To think that people really need to get a grip over the whole swine flu business?

[wannaBe]

Let's face it, we are all going to die. Nobody knows how, nobody knows when.

100 people have died of swine flu. 100 people. And yet people are talking of panic buying/keeping children home from school/wanting to know why flights from meccico have not been stopped.

100 people. worldwide.

I wonder how many people were killed on the roads during that time?

If you're going to catch swine flu, you'll catch it whether you panic about it or not. And given only 100 people have died of it so far, currently, the odds are pretty slim. And even if it reaches pandemic level (such as bird flu/sars didn't but the media were desparately hoping they would) there's still not much you can do about it.

100 people.

seriously.

[saintlydamemrsturnip]

Yes I'd rather get it now than in the autumn on top of other bugs. And I really don't want to have to make a vaccination decision about it. It's in ds1's school now, an SLD/PMLD school so some of the children there are very vulnerable - much better than medical resources are focussed on them and others who are vulnerable than those of us who are likely to get a pretty regular dose of flu then recover.

[mummydoc]

what a good post saintly - lovely to hear some common sense. though in my surgery ( previous to being struck down myself) i was dispensing similar "wisdom" better get it now and get it over with and majority will be fine, stay in bed , tea and sympathy approach etc etc. I for one am glad i wont be struck down with it in the autumn or christmas time

[andtheducksgomoo]

I have to agree with those who say that the health professionals do seem quite worried about this. When it started, a local teaching hospital discovered that they had FOUR of the appropriate surgical masks and were joking about getting some on ebay. But actually, the health service is really very unprepared, and it would be easy for everything to go tits up. The NHS is just not ready for this sort of thing.

[saintlydamemrsturnip]

"They just don't really know what to do with it and I for one do think it is a scary prospect."

A lot of medicine is like that though. Most people don't realise it because they have little experience of being ill/having a condition and assume there is a fix to everything - there isn't. I do think the dept of health are making a pigs ear (groan sorry) of it though, being crap at passing on information and actually inciting panic.

For the vast majority of people mummydoc's tea and sympathy will be the best route and will leave you with protection next time round (which is why this one is supposedly affecting the young- older people have protection from a previous similar strain). I remember a doctor once saying that assuming you are otherwise healthy the best protection against flu can be a good dose of it every 5 to 10 years. I wonder whether it would make more sense to really broadcast that (as it doesn't seem to be affecting healthy people adversely except in very very rare cases- which can happen with any virus) so leaving access to medical care for the people who really do need more than tea and sympathy.

[mummydoc]

i am in bed with it now, feeling grotty but no worse than ordinary flu, i have declined tamiflu as:

1. it only shortens duration of illnes by 1 day
   
2. s/e can be pretty yucky and ar ethe same as flu symptoms
   
3. it is not fully researched in other word sthe benefits of taking it are not fully proven and the risks not fully understood.
   
   i a going the tea and sympathy route myself...

[dilemma456]

Message withdrawn

[lljkk]

Are we more likely to get this flu bcuz it's much more easily spread than ordinary flu, or because it's so different from other flus so as a population we have little immunity (low herd immunity)?

From what I heard Tamiflu only shortens the duration of the flu by ONE DAY on average. It's hardly a panacea/cure. Most the people who died were also treated with Tamiflu, I presume.

[squeakywheel]

Was it really a joke then when unhealthy people like ones with asthma were the main ones thought to be more at risk?

Healthy people have always been at risk of dying due to any flu - it's no different now that sadly this little girl has died, it's just more obvious. But if it goes on the way it has been then the number of healthy people dying will stay a very tiny percentage of the total - the risk for them is still low.

[junglist1]

You know what on another thread in health it says they're not even giving tamiflu unless it doesn't shift after a couple of days?! WTF? If I have to lie to get tamiflu I'm getting it, no way am I waiting days if my kids get it after a healthy girl has died. No way!
I'm not a hysterical loon by the way, I just sound like one

[thederkinsdame]

As an asthmatic I am worried, as like most flus this strain can attack your respiratory system and pnemonia is a real risk for me. However, I am taking sensible precautions e.g regular handwashing. What else can you do? You can't isolate yourself for months 'just in case' and I'm sure things will get worse over the autumn, but I think we all have to be sensible about it. That said, i do have an emergency box with some food, but it's only enough for a few days in case we are ill and can't get to the shops, not enough to survive real food shortages. If there are real problems we're buggered in the derkins household!

[junglist1]

It's stupid to scoff now. MUTATION IN LONDON is what I had to read on the tube today. A 6 year old healthy girl has died, my son is 6. I'm bricking it now, and I don't trust the poxy government to know arse from elbow either. In the News section there's a thread about asthmatic children being left in cars outside A and E while struggling to breathe. It's not a joke anymore.

[squeakywheel]

Because everyone's chances of getting ordinary flu are low, but our chances of getting this flu are very high. And also because when millions of people have it in a short time the NHS will struggle (this is a given, not insane speculation - postponing as much routine outpatient stuff as possible is a standard part of pandemic planning, for instance).

That doesn't really mean you should worry, but it does mean this flu is worth paying attention to. It is a newsworthy virus - newspapers reporting on it isn't hype just because it doesn't make people very very ill. Swine flu going round the country isn't the same as a normal flu season even if for each individual the illness isn't much worse.

Plus as it's so new and so many people have it the mutation possibilities are a bit greater so that's a bit of an unknown, with the possibility that it could be bad.

Don't worry, but don't scoff either.

[lljkk]

I don't understand how much worse swine flu is than ordinary flu. All the official stats I can find (about the severity of it) suggest that it is only a little worse than ordinary flu (that's for Australia, where they are already in the winter season).

So please someone tell me, why should I be worried about swine flu when I never worry about ordinary flu?

[jannabin]

By the way, my 4 year old just had a gastric bug which has been through us all like a dose of salts. Glad I refused the Tamiflu on the basis that the side effects were a tummy ache and a headache which she already had! Having said that, had I known about little Chloe at that point, I might have taken it - it would have been a nasty medecine to give a child with a gastric bug!!

[jannabin]

Well....my friend is a GP and is really scared about the autumn/winter and how bad it is going to get....she has a box of food stuffs in her garage in preparation for food shortages! She is not alone in the health profession either. Whole departments are being shut down to allow for re-training. Some are predicting up to 60% of people being taken out by the virus at any one time and therefore there may well be food shortages, cos who will be well to deliver to and stock the shelves of the supermarkets!(hence the tins in the garage). The problem is they don't know how bad it is going to get. They just don't know. They diagnosed my 4 year old with it over the phone and I was asked did I want Tamiflu, I said what did the Dr think, she said, it's up to you....what???? They just don't really know what to do with it and I for one do think it is a scary prospect. What I want to know is what do you think about the vaccine. Who is going to get their children vaccinated when it becomes available. I am worried enough to think seriously about it and I hate the idea of loads of vaccines but with that poor little 6 year old girl dying of it; I think it is getting scary. Any thoughts?

[ruty]

that NS article is interesting, thankyou.

[scottishmummy]

try again new scientist article

[scottishmummy]

new scientist article

[tatt]

serious article for anyone still worried www.newscientist.com/article/dn17049-expert-analysis-mexican-swine-flu--the-story-so-far.html

[sfxmum]

will tell dh that his farting about making up stuff amused some

[MrsFreud]

pmsl sfx!!!

[Hulababy]

The BBC report also states that the baby, who arrived in texax on 4th April, arrived with "underlying health issues." I would imagine this could be part of his sad decline once he caught the flu.

[minesacheeseandpicklesandwich]

No-one's told me what the £20 test is yet, BTW.

[minesacheeseandpicklesandwich]

sfxmum you shouldn't apologise, that was brilliant! Anyone who gets offended by that reeeeally shouldn't be on here.

[scottishmummy]

there has been a disproportionately alarmist response.unless you fit current at risk criteria eg return trip to Mexico,close proximity to confirmed case then likelihood is no risk