Christ.

What was that site that was so good about h1n1 and virii in general?

Asi,

fluwiki
flutrackers
pandemicfluinformation

???

I've been out of the loop on flu matters for quite a while.

this seems like a good site for general info

http://www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly/

and here is one with death articles

http://www.internationalsos.com/pandemic....

Well, poop. Kind of acti-climactic for me. I just have to shut my door and post signs to stay away.

Quick! Make a sub forum...

I'm wrapping my house in saran wrap & duck tape.

just an FYI, dont count on becoming immune via the seasonal....one of the dead had it, the others did not.

Quote:

Quote:

"'Ruth Blake DID have a seasonal flu vaccine, according to David Rogers, the Calvert County health officer. None of the others were vaccinated"

Current vaccine won't do much for low reactors (drift variants or H3N2v).

University of Minn. Edu site that compiles influenza related articles/releases:

http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/cidrap/content....

Already had the flu in February. It was a nasty one - haven't been that sick since 2005 when I caught the flu while travelling in Italy. Took a couple of weeks to get over and another couple of weeks to get my energy back. Had a lot of chest congestion like I haven't had in years from anything. I can imagine this sort of thing killing someone in their 80's.

Another data point: We were supposed to go over to some friends house on Monday evening, but the wife emailed us on Sunday saying that her husband was in the emergency room. Didn't say what it was at that point, but her husband is generally a very healthy guy in his mid-30s. The next day she said he was in the hospital with pneumonia. He was released yesterday. Also know of someone where I work (also in his 30s) who went through pneumonia in February. Seems kind of unusual... but maybe not.

Thing is, it's not the people that recover that you'll hear about. You'll only hear about the ones who died. And if they're all related, well it could be a genetic issue, no?

That said, I'm hoping that whatever flu I had back in February is close enough to whatever this one is so that I've got some immunity.

My wife and I did the flu thing in Dec/Jan. Similar to Uncles, worst we have ever been sick. I seriously thought I was gonna die... I got it worse than my wife, but she suffered a LOT longer. She ran a high fever for maybe 10 days, and she is still quite weak 2 months later. She could only whisper for around 6 weeks.

I picked it up in the US and brought it home (one of those traveling vectors...). It was just starting to show symptoms at the start of the flight, by the time the flight ended I was seriously ill. Airline was nice and gave me a row to myself.

I had what I'm almost positive was h1n1 when it was going around. I almost went to the emergency room one night because I couldn't breath laying down. I just sat up all night. Took about 3 months before worst of the symptoms went away and another couple months to recover.

Thrill of not having insurance most likely prolonged that.

Uncle, Asi and Moved-

You guys are freaking me out. I've never been as sick as you guys are talking about and don't WANT TO BE! My run in with MRSA and scabies this past year has made me very humble and THANKFUL for the excellent health I have enjoyed in my 42 years.

I just want to be healthy and not deal with this crap.

That was, by far, the sickest I've ever been. Just typical flu-type sick was the worst before that.

I had H1n1 in late 2009. I really did not feel all that bad compared to the hype at the time. I was working the toilet alot, thats sort of what struck me as different from the normal flu.

I had the toilet thing for about a week (never threw up though), HORRIFIC sore throat that lasted for 2-3 weeks, headache, stuffy head and REAL bad cough (dry more often than not) the whole time.

Sucked ass. Hairy, nasty, unwashed, unwiped dingle berry covered ass.

[Edit: Lost 30 pounds.]

Too much info, Asi!!!!

"The family is believed to have had the H3N2 strain of flu, which has been circulating in the U.S. for more than two years and has been in the flu vaccine for the past two years. H3N2 can be particularly dangerous for the elderly.

However it wasn't the strain of the flu they had that killed them. What was deadly in this case, and what health officials always worry about, are co-infections. CDC officials believe that all three had Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). It's the type of staph bacteria that causes boils. But it can also get in the lungs or the blood stream and cause dangerous infections. People who have the flu can be more susceptible to these infections. "You're sick with the flu virus and that can make you more susceptible to an infection from this really nasty bacteria that can make you really sick pretty quickly," says Skinner."

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/....

Quote:

It's the type of staph bacteria that causes boils

MRSA causes boils? Who knew?

Same Asi, pretty much swamp ass for a week straight. Cough or laugh and you crap your pants. My ass was like a molten dookie lava volcano. Kind of like the fondue thing at golden corral

Ape: Same here with the coughing. Did you HAVE to remind me of that?!?? :P

Sorry. I just remember needing to buy all new underwear and computer chair after everything was said and done. And yeah, i lost about 15 pounds

Well, I didn't have to buy a new chair, I guess that's something.

OK, first off... DON'T PANIC!!!!!

Now a couple things this old flubee has learned over the years (starting back in 2004-5 with H5N1)...

1) Flu viruses mutate ALL THE TIME... which is why we need a new flu shot each year... this very likely IS a mutation (whether recombined, reassorted, or a combo deal) that this year's flu shot won't cover (can't cover the mutation if you don't know what it is...)

2) It's VERY LIKELY that it's true CFR is under 2% (1918's was 2%), and probably more like .5% (closer to seasonal flu). We're all repeating LOTS of reports of a really bad flu going around (myself included) so very likely whatever this new strain is, it's already bad and nationwide (to steal a ZZ Top song title) and there ain't a whole lot you can do about it...

3) Go back and read through those reports of 1918... and 1856... and further back, if you care... there's ALWAYS clusters of deaths reported, and further, those clusters multiplied... look at the reports of NYC and Philadelphia, and how those cases and clusters multiplied until it burned out (much like a parabolic blow-off in stocks). We haven't seen anything yet... other than one (count'em!) ONE cluster...

OK, now the things to be looking out for-

1) More cases (duh!) What we really need to be looking for is more severe cases that are local and/or have had casual contact the original cluster. Incubation period is about 4-5 days from the sound of things (pretty typical of flu), and symptoms popped up on the 5th-6th of March. Soooo, if we don't have more reports coming from that area by March 11th or 12th (Sunday or Monday) we're probably in the clear on this one cluster.

2) Best to check with the pros, which would be CDC and ProMed... Niman is notoriously quick to jump the gun, and must be taken with a grain (or is that truckload?) of salt... by the same token, his ears are to the ground probably better than anybody's, so there is some value to listening to him, even with all his noise...

3) All those "dumb" precautions, like washing hands, coughing into your elbow (remember the Elmo PSAs?)... THEY WORK... follow them religiously, and you cut down your infection chances ~90%... same with avoiding sick people/staying home when you're sick... we just had a guy with the same crud that everyone here is talking about, we sent him home immediately when we saw him, and disinfected his work station...so far no one else at work is sick...

So, everybody, let's not get ourselves into a tizzy about this just yet, ok?

Latest word is that it was H3n2v complicated by MRSa.

Apparently something about this mutated strain of H3n2v causes any "dormant" colonies of MRSA to become activated and essentially kill the victim.

Don't know personally what the chances are that all of these family members had "dormant" MRSa infections... but do know that MRSa is prominant in nursing homes and places like that.

Cjworkman wrote..

Apparently something about this mutated strain of H3n2v causes any "dormant" colonies of MRSA to become activated and essentially kill the victim.

I don't like that scenario one bit. Ever since I went through Navy boot camp I've been prone to getting secondary skin infections that almost can't be stopped with oral antibiotics. Last time they had to throw three different antibiotics at it and if that hadn't worked my only option would have been hospitalization and an IV. No one's ever taken a culture to see exactly what it is but MRSA is a possibility.