scared about swine flu

[michelle89]

hey,
im really scared about swine flu, im 14weeks pregnant and have asthma. i have jst found out that swine flu is at two schools down the road from me and morrisons around the corner from me
im really concerned about it as pregnant women are more prone to get it, and with me having asthma i guess that means im screwed?
i cant take tamiflu if i get it becus of the baby, and i cant tke relenza becus of my asthma.
anyone else concerned?

I've looked this up recently because my parents are stressing about me and swine flu.

The important thing to consider is most pregnant women who catch swine flu will have mild symptoms, and be better in 4ish days - even if they don't take antivirals.

A vaccination is expected at the end of August and it might be worth tipping off your GPs surgery that you are both pregnant and asthmatic - both together may push you to the front of the queue.

You say you can't take relenza. I believe they are prescribing Tamiflu for severe cases in pregnancy. But only for severe cases.

The other thing that may put your mind at rest - is that now they're not swabbing any more, some cases which are down as swine flu may well be nothing of the sort. One little boy I know is on Tamiflu because he had a temperature, and there had been another swine flu case at the school. In his case, he had no dry cough / sore throat / any other classic swine flu symptoms, and was right as rain in 24 hours, which suggests he didn't have swine flu at all... yet he's now down as a swine flu case.

Does that mean swine flu isn't becoming very widespread? No - it is widespread. But even if you get it, chances are you and the baby will be fine. For the most part, it's mild.