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Post by bixaorellana on Oct 24, 2009 16:51:29 GMT
This is starting to seem more and more real. To nag for a moment: I hope everyone is taking vitamins for that extra boost. Yes, young people are strong, but they also tend not to take great care of themselves because they feel so resilient. Just saw this news article, marked "21 minutes ago". The flu is now officially a national emergency in the US: news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091024/ap_on_he_me/us_obama_swine_flu(any chance the title on this thread will be changed?)
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Post by imec on Oct 27, 2009 13:32:19 GMT
Province wide vaccination program (open to every Manitoban) opened yesterday.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 27, 2009 20:15:37 GMT
I think we get ours next month. No one seems to want to have the vaccine though.
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Post by cristina on Oct 28, 2009 3:44:04 GMT
I wasn't allowed to visit my son's friend this weekend, unfortunately. He is still in the coma and as a result is starting to experience atrophy. I am still optimistic for his recovery, but am afraid that the atrophy may not be reversible.
He's been in the hospital now for almost 4 weeks.
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Post by bixaorellana on Oct 28, 2009 3:47:37 GMT
Jesus! I thought it would be automatic for people in comas to have their limbs manipulated by PT staff! He needs someone to advocate for him. Are his parents timid?
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Post by hwinpp on Oct 29, 2009 10:00:41 GMT
Here's an article from Germany: Growing Doubt Among Experts Is Swine Flu Really a Pandemic?Germany has launched the biggest vaccination program in its history. But the inoculation jabs are proving so effective and the disease is so mild in most cases that experts have their doubts about whether swine flu is a real pandemic. The researchers who develop vaccines hope, of course, that their products will work. This time around, however, even the developers themselves were surprised to see just how effective their products have turned out. Researchers from the Novartis pharmaceutical company, testing their swine flu vaccine this September, were astounded to find that just one dose was sufficient to produce copious antibodies in their inoculated patients. Similar news had already come from China, and GlaxoSmithKline followed shortly afterward, finding the same held true for its vaccine, which Germany is putting into effect as of this week. Unexpectedly, the company found a second shot for adults was unnecessary. These findings present a puzzle for immunologists and virologists, who are now asking themselves what this tells us about the pathogens behind swine flu. Pandemic viruses are newly occurring pathogens. They're unknown to the human immune system, which is why people are so defenseless against them. Not one but two inoculation shots are generally necessary to provide sufficient defenses to an immune system that has no previous experience of a virus. Why, then, are current vaccination studies from around the world delivering results that seem far more fitting for a normal, seasonal flu? Johannes Löwer, president of the Paul-Ehrlich-Institut (PEI), the German governmental institute that oversees immunizations, suggests these results could "perhaps be explained by the fact that the population is not actually as immunologically naive as was inferred from the virus' characteristics and the course of the infection." So is swine flu not actually as new as previously thought? Is it, despite evolving from swine and avian viruses, not a complete unknown for humans after all? And does that mean perhaps it isn't a true pandemic virus at all? This is not exactly the most convenient time for these doubts to arise, at least from the perspective of Germany's health officials. The country's first large-scale vaccination campaign has just begun, with the public so far showing little interest in getting itself immunized. Doubts about swine flu's status as a pandemic are hardly welcome right now. But the question -- is it a pandemic, an unusual flu season, or something else in between -- is not a purely academic one. When the World Health Organization (WHO) decided on June 11 to increase the pandemic alert phase to six, the highest level, pandemic plans came into effect around the globe, governments stocked up on drugs worth billions of euros, and companies turned out new pandemic vaccines. Was it all really necessary? Taking preventative measures was certainly warranted. The virus has already claimed more than 5,000 victims globally. Pregnant women and young, previously completely healthy people have died of the disease -- although only in rare cases -- within the space of just a few days. Thus PEI President Löwer believes, "The question of whether the spread of the new influenza virus concerns a pandemic or rather a seasonal occurrence is a moot point with respect to the need to provide vaccines in a timely manner." Did the WHO Overreact?
And yet it can't be denied that in most cases, the infection has run an astonishingly mild course. And the question of whether the WHO overreacted will only become more pressing. Some experts expressed criticism early on, saying that before declaring phase six, the WHO quickly modified its own definition of a pandemic. The organization simply disregarded the criterion that stipulates a very high mortality rate must first be present, and changed passages accordingly in the pandemic definition on its Web site. If the virus turns out not to be nearly as new as first believed, that begs a further question -- what, then, actually makes swine flu a true pandemic? Some virologists already had doubts when the WHO first announced the existence of a new flu in late April. Top health officials were indeed talking about a "new subtype" of the influenza virus, one feature required by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to meet its definition of a pandemic. But "new subtype," it turns out, was an inaccurate description -- the pathogen behind swine flu is in truth only a new strain of an old subtype. And as influenza expert Hans-Dieter Klenk at Marburg University's Virology Institute explains, "such strains are more closely related to each other than subtypes are." Today's swine flu did arise new from a combination of avian and swine viruses. But it's related nonetheless, in a roundabout way, to the pandemic-causing virus of 1918, which still has descendants circulating in the population. That could help explain why older people contract swine flu considerably less often than young people -- for their immune systems, this new virus is simply an old familiar one retooled. But younger people may also be less defenseless against the new virus than originally believed. The influenza proteins H1 and H2, which characterize different viral subtypes, typically vary by more than 40 percent. The H1 protein that has made the leap from pigs to humans with the current swine flu virus, however, differs from the H1 of the seasonal flu virus by only around 25 percent. "And we suspect," Klenk explains, "that this closer relationship is also reflected in some way on the immunological level." What does all that mean? That unlike with the pandemics of 1918, 1957 and 1968, when truly new subtypes sent waves of infection across the globe, this time human immune defenses may be better prepared. The fact that many people require only one vaccine dose to be protected against swine flu is one piece of evidence. Another is that the virus didn't spread nearly as far through the population as originally feared during the Australian winter. No one knows how swine flu's course will run. But in the end, British molecular biologist Derek Gatherer may prove to have been right all along. Gatherer declared his suspicions back in the beginning of July, that humankind is facing only a "pseudo-pandemic," one that "may be insufficiently virulent ultimately to enter the annals of major pandemics." www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,657876,00.html
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Post by Deleted on Oct 29, 2009 11:20:16 GMT
This is fascinating information. Thank you hw for sharing. Well worth the read.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 29, 2009 12:00:13 GMT
H1N1 had been out of the news, but apparently it is now fully ravaging the Paris metropolitan area. However, I still do not know a single person who has had it.
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Post by lola on Oct 29, 2009 16:24:35 GMT
The flu vaccine is dribbling in to the states in seemingly random manner. ER docs and other personnel have mostly gotten theirs, appropriately, and there will be a vaccine clinic Saturday for pregnant women at a local hospital. Otherwise, very elusive.
Predictably, there is a level of panic among parents, and paranoia too: people call our state flu hotline with their Government Plot theories.
I won't get it, because I'm not in a high risk group, but I very much want my daughter who lives in a college dorm especially, and also her sister, to get vaccinated.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 29, 2009 18:32:29 GMT
The emergency wards in Paris no longer have a single vacant bed.
One interesting thing that they were saying on the news it that it strikes incredibly fast. You get home from work at 18:30 feeling normal, at 18:40 you start getting pain in your joints, at 18:50 you get a sudden burst of fever and by 19:00 you know that something is seriously not right about your health.
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Post by lola on Oct 29, 2009 21:06:13 GMT
Apparently this virus did not grow on eggs as well or as quickly as expected to make the vaccine, so a hold up in production.
One of our children's hospitals has set up a separate Emerg. Dept hallway just for flu like symptom pts, triaged as they enter the door at ED. No one with a sprained ankle wants to sit next to them, for one thing.
We attended a play at a local University yesterday, and all the buildings had dispensers for hand sanitizer gel as you entered.
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Post by lola on Oct 29, 2009 21:10:45 GMT
Whether it reaches the level of pandemic I can't say, but lots of young people are very miserable with it, or worse.
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Post by imec on Oct 30, 2009 12:55:48 GMT
Mrs I received her shot yesterday (as a healthcare worker she's in the high priority group). The rest of us will get ours as soon as we are able.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 30, 2009 12:57:59 GMT
It's hard to know what to do. My kids tell me they don't want to have it. Although I reckon, my oldest will probably have it done at Uni. And I'm not planning on having it either at the moment, this may all change however.
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Post by imec on Oct 30, 2009 21:18:33 GMT
It might not be an issue - a severe vaccine shortage is now occurring. Manitoba is only receiving 15,500 doses instead of the 72,000 expected in next weeks allocation.
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Post by existentialcrisis on Nov 5, 2009 11:07:25 GMT
Feels like we're damned if we do, and damned if we don't. I don't like vaccines. I'm not high risk. I quite frankly don't trust the media, government, or health officials... not to sound like a conspiracy theorist. Anyone here familiar with the 1976 swine flu pandemic? Apparently some people that got vaccinated suffered neurological damage.
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Post by existentialcrisis on Nov 5, 2009 11:08:31 GMT
And I now have 1 friend who has it. He says it's just a bad cold with some aches and pain. Says the media is blowing this out of proportion.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 6, 2009 12:02:10 GMT
I have my annual physical scheduled for this upcoming Monday and have decided I am not going to get the vaccination. Would like to hear how your young friend is doing Cristina.
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Post by hwinpp on Nov 10, 2009 9:11:09 GMT
I called a friend of mine in Germany on Sunday. He casually mentioned towards the end of the conversation that he and his whole family (wife and three under 12 year olds) had just recovered from a couple of days of the swine flu.
I've also hear that there seems to be a difference between the strains (?) in Europe and North America. It seems to be killing a lot more in NA than in Europe.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 10, 2009 9:35:35 GMT
They just started vaccinating in France this week. Most people do not want to be vaccinated, but certain professions are being pressured into doing it.
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Post by spindrift on Nov 10, 2009 13:07:11 GMT
Since yesterday the local news station has been advising all those considered to be 'high-risk' (such as myself) should now seek vaccination at our local surgeries. I have decided not to do this - from what I have read it seems that neurological damage is possible.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 10, 2009 14:08:07 GMT
I saw my primary care physician yesterday for my annual physical. She did not offer it,I did not request it.
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Post by cristina on Nov 10, 2009 19:01:46 GMT
I have my annual physical scheduled for this upcoming Monday and have decided I am not going to get the vaccination. Would like to hear how your young friend is doing Cristina. He is still in the hospital. In his case, severe pneumonia was a complication of the flu. The swine flu is gone, but he is still on a ventilator over a month later. The latest update that I have is that he is expected to remain in the medically induced for a couple of more weeks. Then he will have up to several months of rehab before he is really even close to his old self. As far as the vaccine goes, I am still struggling a little bit with inadequate testing of the vaccine. My first thought had been that I would encourage my children to get it, but now I am not so sure. My older son and daughter refuse to get it anyway. The 14 year old wants it. For now, I don't think so.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 10, 2009 19:05:33 GMT
I'm having my 2-year office check-up on Friday and will see what the doctor says there.
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Post by existentialcrisis on Nov 11, 2009 10:02:09 GMT
Just found out today that a close friend back in Halifax has H1N1. This worries me because she has extremely bad asthma. Every time someone dies they always say the person had an "underlying medical condition", but the conditions are never specified. This is frustrating. I don't know how concerned I should be for my friend.
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Post by Kimby on Nov 20, 2009 0:25:47 GMT
The H1N1 may be less virulent in older people - unlike past flu epidemics - because they have been exposed sometime earlier in their life to a similar virus. Anyone born from 1960 on may have less natural immunity to it, so they say. So many of the people who are dying from it in the states are young folks (just the age where they'll put their foot down and refuse to get the vaccination).
I don't worry about the vaccine's safety because it is created exactly in the same manner as the seasonal flu vaccine. I don't know if I'll get it though, because I may not be at high enough risk to get it and the limited doses are quite rationed around here.
I tried to get the regular "seasonal" flu shot yesterday, and was told there is no vaccine in the entire county. I don't like to go into a walk-in clinic to get a flu shot because I'm healthy and there are lots of sick people there, including people coming in to get diagnosed with the flu. So I try to go to a flu shot event at a shopping center pharmacy, where I am less likely to be exposed to the flu. Backfired this time, as by the time they started doing these vaccination events, the vaccine was unavailable. Hope they get more, but in the meantime, I'm "unprotected". Except for my natural immunity.
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Post by happytraveller on Nov 22, 2009 18:23:17 GMT
My sisters whole family is sick with swine flu. I am not too worried about them as they are all healthy otherwise.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 22, 2009 20:39:47 GMT
Looks like most people are okay with it, HappyT.
Let us know how they get along.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 22, 2009 21:18:23 GMT
France had something like 50 schools closed for H1N1 two weeks ago, but there will be more than 200 schools closed tomorrow morning. Clearly something is happening.
And people are worried about the new mutation of H1N1 discovered in Norway. Apparently it attacks the lungs much worse than the first version.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 22, 2009 21:46:49 GMT
mutation? So this vaccine is not going to work for those who get the mutated version of H1N1?
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