swine flu?

[Dulciedot]

My dh is not well how do I know if it is swine flu?

NHS direct who I have spoken to him have said he will only be swabbed if he is known to have had contact with someone who has it. They admitted to me that this is for logistical reasons and the same applies for Tamiflu. I am worried. It is almost like there is a news blackout on this issue.

I dont know but if you are not happy, then you could always try ringing your docs

Why do you think it is likely to be swine flu? There have only been a tiny number of cases in this country, and those have all been people who had been in Mexico, or had been in close contact with those people.

So, unless you have any specific reason to believe he's been in contact with them, he is extremely unlikely to have swine flu.

He may have flu - there's always normal flu bugs around - or he may have some ordinary cold virus.

If he seems to have flu symptoms (temperature, aches etc as well as cold symptoms) then he should be staying home and not spreading it. If he doesn't have those symptoms, it's probably just a cold and he should make his usual decision about whether or not to stay off work.

There isn't a news blackout, but can you imagine the panic if people were seen going to swab everyone who was displaying flu symptoms? Call your GP, explain the symptoms, tell your DH to stay off while unwell. Your GP will know if there has been a local outbreak, and will be able to act accordingly.

H1N1 has produced only mild illness outside of Mexico, so there is little cause for alarm.

In the US I think they're now talking in terms of working out what proportion of new flu cases are the new flu rather than trying to pin down exact numbers.

It's just out there now - govts aren't doing really detailed contact tracing or anything like that to try to stop it, it's too late. It'll be the same here - so if we get flu, yes it could be swine flu, and the more weeks go by the greater the chances, but equally it could be another flu.

If the new illness stays not much worse than recent normal flu, it probably makes sense not to use up the Tamiflu on that for people who wouldn't normally get given Tamiflu if they had a seasonal flu bug. Testing so you know that a particular person has one kind of flu rather than another isn't much help now either (except to researchers trying to characterise the disease in detail).

It's probably better to save Tamiflu for people who are definitely vulnerable (who'd get given it anyway even if they just had normal flu), and healthcare workers, so there's less absenteeism in hospitals. Might be best to save it for next winter here when the new virus may have mutated further and got more lethal, too (horrible thought).

dulciedot - theres a few factors to think of which hopefully nhs direct will have gone through. Firstly, do you live near the known outbreaks? Has your dh been to the States recently?

My understanding is that tamiflu is generally effective only for the first 48 hours.

I agree with MuminScotalnd re the mixing with people. If he is poorly enough to be worrying you then he shouldnt be sharing whatever bug he has with everyone else. Lots of handwashing, supplying kids with tissues for school. Make sure that you have enough supplies of paracetemol, soup etc in case you go down with it - don't be a martyr and struggle out poorly, be prepared instead.