Symptoms of H1N1 (Swine Flu)
When I went to the grocery store yesterday there was a group of people walking around wearing surgical masks. I'm sure that like me everyone else in the store was thinking, "Great they have the swine flu." and, "Keep it at home people." So how prevalent is H1N1 in your community? Probably more prevalent than you think. My husband works on the only ICU at his hospital, in Salt Lake City taking H1N1 patients. They currently have nine patients positive for swine flu. It's interesting to note that as experts predicted most of these patients are in their twenties and otherwise healthy. One nurse has contracted the illness but was not hospitalized.
Nine doesn't seem so bad, the problem is that for every one patient hospitalized there are dozens more people carrying the virus in the community. I just found out that six of my extended family members may have had H1N1. They came down with common flu symptoms that went away after a few days. They only began to suspect H1N1 after a close family contact received positive results from his doctor's office.
Symptoms of H1N1 are very similar to other strains of influenza and include runny nose, cough, sore throat, fever, body aches, chills and fatigue. H1N1 is believed to spread the same way as other flu viruses. If you have flu like symptoms the CDC recommends staying at home except to seek medical care for seven days after getting sick. You should also cover your mouth when you cough, wash your hands, and avoid touching or rubbing your eyes nose or mouth. H1N1 is currently being treated with Tamiflu a medication that can shorten the duration of the illness and in some cases reduce the severity of symptoms. Officials are also working hard to create a vaccine for H1N1.
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did it occur to you that maybe the folks in the store with the masks were trying to keep from catching the flu from someone else? for heavens sake – its a frickin cold. one way to totally derail a population is to make them terribly afraid of each other and mistrust each other. people are carrying around all kinds of diseases ALL the TIME. whether or not you catch it and develop symptoms depends on your own health and immune system. stop listening to the media and its craze to come up with a vaccine and take some vitamin c.
yes, sarah your right the media does have their own albeit inaccurate version many times. And yes it is a cold, but this cold which I’m sure you are unaware of as to your angry comments causes a very severe reaction in the young healthy population called ARDS (Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome). While not everyone reacts this way the following populations seem to be more predisposed to this reaction of the body: obese, asthmatics, pregnant or immunocompromised. How many people do you know that fit this bill? While thousand will only have flu-like symptoms, do you want to be one of relatively many that end up in the ICU for weeks with further weeks of rehab due to a lung complication that will take a minimum of a year to recover from? Vitamin C is great but when you take vitamin C supplements your body takes what it needs and discards the rest in urine. Most people get enough vit. C. Magnesium supplements and Echinacea are a lot of hype and old wives tales with little to no actual scientific evidence around them. Rather than going on about people’s immune systems,and masking a disease that is devastating when it hits certain populations why not educate and try to prevent these problems, with knowledge, vaccines or whatever works. In 1 month I’ve seen 24 young people get devastatingly sick. While this won’t happen to everyone, this is one hospital across the country. The WHO is right this is a problem, quite fighting those who want to try to fix it.
RN – you misread my post. It was exasperation not anger! You undoubtedly see the worst of the worst everyday and are more fearful than the general public. I agree, if you have a cold, stay home – try not to spread disease, keep yourself healthy and at a correct weight.
But no need to fear your neighbor or the folks in the grocery store. If you are still scared to death when the vaccine comes out – I applaud you for lining up to be a guinea pig for it….I’ll be running the other way. The seasonal flu vaccine does not work – and neither will this untested vaccine. (IF you are under the impression that the seasonal flu vaccine does work – you should really give a careful read to the Cochrane Review about its efficacy.)
I wonder what the numbers would look like if the CDC tracked deaths and complications from common rhinoviruses? I imagine they would be far greater than the swine flu statistics. Seems like the CDC has a scary disease every couple of years or so that goes nowhere. guess swine flu is the current winner. Your prevention tips are common sense – but how can you stop the spread of a disease most people don’t know they have because the symptoms are so mild?
Fear isn”t what needs to happen. Caution… Staying at home when your sick. The patients we tend to get are social people… Young people. I do see the worst of the worst… but in previous years, I’ve only seen 1-2 really bad flu patients a year. These are older people mind you. This is attacking a younger population. Which is why greater caution needs to be taken. What happens when bacterial meningitis hits a school? Is meningitis scary… even devastating… Yes. The lung disease these people take is equal to or worse than the hit that people can take with a spinal meningitis. I’m not scared. I’ve been exposed so many times, I should sell my antibodies. We have had nurses come down sick though. I do however fear for people that consider this a common cold. No common cold does this. The regular flu does not do this to this patient population that we are seeing. And this is one hospital seeing a 1200% increase in critically ill patients in 1 month.It’s not even the flu season. One advantage these patients have is their age. We can push our life support efforts far above that of the elderly that we typically see with the flu. Relatively few have died, but with alot of rehab afterwards. These people don’t return to work after leaving the hospital if they get hit hard enough. In an already down economy this is a big deal. I’m not afraid for me, I’m afraid for the young people my age and younger that are social and obese, asthmatic, pregant or immunocompromised. These are patients that were playing lacrosse etc… the day before they come to the ICU.
I think what makes swine flu different and is so frightening is that unlike the regular flu a specific population has not been pinpointed to be at risk. While we know that deaths caused by regular flu are almost always in the elderly or small children, experts think that it’s affecting younger people who are healthy. It seems to hit people randomly, healthy immune system or not, making the illness unpredictable. We have specific guidelines about who should get a flu shot, but this year is going to be different because there isn’t a clear cut high risk population.
Sarah is correct, the media has hyped up this current Flu pandemic. The symptom,s of this flu have so far been noted to be mild, the vast majority of people who have this flu dont realise that it is the H1N1 virus and dont seek treatment and carry onliving normal lives, the department of health in the UK are no longer considering universal treatment with antivirals, except in situation;s when symptom’s are noted to be severe. The department of health in the UK are no longer routinely testing patients with flu like symptoms for H1N1. There is also scentific evidence to suggest that tamiflu is an ineffective treatment, it is probally effective only as a placebo drug. Nearly 100% of people who have died from H1N1 also had significant co-morbidities for example they had been in chronic poor health prior to contracting the virus. The virus is noted to infect mostly the under 60s that is because anybody over 60 would have had contact with a similar virus in the 1940’s, thus giving them significant immunity. In summary this flu virus is no more dangerous than any other flu in cirulation in the winter month,s.
I always laugh when i see people in public with mask’s research show’s that the standard flu/TB barrier mask’s are only effective for a period of 3-5 mins, most people wear them incorrectly upside down,back to front or by not covering their nose etc therefore getting no protection at all. I am not concerned about the virus yet however there is alwaysa chance that it could mutate into a more severe virus, we have no evidence so far to suggest that this will be the case.
I think we need to first understand that ICU-RN was using the story of her observation of people wearing masks at the grocery story as a back plot to illustrate what effect media propegation, and surmounting community/population fears, weather rational or not can lead to in a community, as this lastest “pandemic” and the dozens yet to come are unleashed on our society.
Everyone has this on their mind right now…althought I’ve yet to decide if I’ve moved on from west nile yet, as I huddle in my basement pesticide and flu masks on hand. She just uses this simple illustration to show exactly what kind of concerns these diseases and viruses can bring about in our society. I think that her tactic has worked quite well as the ensuing discussion just further propogates her point. But she goes on to ask, what is the real concern. And in my opinion provides some excellent information on symptoms and prevalancy, withing her community. This is information we can all take back to our homes and use to “arm” our selves as we try to keep ourselves, and our families healty. Of course we should always do what we can to keep ourselves as healthy as possibly. I think however Sara’s rationalization of not letting ourselves get fat and avoid the flu vaccine is the answer. The are many members of our community, such as myself that are suffering with autoimmune disorders that causes us concern, and is certainly out of our control, and can’t be cured by the keep yourself thin and take vitamin C solution. Even Sarah after slaming her vitamin/herbal coctail then spending 45 min on the treadmil to keep out of that at risk population, could potentially overwork her body and compromise her immune system. The majority of the US population struggles with obesity. I don’t think we can take the survival of the fittest attitude.
The moral of the story presented here by Ms. Hayes is arm yourself with as much information as you can, do what you can to be safe, and go on with your life.
She has presented me with some excellent information on symptoms to watch for prevellence in my community, and what help I can look for from the medical community in the future.
Do I believe the flu vaccine works yes, and do I believe they may find a successful vaccine for this disease, I do. Modern Medicine has worked miracles for our society, this is why we can have people at 97 years of age laying in the Hospital dying of the flu.
Natropaths have been around for centuries…and you can continue to run from vaccinations all you want, but I’ve yet to have one cure me of anything. I took my Vitamin C, Complete mineral and vitamin supplements, hebal compounds, ate an exceptional diet, and was in excellent condition as a competative cyclist. Yet I was still struck in my prime of life with an auto immmune disorder. So I know a healthy lifestyle is not going to save you from everything. This is one of the issues that is so concerning about H1N1. But am I going to hide in my basement and wear a bio hazzard suit out in public on my monthy vitamin C run…No.
Panic proliferates ignorance, rumor, and false concerns. Get the best information you can, be smart about how you process all information, and go on with your life.
We will have plenty and more concerning issues to panic about in the future.
How can i avoid or prevent Influenza A(H1N1)?
Hi Sarah,
The best way to prevent H1N1 is to wash your hands frequently, cover your mouth when you cough and sneeze, stay home when you’re sick and encourage others to do likewise.
There is also some value to disinfecting household surfaces and doorknobs, telephones etc… as H1N1 can live for up to 8 hours on inanimate objects. Once a person comes down with flu symptoms they are contagious for 7 days. The CDC recommends they do not leave their house during that time except to seek medical care.
Tamiflu can be taken within 48 hours of being exposed to H1N1 to prevent or decrease the severity of the illness.
Other than that the best thing you can do is take care of yourself by eating right, exercising and getting plenty of sleep to keep your immune system operating at peak performance.
Happy to answer any other questions you might have.
Kristin Hayes, R.N.
ENT Guide
Nearly all deaths have not been by people with pre existing health conditions. Read up pup.. CDC.gov
that was for ed..