What is your personal experience of the current 'flu pandemic?
ViktoriaG Canada Local time: 20:24 Member (2005) English to French + ...
Not afraid
Nov 8, 2009
A few people have died in Québec. A bunch of people were diagnosed with what we call 'la grippe A'. However, it seems this is one of the most unconcerned parts of the world. Only a fraction of the population intends to get the shot, despite numerous warnings from the health minister, who even used such phrases as 'I am scared' to try to convince the population (what an idiot!).
People still sneeze without putting neither their elbow pit not even their hand in front of their mouths (although the popularity of elbow sneezing is up). A lot of people still spit in the street when they find they have a congestion. These are all gestures I disapprove of, but then again, I disapproved of them before the pandemic, too.
I don't hold the handrail in the subway. I hold pay phones away from my mouth if I have to use them. I wash my hands when I go to the restaurant, the doctor's office, etc. I wash canned drinks before popping them open (you never know what dirty hands touched them before you bought them). But these are all things I did before news came from Mexico. It's called good personal hygiene. And I believe those who have good personal hygiene are pretty safe.
Each year, hundreds of people die from the flu in Canada. The virus mutates each year, so even the elderly who get routine shots are exposed all the same. I see this as the good old flu that was always around. We will most likely never eradicate flu, no matter how many gazilllions of dollars governments will spend on vaccine. I don't trouble myself with it and I just keep my personal hygiene up--like I always have.
I am not getting the flu shot. My husband got his yesterday, after being urged by his doctor (his immune system is suppressed due to a chronic medical condition). Had he been perfectly healthy, he wouldn't have taken the shot. The way he sees it is that, in his case, the benefits of the shot are just about equal to the risk of not getting the shot. Right now, what bothers him is that this shot may make him sick (he is kind of pale and groggy since he got the shot), so maybe he would have been better off not getting it.
The bottom line is, I think people should keep washing their hands and not getting in contact with potentially unclean things and people. If you have alarming symptoms, go see the doctor, especially if you have underlying medical conditions (asthma and the flu don't mix well). As for the shot, I don't trust it--it took only a few weeks to engineer, and I doubt it has the merits its creators attribute to it. I know of only one perfectly healthy person who died from this flu so far in the province.
Mass vaccination--what a neat way to get a bunch of people together so they can pass whatever viruses they carry to others...
Edit: I wrote that a few hundred people die from flu each year in Canada, but that is not true. About 4,000 people die from flu each year in Canada. This year, we are still very far from that number, even with swine flu mixed in.
The last flu pandemic in the seventies comes with some interesting facts. A total of one person died from the flu, and a total of 27 people died from complications related to the vaccine. Where do we go from here?
[Edited at 2009-11-08 16:33 GMT]
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It happened in a village near me few months ago. A lady came from Scotland than thay discovered H1N1. The authorities quarantined the family and thair house. Than thay transported the family in town hospital which is just 500m from my home
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Theo Bernards France Local time: 02:24 English to Dutch + ...
Too important to leave the decision to children
Nov 8, 2009
Galia Williams wrote:
... I hope for the spray because my 7-year old might refuse to get a shot.
... I've read somewhere that the H1N1 virus is the prevailing strain at the moment and that all new cases of flu will be presumed to be the swine one. One of my friends (born and raised in Holland) said that she is not afraid of the swine flu because she hasn't had any kind of flu since getting a severe form of Asiatic flu as a child.
Refuse to get a shot? In my environment it would be the parent or guardian who makes such decisions, not the seven-year old, although I can understand the hope for the nasal spray if your child is afraid of injections.
I don't know if the H1N1 virus is the prevailing strain. I do know that every doctor formulates his or her own strain of thoughts on the flu, pardon the pun. I recently caught the flu (also here in France it is called "la Grippe A", or at least that is what I understand of it - my French isn't that good). I was violently ill for three days and after that I could get on with my life. My doctor didn't see me as a person at risk, so she refrained from prescribing Tamiflu. She said that pain killers and a lot of sleep would do the trick just as well and to be honest, it did.
A word of warning for the friend with Dutch roots, though (we Dutch must look after each other), because resistance to one strain of flu does not automatically mean that one is resistant to all strains of flu.
Anyway, that is my two cents about the whole thing.
Theo
Dutchman in France
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Penelope Ausejo Spain Local time: 02:24 Member (2004) English to Spanish + ...
Many people have had it
Nov 8, 2009
Here, many people have already had it. They all say it is a lot "better" than the seasonal one, shorter and milder symptoms. I think only 1 person has died here, but he also had other previous health problems.
I don’t want my kids to get vaccinated. Many kids in their school classes have already had the "A Flu" and they are all fine...
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Had a bad headache and felt feverish Friday a few weeks ago. Woke up still feeling rough on Saturday. As I'm in a risk group (asthma and another chronic lung condition) and the only adult in my household I decided to call my doctor's locum service rather than wait and see what might happen. Their doctor thought I could have the dreaded illness so prescribed Tamiflu and a course of antibiotics to use if things got worse.
I was still able to function pretty well during the weekend and by Monday I was almost back to normal. So if this was the dreaded flu, there's not much to dread. Nothing at all like the "normal" flu I had in 2002 which zonked me out for almost two weeks (some blood test which should have been about 200 was 10, or vice versa).
Still, it's funny to see when and how panic hits a country's media. In the UK is was pretty intense before the summer holidays, by now we're pretty relaxed - if not through person experience, most of us know at least one person who's had it lightly. In Sweden they started a bit later, but it's dragged on for longer and the media seems to have reach a zenith during the last week.
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Tomás Cano Binder, CT Spain Local time: 02:24 Member (2005) English to Spanish + ...
Big buildings... not a big help for your health
Nov 8, 2009
Christina Paiva wrote:
My advice: keep a healthy life style, drink a lot of water, don't go to crowded places, this might prevent you from getting the flu. If you have the flu symptoms, don't panic. See a doctor ASAP, stay at home and get some rest.
Sorry, but a healthy lifestyle won't keep you from big trouble if you catch it. So far doctors don't know why some people just feel awful for two days and then are fine and why others need big treatment at the ICU or they'll die. My friend has a lifestyle comparable to mine, i.e. he does moderate outdoor activity, does not smoke, does not drink, eats veggies and fruit... His only sin was to work in a large building with controlled climatisation, which makes me think that working in big buildings with no fresh air and closed windows is plain bad for your health.
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Christina Paiva wrote:
So far doctors don't know why some people just feel awful for two days and then are fine and why others need big treatment at the ICU or they'll die.
To my knowledge, at least 90%, probably more, of those needing hospitalisation have been found to be in risk groups.
His only sin was to work in a large building with controlled climatisation, which makes me think that working in big buildings with no fresh air and closed windows is plain bad for your health.
Being in a risk group and working in one of those large buildings, and commuting on the virus infected London tube, I still lived to tell my story. And did I mention I'm one of those horrible smokers....
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Sorry, but a healthy lifestyle won't keep you from big trouble if you catch it. So far doctors don't know why some people just feel awful for two days and then are fine and why others need big treatment at the ICU or they'll die.
This is the problem. Doctors probably do not know much more about the virus and why it kills some people and not some others, than an average person knows. Other than taking good hygiene measures such as Chrsitina and Viktoria recommend, what else can we do? Lock-up in our houses? I doubt it can be done. Also, quarantine measures so far have proven to be ineffective. Pray? Maybe, but that will only help you get to heaven, not not catch the flu.
I prefer to just carry-on with my normal life until this virus "of the season" is forgotten...
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Piotr Bienkowski Poland Local time: 02:24 Member (2005) English to Polish + ...
Not this year
Nov 8, 2009
But last year (2008) in March I had flu which was so severe that it almost completely wiped out my sense of smell. Was it the bird flu I wonder...
And I did not use the nasal gel that they blame for smell loss when used during flu.
The flu was as bad as can be, and even when I recovered I heard a drumming noise in my ears for a few days.
I guess I'm lucky that it did not kill me.
This fall I only had influenza which lasted about two days and even did not stop me from working. A child's play...
Regards,
Piotr
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Being Earnest Italy Local time: 02:24 Italian to English
I caught it last week
Nov 8, 2009
Last Sunday I went to a football matcher her in Genoa. On Sunday evening I had all the symptoms of flu (aches and pains, fever and sore throat). On Monday I had 38.6C and this stayed for three days with swollen glands around the throat and a splitting head ache. Drank lots of liquids and took some anti-biotics to lower the fever. I am back to work tomorrow but I have still not been out of the house. I recommend the following:
Stay indoors if you feel weak
Wash your hands as often as you can
Use separate towels in the bathroom
Use different cutlery and plates
Clean the floor twice a day with disinfectant
Always keep some gel with you to wash you hnads on the go (if no water is available)
Keep warm
Drink plenty of liquids
If you have a fever wear light clothes in the house
Use lots of lemon in the drinks
All the best!!
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After WWI (1918-19) during the first 25 weeks (25x7=175 days or almost 6 months) over 25 mln people worldwide hypothetically died from La Grippe Espagnole (H1N1, La Pesadilla)
. . .
After February 21, 2001 scientist were shocked to find out that 'the million people killer' virus had NO serious genetic alternations from common (less dangerous) virus strains.
Don't know about other countries, but there're a lot of oinking and grunting not-ordinary people in Ukraine. Some of them went as far as mixing seasonal and pig flu death toll and stating nonsense like it was no flu, but pneumonic plague. Yayks! Laughing with one eye and weeping with the other.
For some reason they strongly recommend the only and very specific medicine forgetting to mention it's as a last resort for really difficult cases and it has dangerous side-effects.
So, instead of buying that ultavague -superuseless -megaexpensive almost-expired 'cure-it-all' with no reliable clinical trials I'd rather-
1) wash my hands often and don't touch my face
2) drink plenty (e.g. juice, milk+honey or tinctura propolisi+tea)
3) walk in the fresh air and avoid crowds of people
4) regularly have an airing and increase the air humidity (~20°C @ 70%)
5) use saline solution for my nose and gurgle with soda+iodine solution
6) eat as rare as possible
. . .
Well, my medical background, common sense and buoyancy say it should do)
Hooray to sensible people who dare to outspoke.
P.S. Disease is but a forced evolution
[Редактировалось 2009-11-09 13:38 GMT]
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Juliana Starkman Canada Local time: 20:24 Member (2007) Spanish to English + ...
A bit of everything.
Nov 8, 2009
In our house we decided that the kids and I would get the shot and my husband decided not to. I have asthma and the H1N1 has been moving through the kids' school with nasty but not fatal results so far. However, we're flying to Argentina and the thought of being on the plane with people hacking and sneezing made up my mind.
I was first, and my arm, 4 days later is just beginning to recover- it felt like getting kicked by a horse. My youngest decided to get a high fever (but nothing else) a couple of days before the vaccine clinic, and so hasn't had it yet. The older one sat like an angel for an hour at the clinic, got the shot and since then (2 days) has had a high fever. H1N1? Reaction to the vaccine? Something she picked up from another child at the clinic? Who knows....
We seem to have 2 strains going around Toronto. The swine flu and a nasty regular seasonal one. I suspect our version is the second...which is enough to keep me busy washing things and opening windows as soon as people leave the room.
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ViktoriaG Canada Local time: 20:24 Member (2005) English to French + ...
Painful arm and flu-like symptoms
Nov 9, 2009
Juliana Starkman wrote:
I was first, and my arm, 4 days later is just beginning to recover- it felt like getting kicked by a horse. My youngest decided to get a high fever (but nothing else) a couple of days before the vaccine clinic, and so hasn't had it yet. The older one sat like an angel for an hour at the clinic, got the shot and since then (2 days) has had a high fever. H1N1? Reaction to the vaccine? Something she picked up from another child at the clinic? Who knows....
What you describe is consistent with my husband's after-shot symptoms. He says his arm hurts, although the needle prick looks fine--it's just a tiny red dot, and there is no redness around it. He says it hurts moderately. He has discomfort, but he says he can bear it.
As for the fever, he also has a bit of temperature, and he is quite pale. It really looks a lot like a milder version of the flu. Come to think of it, the very point of the shot is to get your body to produce antibodies, which are meant to fight disease. And what does the body do when it tries to fight some sort of virus or infection? It gets feverish. So, considering you just got vaccinated, I bet all this is normal.
As long as nobody in your family gets a bad case of cough, nausea or alarming fever, I think it is quite safe to say that these are just the symptoms of the shot, not the symptoms of the flu itself. In any case, it's always smart to monitor symptoms just in case. A simple fever can be just as dangerous as the flu itself.
[Edited at 2009-11-09 00:08 GMT]
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Translation is a hobby for me. I am actually a full time family physician in British Columbia. I own a clinic in suburban Vancouver, in a middle class neighborhood.
In the past 2 weeks I have seen over 110 confirmed H1N1 cases. By "confirmed" I mean that the viral nasal culture that I perform has been reported positive by the medical laboratory. The lab will also subtype the virus. Every positive case in the past two weeks has been Influenza A, subtype H1N1.
I have become quite good at differentiating between influenza, the common cold and another common illness, streptococcal pharyngitis. Influenza is characterized by cough, fever, body aches, headache and malaise. Sore throat can often be present, but when it is, it is usually mild. In fact, the absence of sore throat is a major help in distinguishing the flu from the other two.
Being Earnest wrote:
Last Sunday I went to a football matcher her in Genoa. On Sunday evening I had all the symptoms of flu (aches and pains, fever and sore throat). On Monday I had 38.6C and this stayed for three days with swollen glands around the throat and a splitting head ache. Drank lots of liquids and took some anti-biotics to lower the fever. I am back to work tomorrow but I have still not been out of the house. I recommend the following:
Being Earnest probably did not have influenza. Of my 110 "positive" flu patients, not one had swollen neck lymph nodes and the sore throat was relatively mild. Being Earnest probably had streptococcal pharyngitis, which, of course, responds quickly to penicillin style antibiotics. Being a virus, H1N1 is not affected by antibiotics. Instead, we use the antiviral Tamiflu (oseltamivir), which must be started within 48 hours of the onset of the infection to be effective.
Fortunately, none of my patients has been sick enough to require hospitalization, let alone die. Most are not seen in time to benefit from Tamiflu, so they are sent home to nurse their illness with acetaminophen and essentially, chicken soup. When they are seen in time, I recommend the Tamiflu especially if there is a history of preexisting chronic illness.
As for the vaccine, it is currently rationed in British Columbia to health care workers, children under 5 years old and those under 65 years old who have chronic diseases. I get my vaccine free from the public health department. Initially they gave me 70 doses, which was gone in a little over one day. I got another 100 doses on Thursday.
The other day a young patient's mother asked me, "You don't think he has H1N1, do you?" I answered "As a matter of fact, I think he does!" Her eyes really bugged out at my reply, as if it were a death sentence. I explained to her that her son did not seem particularly ill and that I expected that he would well shortly. The reported deaths are like the aircraft that crash while hundreds of thousands fly without incident. However, when millions of people are affected, there will be lots of untoward events. Part of my job is to decide who will need the specialized care.
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Johanna Timm, PhD Canada Local time: 17:24 Member (2002) English to German + ...
garlic, ginger & oregano oil
Nov 9, 2009
One of my daughters fell ill with H1N1 (I live in Michael Barnett’s area in B.C.), but she recovered quickly within a few days. In some of her high school classes, 50% of the students are currently absent, and the swine flu, the need for antiviral vaccinations etc all dominate the news media the moment over here. In my family, we try to stay away from antibiotics, and we do not intend to get flu shots. Instead, we take our orange juice in the mornings with a drop of oregano oil, add a bit more raw garlic to our food, and drink lots of ginger tea with lemon and honey – as we do every winter.
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The translation workplace 
