Swine flu yet again

[Quiver0f10]

On the news last night I heard that 19 kids died from swine flu last week alone. They said this is more than usually die from the regular seasonal flu. Granted they also said most of those 19 deaths were from kids with underlying conditions, but some were not. I admit these numbers have me concerned. Still not sure I want to get the vax and feel it was pushed out way too soon. I hate these types of descisions.

Edited October 10, 2009 by Quiver0f10

[fivetails]

and feel it was pushed out way too soon.

 

..was it though? I was thinking about this..don't they have to change the flu shot every year as is? Because the flu isn't the same from year to year...so wouldn't this be pretty much the same process, similar length of time, etc? I don't know...just a thought.

[Denisemomof4]

I'm so concerned for everyone, but especially younger ds and dh who are prone to pneumonia or sickness-caused asthma.

[Quiver0f10]

..was it though? I was thinking about this..don't they have to change the flu shot every year as is? Because the flu isn't the same from year to year...so wouldn't this be pretty much the same process, similar length of time, etc? I don't know...just a thought.

 

 

I don't know. We have never gotten the regular flu shot so to take this one just doesn't seem right to me. Yet...

[fivetails]

I don't know. We have never gotten the regular flu shot so to take this one just doesn't seem right to me. Yet...

 

Neither have we. Well, dh did once, through his old workplace - but the kids and I never had. I've had a horrible-feeling flu once, that I can recall, and a lesser flu this year in March (possibly the swine flu, we don't know - we all got sick with something flu-ish the last week of March)... that's it. Prior to this year, I never even thought twice about "flu shots" - I mean, I always just thought "it's a flu. Big deal. You get it, you feel like crud for a few days, you get better." ....now, not so much.

 

If we're doing the seasonal flu shot, we have to do that one next Sat - and it *has* to be that day because it's a drop in clinic only with huge wait times, but there's a girl working that day who will slide us in when we get there as she knows about ds10's disabilities and that he simply can. not. sit there for hours. It's then or never. I can't even decide on THIS shot. Argh.

 

My mother gets the seasonal flu shot every year - she works in a nursing home and even if *she* didn't get badly sick with a flu if she caught it, she could spread it to an elderly person who could die from it. Everyone who works there gets it.

[hsmom]

I am with you I think it came out way too fast. I feel sometimes things like that do more harm than good. We also don't do the regular flu shots either. I am still on the no we are not getting it boat. I am not comfortable with having my family get that shot yet.

[Tree House Academy]

It is definitely scary. Since my older son had a terrible case of both A and B in 2003, the kids have gotten the flu shot every year (so 5 years now) but we are still on the fence about the H1N1 vaccine for many reasons. We have never had a problem with the flu shots for the kids. I had an issue one year that I am not sure was related the the flu shot, but it happened just after I took one. It was not severe and I recovered, but since then, I take my changes with the flu. I had it pretty bad when I was 16 and haven't since. If the kids get the H1N1 vaccine, I will too, though.

 

ETA: I do want to say that the numbers of kids who die of the seasonal flu was not always as low as it have been in the last 3 years. In the 2003-2004 season, when my older son had the flu, it claimed the lives of 153 children. Many of those kids also didn't have underlying conditions and many were in the same age range we are seeing with this flu. It was all over the news that year and, since my son had it, I paid attention. It is looking like the numbers may very well match that season's by the time is it over. :(

Edited October 10, 2009 by Tree House Academy

[Desert Rat]

Well, I'm 90% sure my 9yo has H1N1. We're waiting on the results. He's an asthmatic. I put him on all his nebulizer meds at full dose the second he started showing any signs of sickness and he doing really well. He's had a fever of 101 or higher for 3 days now. He's grumpy and achy and just lays on the couch and watches tv or plays his ds. (He's not lethargic). If he does have H1N1, I don't see much difference from the regular flu and am treating it like I would any other illness. We have standard responses to any type of illness the kids get and watch their lungs very carefully. The only thing I'm doing differently this time round is being super, super duper careful to keep everyone in the house and make sure we don't have any contact whatsoever with my dad who is oxygen dependent.

I'd love to hear the backgrounds of the children who have passed away. Were symptoms not treated? Were the parents not educated about breathing issues (retractions, blue tinged lips and nails, etc)? Were they ailing to begin with? Did they not seek medical attention in time? I'm thinking that these kids were in jeopardy regardless what type of flu they got.

Just my 2 pennies.

[organichomemaking]

Kalah, this is very important information that I wonder about as well.

[hornblower]

.

I'd love to hear the backgrounds of the children who have passed away. Were symptoms not treated? Were the parents not educated about breathing issues (retractions, blue tinged lips and nails, etc)? Were they ailing to begin with? Did they not seek medical attention in time? I'm thinking that these kids were in jeopardy regardless what type of flu they got.

Just my 2 pennies.

 

This is not accurate. A large proportion of the kids had NO underlying symptoms. Many deteriorated very fast. Many didn't begin to deteriorate until they were already in the hospital where the trained staff is there to monitor them.

 

The ICU drs this spring were reporting that they simply could not oxygenate their patients.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/prepare-now-for-h1n1-intensive-care-units-told-56534792.html

 

"I've never seen this," says Dr. Paul Hebert, editor of the Canadian Medical Association Journal and an intensive-care physician in Ottawa who has treated several of these patients.

 

"As an ICU doctor, it's very, very, very rare I can't deliver enough oxygen to someone to keep him alive. They die of other things, right? They die because their organs fail. In this case, we can barely oxygenate them."

 

You may be interested in this - the Dead Children thread on flutrackers.

http://www.flutrackers.com/forum/showthread.php?t=124781

[Tree House Academy]

Well, I'm 90% sure my 9yo has H1N1. We're waiting on the results. He's an asthmatic. I put him on all his nebulizer meds at full dose the second he started showing any signs of sickness and he doing really well. He's had a fever of 101 or higher for 3 days now. He's grumpy and achy and just lays on the couch and watches tv or plays his ds. (He's not lethargic). If he does have H1N1, I don't see much difference from the regular flu and am treating it like I would any other illness. We have standard responses to any type of illness the kids get and watch their lungs very carefully. The only thing I'm doing differently this time round is being super, super duper careful to keep everyone in the house and make sure we don't have any contact whatsoever with my dad who is oxygen dependent.

I'd love to hear the backgrounds of the children who have passed away. Were symptoms not treated? Were the parents not educated about breathing issues (retractions, blue tinged lips and nails, etc)? Were they ailing to begin with? Did they not seek medical attention in time? I'm thinking that these kids were in jeopardy regardless what type of flu they got.

Just my 2 pennies.

 

What your 9 y/o has sounds exactly like what we had 3 weeks ago. However, what we had 3 weeks ago was NOTHING like the God-awful flu my older son had when he was 4. If it was the flu this time (and if yours is), then I am so thankful that it was mild. As an ever pessimist, though, I still worry that it wasn't the flu and we are still succeptible.

 

Hope your ds is all better soon!

 

I also wonder about the kids. I do know that the stats say that, out of the 78 kids who have died of H1N1, 15-22 of them (20-30%) had NO underlying conditions. From reading a news article on one little 6 year old girl, her parents said that she was very normal and healthy. She started getting sick and within 3 hours of her first symptom, they were at Children's Hospital. She started to get better over the first 24 hours she was in the hospital. Then, she suddenly and rapidly declined. The autopsy showed that she had died of a secondary bacterial infection...likely staph or maybe even meningitis. One of the things that worries me is that when people go to the hospital with a severely weakened immune system, they are much more likely to get these infections. That is why it is important for people NOT to panic and to stay home unless it is absolutely necessary that they go to the hospital or ER.

[LibraryLover]

..was it though? I was thinking about this..don't they have to change the flu shot every year as is? Because the flu isn't the same from year to year...so wouldn't this be pretty much the same process, similar length of time, etc? I don't know...just a thought.

 

 

That what I am thinking. I am mosty concerned about my ds in college, as that age group is hardest hit. Ive been trying to find reliable anti- N1H1 vax info (we've never done flu shots & have done highly selct vaxing, in general), and I can't find much.