In a normally healthy individual, it is of minimal to no use, as there are side effects, and being that it won’t eradicate the virus, it’s probably not worth taking.
Good handwashing to minimize the chance of becoming infected, educating oneself on the various aspects of flu, knowing when to seek treatment in case you become dehydrated or develop a secondary bacterial pneumonia, and using common sense are what you need during flu season.
If this is mild, (and I not saying it isn't) I DO NOT want to know what is “bad”. Six days till I felt like I was human again, or even good enough to get on FR. Hope to be back at work next week, but I doubt I will make it tomorrow.
I guess I should have been more clear. Looking at it individually, the flu will definitely put you out of commission for a few days. Clinically, we are not seeing a lot of kids hospitalized, rarely seeing any that are dehydrated, and not any more than usual getting a secondary pneumonia.
I had seasonal flu about 19 years ago, and had never gotten a flu shot. I remember being on the couch for several days in a row, hardly able to even move, severe pain even with coughing, and probably dehydrated. I’ve gotten the flu shot every year since then, and haven’t had it since (whether or not this is because of the flu shot, no way to tell).
Hope you’re feeling better soon.
I probably wouldn't have even gone to Urgent Care Sunday, except that I was 300 miles from my regular doctor, it hurt like heck to breath, and I was supposed to go to a benefit later that night for an old friend. The reason being he spent three days on a vent from complications of H1N1 (him being a stubborn Nebraskan, he waited to long to get treatment).
Still, it was good that I was here at my parents house when I came down with it rather than with my wife and baby. Nothing like long distance isolation to limit contact.
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