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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to think parents who refuse to let their children mix with my ds because he goes to a school closed for pig flu are idiots

140 replies

TheDullWitch · 06/05/2009 20:59

DS1's school is closed because of pig flu, he's taking Tamiflu - although he has no symptoms whatsoever. The health advice is, he can go anywhere, mix with anyone. DS2 is going in every day to his different school. Even so friends have cancelled their visit because they're worried about catching it! The hysteria is ridiculous.

OP posts:
tallulahbelly · 06/05/2009 21:23

I wish I was rich enough to send my children to a school that had swine flu

morningpaper · 06/05/2009 21:23

But Donk that can't be correct if: "The health advice is, he can go anywhere, mix with anyone"

blossomsmine · 06/05/2009 21:29

......thats a coincidence tallulahbelly. I was reading a paper today that said that mostly private schools are closed because those are the families that could afford far flung foreign holidays in the school break....

No chance of that round here....

Donk · 06/05/2009 21:30

But MP - surely the idea is that if he is on tamiflu, he won't get it/be infectious

FatGirlThin · 06/05/2009 21:30

I wouldn't let my dc visit. Why risk their health when I could wait a few weeks? Oh and I'm not hysterical at all.

GlastonburyGoddess · 06/05/2009 21:30

YANBU, the hysteria about it all is ridiculus. if its no more harmful to the healthy person than winter flu, why is there such panic about it? I understand that those immune suppressed/other vunerability are more at harm, but thats the case with winter flue too.
I also dont understand why the nhs are spending all that money sending out leaflets to everyone about it, we dont get that every winter when normal flu is commonmadness.

blossomsmine · 06/05/2009 21:34

I am not a hysterical person.... However, i think i might steer clear aswell.

I don't even know what the symptoms of swine flu are but if it is like normal flu i wouldn't want to catch it.

AitchTwoOh · 06/05/2009 21:35

silly world health organisation, with their hysterical threat levels.

itwasthepanelinthedoorofcourse · 06/05/2009 21:46

I don't see much hysteria to be honest - but normal flu kills people every year even though only 6% of us get it each year and something like 30-70% could get this - a hell of a lot more.

Also, some of us are unhealthy, or have family members who are very young, or old, or unhealthy, so we care about what happens to them. And the normal flu mortality rate would be higher without good medical care and if lots of people get knocked out by this at the same time then there won't be as much of that to go round.

This virus was looking much worse at first - if it had kept going the way it seemed to be in Mexico we'd all be shit scared - we've been lucky that it's looking not so bad!

Noonki · 06/05/2009 21:46

I would avoid you -sorry, having just recovered from years of having ME, last thing I need is for us all to go down with this!

HRHQueenElizabethII · 06/05/2009 21:56

Tamiflu slows down the activity of the virus, afaik - it doesn't prevent infection or contagion, but reduces impact and likelihood. I've been working on pandemic plans for a while now, and in the past it's been the later waves, which may have mutated with (say) ordinary epidemic flu and/or something more serious like H5N1 which have the larger impact. And these things have to be planned for - they do try to reduce hysteria, despite appearances, but better to plan now and get people used to improved hygiene measures etc than try to do it in a later and more serious wave.

MP - I suspect they'd close the school as it's a mass assembly type environment, with regular contact with the same set of people, unlike most situations the child would be in on a week off.

As regards the OP, I reckon I'd visit, but I would get my kids to undertake careful handwashing, etc - but that's just a sensible thing to do in the current climate. I wouldn't risk it if pregnant, as a fever even in a mild case of flu can be quite dangerous to the baby.

thereferee · 06/05/2009 21:57

I think their reactions are perfectly understandable tbh...but I'm rather with the 'catch it now' brigade and so perhaps we should have a MN 'swine flu soiree'?

Original poster
TheDullWitch · 06/05/2009 22:32

Well, I was all for the catch it now. I didn't want ds to take the Tamiflu. But there was a lot of pressure to do so. And it has been suggested that catching this mild strain won't help that much when the mega bug comes around, it will be too different.

It is the illogic which is bugging me. Like why take them off school yet allow them to mix freely?

Tamiflu isn't nice. It is making ds nauseous.

OP posts:
edam · 06/05/2009 22:38

poor ds.

Wouldn't bother me, personally, think there could be something in the 'catch it now' idea. Even if not, the current strain of swine flu is obviously not that deadly in this country.

What does worry me is what it will look like in winter. And yes, normal seasonal flu does kill people every year, but mainly elderly/susceptible people. The new virus looks as if it might be more deadly to younger/fitter/healthier people. (Not that the lives of the elderly are any less important, but it's a significant difference - you don't expect people in their 20s and 30s to be killed by flu.)

Plonker · 06/05/2009 22:42

I have to say, I haven't got caught up with all the swine flu hysteria but I wouldn't be particularly rushing to bring my children round to play either.

Although Donk et al do make very good sense in what they're saying ...hmmmm ...

Original poster
TheDullWitch · 07/05/2009 09:36

Today ds is so worn out he can barely get up. That damn Tamiflu is v strong stuff. And no he's not sneezing or oinking or anything.

OP posts:
rutyfruty · 07/05/2009 09:41

Well as an asthmatic who has just been knocked for six by a chest infection, and having a baby too, I would be trying to avoid you. Otherwise I'd go with the catch it now theory. But I think it is a bit harsh to call people idiots when you don't know their circumstances.

rutyfruty · 07/05/2009 09:42

the Tamiflu is a worry too, what do they do for exposed babies, they can't give Tamiflu for under ones.

Idranktheeasterspirits · 07/05/2009 09:48

Relenza maybe?

Jux · 07/05/2009 09:49

I think journos just like whipping us up. I think your acquaintances who are cancelling are silly. I'd much rather my dd got the mild version now, rather than the nasty version which is likely to emerge in the winter.

rutyfruty · 07/05/2009 09:51

and there was a thread about breastfeeding and tamiflu/relenza. No one seems to know if it is safe or not as they are so new, so problematic for people like me who are breastfeeding.

rutyfruty · 07/05/2009 09:53

the logic is rather skewed in this argument. Dullwitch says her ds is not contagious as he is on Tamiflu. If that is correct you are not going to get the mild form from him. If he is contagious, then of course at risk people [those with babies, those with asthma etc] are right to stay away.

stuffitlllama · 07/05/2009 09:56

Do be careful on the Tamiflu, have a look at the side effects.

Kimi · 07/05/2009 10:10

Can see their point, and they are doing what they feel is best for there children

CrushWithEyeliner · 07/05/2009 10:14

"mild version" people who say this haven't a clue, sorry.