Swine Flu Again

[julesapple]

A child in my son's year at school has been diagnosed with swine flu this week.

I was quite worried as it has now been admitted that the Tami-flu drugs won't be issued as they don't work.

Sam heard a rumour about having three weeks off school (for disinfecting purposes) if another child is diagnosed. The little ghouls have been hoping this will happen. I had to break the news that it wasn't true, much to Sam's disappointment.

I read all of the info sent home, then said to Sam that if he so much as sneezes, we'll need to shoot him.....he believed me for a split second, bless him.

It's all quite worrying though.

Jules

[tiachica]

Hi Jules,

I hear what you say and I understand how you feel.

While Swine Flu certainly can be a serious condition, it is really just a certain type of flu. Do you know that it is estimated that 3000+ people die each year of the normal seasonal flu?
Also, if you look at the people who unfortunatly died from Swine flu, they had very serious underlying conditions and a massively weakened immune system already.

Obviously, I don't know the circumstances in your family, but I hope that none of your family members suffer from such a weakened immune system. Assuming that your boy goes to school, it sounds to me like he will cope fine with the flu, whether normal seasonal or swine, if he was to catch it.

Tamiflu is a medicine that supresses the virus in the body, but not completely. Also, it will prevent the body to learn from the virus and establish a viral immunity. So there is a chance that if you get the virus and Tamiflu, your body will not be able to cope as well as it could if it would catch the virus again.

It's difficult to stay calm with all the hype around this virus. I have a 1 year old, and too wondered whether to keep going swimming or to baby groups with him, but you can't lock yourself up and there is far worse things out there than the flu or swine flu.

Hugs and strength to you!

Franziska

[JILLY JACKSON]

apparently,growing your own food stimulates your immune system according to psychology today.So hopefully all of us on here may be better equipped to deal with this virus.Certain strains of soil-borne mycobacteria are the reason for this.

[julesapple]

Gosh, no.....

.....worrying though it is, Sam and James have been packed off to school. You can't wrap them in cotton wool, and they're healthy lads.

I do think the media have blown it all out of proportion, as they love a sensation.

The poor child who has it does have a long history of illness, so I imagine their parents are incredibly worried. But swine flu is in the population now, so hopefully humans will build up some immunity to it.

Funny how you see and hear about all of these things but are curiously detatched until it somehow touches your family, however remotely.

Sam is still going to all of his clubs (as is his older brother) and socialising as normal. Funnily enough, since we've had chickens, Sam's circle of friends has increased hugely!

Jules

[Naga]

It is scary indeed, it's quite possible the missus has and we have be confined for a further 7 days in our house (OH to her room lol) and is to late for her to take Tamiflu. Am quite worried about my 8 month old though! Him and I have both had colds but his flapping around like a mad man so I think his fine. I've not as yet been as struck out like the OH, fingers crossed.

The school up the road from has not been closed, the headmaster said that the kids can catch it any way so she sees no reason why to close. Surly you can at least minimise the chance my keeping the kids in?

[julesapple]

Surely you can at least minimise the chance by keeping the kids in?

Maybe this isn't the right thing to do, maybe our kids need to be out there with all immune system guns blazing?

I think the craze for everything 'anti-bacterial' has a lot to answer for.....we bought cat litter the other day, just grabbed the bag in passing, and I've realised that the bag says 'anti-bacterial' Is this not a wee bit too far?

Jules

[Naga]

Oh yeah, called NHS Direct the other day and complained of flu like symptoms, they asked if I wanted to take part in a survey to see where flu symptoms where coming from in the UK and go an SF test kit.

[pdblake]

It's at my eldest's school too. It seems to be quite mild at the moment though, so probably the best time to catch it.

It does seem that all those who have died so far have not actually died from swine flu, but of other illnesses. They just happened to catch swine flu too. Still, that won't stop the media screaming about it.

[Naga]

The media make me laugh, they say no to panic yet they are quite happy making it sound 30 times worse than it is.... whatever sells I guess .

I am doing a curry tonight and will pop a bit of Naga sauce in the mix, if the missus has swine flu Mr.Naga should take care of the problem lol! (of course chilli does not fight Swine Flu just in case someone comes across this by mistake looking for alternative treatments).

[julesapple]

The media make me laugh, they say no to panic yet they are quite happy making it sound 30 times worse than it is.... whatever sells I guess .

I am doing a curry tonight and will pop a bit of Naga sauce in the mix, if the missus has swine flu Mr.Naga should take care of the problem lol! (of course chilli does not fight Swine Flu just in case someone comes across this by mistake looking for alternative treatments).

My sister's partner loves chili, the hotter the better. I bought him a bottle of extra hot chili sauce to pop in his christmas stocking. I didn't notice, until he pointed it out, that on the bottle were instructions on how to use the sauce to clean algae off your driveway!!

(Presumeably, in tropical countries algae is rife in monsoon season)

Hilarious!

Jules

[Bagpuss]

I've been off work for the last couple of days with what I thought was a very bad cold. I was told yesterday that one person in my office has been diagnose with the dreaded S Flu, needless to say all hell has broken out in the office.

I thought I would be sensible and call the Dr's this morning to see what she thought. I've been given 24 hours to start feeling a little better, if I am no better I have to call again for the Tami (sp?) flu (Dad has kindly offered to be my flu friend) or , more worryingly, seek "immediate advice" if I get significantly worse.

I have to say that I am usually a fit 31 year old, but I do feel dreadful, and if honest with myself, think it is probably more than a cold. Terrible headaches that just will not go, cannot seem to move very far without feeling warn out, achey back and neck, very sore throat and a very bunged up nose.

I'm grateful now of my girl guide training which has meant that I have a full stock of pills and potions to try and make myself feel a little brighter.

I do think that the media blows it out of proportion, I suspect because it is an illness that has "jumped" from pigs to humans.

I seem to recall that I read somewhere that these things do happen every so many years.

My understanding is that unless you have underlying health issues, you will only enjoy (!)the usual flu symptoms.

While I am not a mother (yet!) I'm not sure that I would keep my child indoors if they were otherwise healthy. If the flu is spreading as they say it is, it is likely, as with any other childhood illness, that they will pick it up at some point.

[Naga]

I reckon a fair number of people are picking it up and not even knowing what it is, most of the people I know who have felt whacked out all report the same things about feeling achy, bunged up nose, fever, shivers, etc. I know it's not very nice to have but I think it's gonna be here for a while and probably won't fade out until the majority have been hit.

I would have thought that if the media made a big deal out of flu we usually get I expect lots of people would be just as scared as they are about swine flu, it's just that the hype with seasonal flu isn't blown up as much as this.

I remember when it first came about the news reporter was saying about how bad this new "deadly swine flu" is, then the next story was "a man has became ill through drinking contaminated tap water and not to drink in in area xxxx". They didn't even say that it wasn't related to swine flu and I expect they had it next on the news reel to put the creepers on people.

Philip Scofield said to a guy he was talking to about swine flu "but this thing is a KILLER", "I mean this is what it does, it KILLS people"..... talk about blowing it up!!

[kirsty b]

Just had this letter from Pickles school

Just got this from school when I picked her up a few minutes ago.

SWINE FLU IN SUFFOLK SCHOOLS AND EARLY YEARS SETTINGS

I am writing at the request of the Local Authority to provide an update on the management of Swine Flu in schools and early years settings.
As you know, this new flu virus was first found in Mexico in April and from there has spread to many countries of the world. So far, in Suffolk, we have been much luckier than some parts of the UK in that we have had relatively few cases. We are, however, now starting to see some cases in schools and, because this flu virus seems to pass easily from child to child, we may well see more in the run up to the end of the summer term.
When the swine flu virus was first found in the UK, the policy was to close schools if a case was discovered in a pupil and to offer anti-viral drugs to other children in the school. This made sound sense at the time, as doctors were not sure how severe this virus would be and we wanted to stop it spreading in the UK.
Two months later, we now know a lot more about the virus, and in particular, we know that it only causes a relatively mild illness in the vast majority of people who get it. These findings have led to a reassessment of policy regarding school closure and it is now highly unlikely that public health doctors would advise the closure of a school if a pupil or member of staff was found to have swine flu. It is also very unlikely that other pupils would be offered antiviral drugs to try to prevent them getting swine flu - even if they were in the same class as someone who had swine flu.
It is, however, important that children who are ill with swine flu are kept away from school for a period of 7 days from the date that they develop symptoms.
In addition, parents should keep an eye on children who have had contact with a swine flu case at school, for a period of 7 days from last contact. The symptoms to look out for are high fever (temp above 38 degrees C) with a mixture of other flu symptoms such as headache, aching muscles, cough, runny nose, sore throat and sneezing. Swine flu is very unlikely to develop after this 7 day incubation period and symptoms are most likely to start after 2-4 days.
Parents are advised to contact their doctor if their child does develop symptoms after coming into contact with someone who has swine flu. There is, however, no need to keep a child away from school if they have not developed symptoms, even if they have been in contact with a known case.

Brian Keeble
Consultant in Public Health Medicine.

[Bagpuss]

Herby I agree with you. I've never had flu before, although seen how it's floored other people. I would not have said that i am that bad in that I can get myself out of bed, but I would not have thought it was swine flu from what it reported, just a very heavy horrid cold. Feeling wacked is exactly how I would describe it. I guess I'll have to see if I'm feeling a little brighter tomorrow.

[Two_Sheds]

Certain strains of soil-borne mycobacteria...

I serve several bits of soil in each salad, according to Mr Sheds, so he should thank me really, for strengthening his immune system