Influenza A - how long does it linger?

[sangtarah]

A friend’s family has had Influenza A and she wants to get together in a few days. She says it’s been through half the family and they will be fine in a few days, and the rest aren’t going to get it. 

Would you get together with them? Myself and one dd has asthma and we all just got Flu shots. 

Edited January 6, 2020 by sangtarah
Deleted some personal info

[Ali in OR]

No way! My dad (an 83-year-old pulmonologist and avid flu-shot proponent) spent 3 days in the hospital with Influenza A (H1N1) just after Christmas. He's urging all 4 of his kids to stay away from unnecessary social gatherings during flu season. It's not something to mess around with. And he was urging my brother to go ahead and get his flu shot but told him it won't be active for 3 or 4 weeks.

[sangtarah]

She said it hasn’t been bad for them. They got it visiting family on Dec 28th. 

[catz]

No way would I plan on that if they have diagnosed influenza A.  You are contagious 5-7 days after becoming ill.  We were down hard 7-10 days every time we had the flu.  How does she know no one else is going to become ill?  You are contagious 24 hours before becoming ill.  I would personally want 5-7 days of no one in the house getting sick to account for the incubation period (which is usually fairly short).

ETA - to be clear, I am not an alarmist.  I do not hide during flu season.  We do get flu shots.  But if someone has the KNOWN flu, I would absolutely avoid them taking the incubation and recovery periods into account.  

Edited January 6, 2020 by FuzzyCatz

[sangtarah]

2 minutes ago, Ali in OR said:

No way! My dad (an 83-year-old pulmonologist and avid flu-shot proponent) spent 3 days in the hospital with Influenza A (H1N1) just after Christmas. He's urging all 4 of his kids to stay away from unnecessary social gatherings during flu season. It's not something to mess around with. And he was urging my brother to go ahead and get his flu shot but told him it won't be active for 3 or 4 weeks.

Yikes! 
Yeah, I’d like to become a hermit to avoid it, but it’s not possible. The dd with asthma attends school, and another child has weekly speech appts, etc, etc. 

3-4 weeks is disheartening! I thought 2 weeks - that’s what all the websites say. I guess we will take extra vitamins and pray to be spared. 

[Carrie12345]

Nope.
Nope.
Nope.

I’ve got a sick kid showing signs tonight and may get him tested tomorrow. I’ve already given friends a heads up that we may have cancellations at the end of the week.

When we got H1N1 around a decade ago, it started in our house just before Thanksgiving and the last (of 6 people) didn’t fully recover until some time in January.  It jumped from person to person SLOOOOOWLY and did a serious number on 4 out of the 6.

Edited January 6, 2020 by Carrie12345

[PrincessMommy]

No...

Can't it be rescheduled? 

[Loowit]

I would not do the get together.  My child with asthma has been hospitalized for the flu.  Some people recover fairly quickly, but I have always found my kids with asthma end up sick longer.  And people can be carriers and not get the flu themselves.  I avoid as much as I can, but obviously some things are needed.  I hate taking DS for his allergy shots this time of year.

[mmasc]

Absolutely no for me too! It just isn’t worth risking it with a known flu diagnosis. Like others have stated, there’s no way to know if the ones that aren’t currently sick are actually in that 24-hr zone of sick-but-not-showing-symptoms yet (ie contagious!)

[Bambam]

I wouldn't. I don't avoid social things during flu season - life continues as it always has, but I do avoid people who have the flu or just the flu for at least a week. 
I believe my youngest had the flu starting last Monday. I finally got her in to the doctor on Thursday - but the rapid flu swap was negative. The doctor said it usually is, and she probably had the B strain. She is feeling much better - but she still has very low energy.  A strain is supposed to be much worse. 

How does she know the rest of the family won't get it? There are no guarantees unless they aren't and haven't been in contact at all. 

[Ellie]

4 hours ago, sangtarah said:

A friend’s family has had Influenza A and she wants to get together in a few days. She says it’s been through half the family and they will be fine in a few days, and the rest aren’t going to get it. 

Would you get together with them? Myself and one dd has asthma and we all just got our flu shots last Friday (tried to get them earlier but dd’s anxiety was set off 😖). 

I had it in October, happily, a mild case. I'm thinking 10 days, minimum, before risking socializing outside the house.

[The Governess]

Dd had influenza A last year. It was the sickest she has ever been. She took antibiotics and tamiflu and even with those the cough and exhaustion were terrible. She lost almost 10 percent of her body weight. Two of her friends also got it and got pneumonia so I’m grateful our doctor put her on the antibiotics (she didn’t like how her cough sounded).

Surprisingly she was the only one in our household that got it. 

Just adding my experience - I would stay away!

[J-rap]

I wonder how she knows the rest of her family won't get it?  Anyway, I'd probably set a new date.  We've just made the rounds of a really bad cold that felt like it could be a minor version of a flu (we all had flu shots, so I don't really know).  So, it wasn't even the full-blown flu but it was really miserable, and the last person got it a full week after the person before him had it.

For the record, I don't hide out during flu season either.  It is what it is, but...  If you KNOW a person has just had it and it might still be lingering in the family, then no.  

Now, when it was immediate family only and over the holidays, we took the risk because it was the first time all of our young adult children have been together in a long time!  One flew across the ocean to be here.  So yeah, we took that risk, and everyone eventually became quite sick (except me 😬).   But for just a gathering with local friends, I'd reschedule.

 

[Kanin]

There's no way she can know that the rest of the family won't get it. In fact, it sounds to me like they probably WILL get it. Definitely reschedule! 

[PeterPan]

14 hours ago, sangtarah said:

the rest aren’t going to get it. 

That's delusional.

14 hours ago, sangtarah said:

Myself and one dd has asthma

Which means it's not negotiable.

13 hours ago, sangtarah said:

They got it visiting family on Dec 28th. 

So it's lasting almost two weeks.

13 hours ago, sangtarah said:

She said it hasn’t been bad for them

She has no clue. I've had my lungs shut down over a weekend with bugs other people were willing to go out with because they thought they were just sniffles and nothing. It's not someone's fault if they accidentally expose you, but no I would never intentionally get really close to someone actively sick. I had 30+ people in my house this holiday, and *one* was fighting a bug, a dear friend, and I was like sorry GARLIC ON YOU VAMPIRE. 

34 minutes ago, Mainer said:

Definitely reschedule!

Yup, you're friends, later dates exist. Skype exists. Your recovery from the something worse you could develop would be months and result in lung scarring, while all she had was 2 weeks of mildness. 

PS. I can ramp up my turmeric and vitamin c, especially the turmeric, when I get exposed, and it seems to help control my lungs a bit. But that's not fighting off the influenza A bug. No way I would purposely expose myself. I got the influenza last winter and went on Tamiflu. It's the greatest thing ever, a total miracle. There's also this new Xofluza or whatever. But WHY would I intentionally expose myself when it means I'll have to take a $65 medication with psychiatric side effects? It worked, but that's not being a good friend intentionally to expose me.

Edited January 6, 2020 by PeterPan

[PeterPan]

13 hours ago, sangtarah said:

I guess we will take extra vitamins and pray to be spared. 

No, it means if you actually get together with them (which I would NOT), then you'll go to the doctor as soon as you're symptomatic and get Tamiflu or something prescribed. If her virus was tested by a doc, then your doc may prescribe over the phone even and not require you to go in. 

And you know, may your shots work out. But me, I got sick of recurrent pneumonia and bronchitis. I'm not nice about germ exposure any more. 

[sangtarah]

1 hour ago, PeterPan said:

No, it means if you actually get together with them (which I would NOT), then you'll go to the doctor as soon as you're symptomatic and get Tamiflu or something prescribed. If her virus was tested by a doc, then your doc may prescribe over the phone even and not require you to go in. 

And you know, may your shots work out. But me, I got sick of recurrent pneumonia and bronchitis. I'm not nice about germ exposure any more. 

I’m not getting together with them!! I totally don’t want to expose us to that. 
I only meant since we have to be part of the rest of the world, we could get unknowingly exposed, especially since the dd with asthma attends school.
Which, by the way, the friends in my OP are sending their kids back to school today, the 3 that are school age (2 had the flu, 1 not), and that makes me want to keep my kids home forever. I’m guessing a lot of kids will be sick, or getting over something, or it’s in their family, but the kids are in school anyway. 

[vonfirmath]

29 minutes ago, sangtarah said:

I’m not getting together with them!! I totally don’t want to expose us to that. 
I only meant since we have to be part of the rest of the world, we could get unknowingly exposed, especially since the dd with asthma attends school.
Which, by the way, the friends in my OP are sending their kids back to school today, the 3 that are school age (2 had the flu, 1 not), and that makes me want to keep my kids home forever. I’m guessing a lot of kids will be sick, or getting over something, or it’s in their family, but the kids are in school anyway. 

 

Yes. SChools do not accept "Johnny's brother had the flu last week" as a reason to miss.

[PeterPan]

29 minutes ago, sangtarah said:

I only meant since we have to be part of the rest of the world, we could get unknowingly exposed, especially since the dd with asthma attends school.

I find for me distant exposure (grocery store, whatever) isn't as bad as when the person sits right beside me to visit, wants to hug, etc. And yeah, school definitely is a great place to share germs, lol. My ds does stuff out with kids (therapies at schools, etc.) and we are rabid about hand washing when we come in. Every time.