Posted on 08/26/2009 4:24:25 PM PDT by EternalVigilance
From the author:
In general, the symptoms are very much like any other flu. The standard test given in any doctor’s office is a test strip with nasal swab.
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Formal “government” confirmation is done by the CDC, by which time the flu has already spread and run its course.
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We doubted the diagnosis at first. But the doctor turned out to be right on second opinion. The swab/strip test confirmed Type A - with markers “most likely H1N1.” The only absolute so far as I know is CDC confirmation.
Here is what 1 person wrote about testing & assuming all cases are H1N1 . The link can be found below .
As Dezi said, they are testing for Influenza A and B. Right now, per UDOH, 95% of influenza A is coming back as “swine flu”. With odds like that, doing the confirmatory test is a waste of time and money. The docs are treating the patients who are high risk (pregnant, old, young, or with underlying chronic illness) with tamiflu and giving standard flu advice to everyone else.
Since the test takes lab time and resources and there are thousands of Utahns getting sick right now with respiratory tract infections, they are trying to reserve testing for hospitalized patients where it’s really important that the test can be done in a timely manner. Demanding that you get the “diagnostic” test (that will almost certainly be positive if the regular flu test is positive) burdens the system put sicker people at risk due to delays. The best thing you can do for yourself if you get sick is to have someone checking in on you to make sure that you’re getting by alright.
With most flu strains, if you get it once, you are immune the next time it comes through. All bets are off if you took antivirals though, it’s not known whether treating the infection decreases the immune response.
(The below quote was posted in the comment Board section of the article was posted Third Utahns dies of swine flu
June 14th, 2009 @ 12:22pm
http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=6815361 )
We can’t have public school kids studying at home with the flu for a week or two. ‘The system’ will lose some of the kids to parents who realize that home schooling is easier than they first thought.
2000 IU of Vit D will just fire up your immune system and that may kill you faster
Check out Vit D3
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/newsletter/h1n1-flu-and-vitamin-d.shtml
Sorry don't know how to post a link.
Quite the opposite. They botched the ordering of vaccine and have been keeping their mouths shut hoping few would notice. Sebelius and Obama's hand has been forced only these last few weeks as epidemiological reports are coming in from the Southern Hemisphere and researchers have a better picture of what this virus is doing.
Helen Branswell, of the Chronicle Herald in Canada, has done some of the best reporting on this strain of H1N1. From Monday:
. . . . In the majority of cases, people had what seemed like regular flu. But in a small fraction of the infected, the virus’s attack on the lungs was so severe that patients ended up in intensive-care units, fighting for their lives . . .These folks were, generally speaking, decades younger than those who are hospitalized with seasonal flu. And doctors who treated them reported they were profoundly ill and enormously difficult to treat. And they stayed that way for prolonged periods, jamming ICUs
In the Southern Hemisphere, care of these patients has taxed the ICU units of hospitals in areas badly hit. And in a few cases which garnered a lot of media attention in Australia, a couple of patients had to be flown to other centres to find available ventilatory care. In at least one hospital in New Zealand, elective surgery was reportedly suspended because there were no free ICU beds . . . Full text
Obama and Sebelius are rationing vaccine. Those over 65 will not get it in time. Those over 50 aren't a priority Yesterday Gallup showed Obama is tanking with the over 65 demographic. 41% approval. Think he wants to scare people about the flu when his administration botched the ordering of the vaccine? Think he wants seniors to know this is as serious as it is? I sure don't. He's not going to highlight his failure on potentially the worst flu season in decades when he's out there trying to convince everyone they should sign up for ObamaCare.
Interesting. Thanks.
Yes, but maybe the school board and doctor are!
ping
Occam’s razor says “stupid”. But here’s why. You pointed out several key details, such as the 72 hour (3 day) incubation period. But the flip side to this is once a child is sick, unless a test is made to confirm the flu, which also takes days, they are just guessing. Because a *lot* of diseases look like flu. Including a panic, and kids “faking it”.
Now from the point of view of the school, when do you decide that enough is enough, and that school should be closed? It is almost a flip of the coin. The entire school could be sick, but not yet showing symptoms.
Quarantines are often after the fact, which means by the time the school is closed, the remaining students who aren’t sick, aren’t going to get sick. And any school closure days have to be made up by law.
Importantly, you are somewhat mistaken about transmission by coughing and sneezing. It is very temperature and humidity dependent. Ideally, for coughing and sneezing, 40F and low humidity. The higher those go, the harder it is to transmit the flu that way.
So the flu becomes much more dependent on hand contamination.
For this reason, children must-must-must wash their hands more than normal during a flu outbreak. And use hand sanitizer if they cannot wash. This significantly reduces their chances of catching the flu, by as much as 60%.
This is important enough for teachers to keep a quart bottle of hand sanitizer in class, and ask students to use it on their hands and the part of the forearms that rest on the desks. And even to hand out paper towels and cleaner, so that students can sanitize their desks before or after class. “There are five bottles of Windex. Spray your desktop three times, then give the bottle to the next student. Then wipe the Windex around with your paper towel.”
I believe that the article I linked was about the D3.
It also talked about taking the high dose (2000 IU per kg of body weight) for only three days, not a week.
And I don’t understand saying to use the high dose but not the daily. If the high dose is antivirual, the daily dose would help as well.
My wife is a pharmacist and works the night shift at a hospital. About three days ago, she told me that she had to deliver tamiflu to a patient that was confirmed to have H1N1. I asked her if she had a mask on. She said she didn’t but that the patient did. She said that the patient looked fine. I asked her if she was going to take the vaccine when it becomes available and she said no way, that she didn’t trust it. She was a pharmacist in the military when we met and has been a pharmacist for 23 years.
She is good!
Here’s an interesting forum I found some of her articles on:
http://www.flutrackers.com/forum/index.php?s=8b83fdc463900a85be96f80ea903c6b5
<I have heard that doctors are diagnosing any kind of flu symptom as h1n1 and that is what is bumping the numbers up.
And that’s assuming people go to the doc for a diagnosis. I’m a professor and we have to read a mandatory announcement re H1N1 for each class. The announcement requests that students NOT go to the doctor or health service simply to get a diagnosis, so as to not overwhelm the system. I imagine there will be a lot of folks w/H1N1 who won’t incur the expense of a doctor’s visit just to tell them they have the flu, so there will be lots of people who won’t know what variant of the flu they have.
You’re right—Facebook might come in handy here.
Don’t depend on the public school personnel to tell the truth.
There are so many things in play here. It's complex.
First, there's the science, which is far from perfectly understood.
Second, there's the political, with the WH currently being run by a faction whose mastermind infamously says, "Never let a crisis go to waste."
Third, there are the real public health issues, which are always tough.
And fourth, toughest of all, are the questions about how to respect liberty while dealing with large scale health threats.
Oh wait...there's a "fifth." Making things even worse, there are those out there who run off screaming into the weeds of wild speculation, scaring some folks half to death as they do so.
Calm, cool heads are what is needed.
thanks chick :)
So, what you’re saying is that, in addition to spreading just intellectual diseases, public schools are now spreading biological ones?
Shop late at night when the stores are empty. BUY lots so you limit the number of times you go to the store.
Check yourself out if you can.
DO NOT eat out until the wave has passed your area.
Join Netflix so you do not have to go to the movies or to the video store.
Stay back when talking to people from outside your house.
School kids? You are screwed.
Still wash your hands a lot and use disinfecting baby wipes.
If you feel bad stay home do not spread it.
Face mask can’t hurt when it reaches high levels in your area.
Again, I didn’t write it. I simply posted it.
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