don't panic, but "SWINE FLU COULD SPREAD GLOBALLY"

Even the killed vaccines can potentially cause enough of an immune response to cause some of the flu-like symptoms, like fever and lethargy and such, since those are symptoms caused by the activation of the immune system. Cytokines!

STORM

"Cytokine Storm" sounds like a Tom Clancy novel...

it's official: it's in Belgium. already killed five people (all kids i think). :-(

At least two of them were adults, a 36 year old woman and a 70 year old man who already had pneumonia, I believe.

^ just from seeing the news on tv, not keeping an xls though

We took our kid to the doctor for his seasonal flu last week and it took both of us to hold him down for the shot. Tomorrow, it's just me and him as I try to get his H1N1 shot.

xpost I loved how on HLN.be people were all going "healthy before falling sick with the flu, LOL EVERYONE IS HEALTHY BEFORE BEING SICK!" God people can be so dumb (me included, I know).

I honestly don't know how the people more afraid of the vaccine than the flu itself can even leave the house every day.

xpost I loved how on HLN.be people were all going "healthy before falling sick with the flu, LOL EVERYONE IS HEALTHY BEFORE BEING SICK!" God people can be so dumb (me included, I know).

I think they say this because most people who die from the flu have pre-existing health conditions that make them too weak to fight it. When an otherwise healthy person dies from the flu it's more news-worthy (and more scary to the rest of us).

Oh I know. But the commentators didn't get it: they didn't properly read the article and just think that either you are sick or you're healthy. They don't understand you can get a multitude of sicknesses. Did I phrase that right? (Yes, I R DUMBO as well.)

the commentators didn't get it

Clarification: the commentators = dumb ass readers who can't even write in their own language in a Have Your Say type situation on a Belgian tabloid that only publishes stories that are designed to anger the herd ("Muslim Man Gets Two Parking Tickets In One Week! What do you think about that? Have Your Say!" -> cue 400 "Exicution him to deat!" comments). Not a collection of people that deserve any attention at all, imho. :-/

Oh, I didn't realize "HLN.be people" were just readers' comments; I thought you talking about the people that write for the website.

lucked out and got vaccines for myself and my wife when we took our son into the pediatrician; no idea why they had any to spare, maybe the felt sorry for us.

"HLN.be shoppin"

over in encino today there was a big free clinic with the vaccine. i was thinking of going but when they showed some footage on the news, the lines looked nutzor. i still want to get it though -- i've been fairly paranoid about taking public transit, which is more crowded than ever because of the lousy economy.

guys I have asthma is I gonna die?

My wife had it and has asthma--basically she started taking LOTS of preventative puffs the moment she began feeling sick, and was fine. The last 2 times she had normal flu she ended up in hospital with asthma.

Fuckssake I work in hospital and routinely make deliveries in the Emergency Department but because I'm a pharmacy employee and not an emergency employee, they won't give me the shot until they get more.

The ED is basically engulfed in a cloud of H1N1 right now, btw.

Gonna die.

Also gonna kill some immunocompromised patients because I TOUCH ALL YR DRUGS.

(washing hands pretty much constantly in an attempt to not do so, I should note)

Complete idiots in charge of this place.

wish I still had some prednisone

have a box of 3 year old tamiflu, dunno if I'd be smart enough to take it in time

new screenname

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/10/24/health/AP-US-Obama-Swine-Flu.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

Alex Jones's prediction has come true. How is everyone coping with the FEMA camps/police state law/involuntary vaccinations with nanobots?

How dare the US government declare the deadly swine flu to be dangerous? I'm not dead or dying, which proves they are wrong.

i think the tamiflu is harder on my kid than the flu at the moment. she seem to be ok, fever pretty much abated, takes the tamiflu and pukes within an hour :(

damn I really want to get swine flu so I don't have to worry about getting swine flu

Okay, convinced them to give me one, so I take back some of my earlier critism.

Nanobots: ACHIEVED.

I look forward to using my new nanobot powers to support our Glorious Leader, Comrade Imam Obama.

If you are eligible to receive the vaccine, getting to a vaccine clinic three hours early may not too early. We arrived two hours early and waited for five hours in line (just for the kid - I'm not a priority group). They didn't even have any injections left by the time we got up front and we had to settle for the nasal mist.

Our appointment for the kids went off without a hitch. In and out in 10 minutes, lots of local friends had just as easy a time. Friends of ours in Portland, on the other hand, waited for hours and were left wanting along with some 850 other people in line (plus the requisite news crews). Some municipalities are more prepared and organized than others.

The current "Wired" cover on anti-vaccine types sheds some interesting (though not new) light on the anti-vaccine mentality, which drives folks like my parents (both physicians, one of whom does pediatric infectious disease and the other working in a low-income pediatric clinic) nuts. Ironically, anti-vacciners also tend to be highly educated and affluent. The parent working the clinic says most of her patients are getting vaccinated. The parent in the private hospital says he's only been able to convince 1/3 of the doubters he sees to get their shots. He did, incidentally, have a doctor colleague who chose not to get his H1N1 shot, figuring as a physician he could take it. Then he got swine flu and was out on his back for 12 days. That colleague now spends much of his time proselytizing to patients. Blows my mind how so many fear the cure more than the illness. My dad likes to say that vaccines and indoor plumbing are the two greatest advances in modern health, and doing without the former you is like choosing to do without the latter.

I've stopped trimming my nose hair in case that helps save me from the swine flu. Fuck it if y'all think that's nasty.

*3 y/o recovering from flu blows nose, examines tissue. looks up*

"well, that's colorful!"

*dad hits hand sanitizer again*

howre the kids doing, hunt3r?

annoyed my kid needs a second booster shot to fully vaccinate him next month. are they even going to have any then? in the meantime, we're in our third or fourth week of some other kidn of virus that doesn't appear to be swine flu but certainly makes everyone around us paranoid.

flu kid is doing quite well. after consulting with doc, we bailed on tamiflu after 3.5 days. patient was not eating at all, was very weak, and became v v nauseated after each dose. while her appetite is not back, she is much perkier than before.

nobody else in household has fallen ill yet. we are cautiously optimistic, then.

xpost

don't panic but

Oh wow it seems that I got the shot too late, I am now almost certainly in the throws of this porcine beast.

It comes on so fast I must admit a begrudging respect and fascination.

(P.S. in case any vax deniers read this, I got sick the next day, not within hours, which means I just got the vaccine too late, not that this is at all related to said vaccine. Also you're jerks who are putting the immunocompromised at risk with yr panic.)

throes

kinda impressed that was the only typo, what with all the sweatshivers

Have never had this porcine flu but I sure as hell remember how fast Proper Flu hits. Last time I had it I was out having drinks one evening and within about an hour I went from fine to shivering, feverish and "where the feck am I" and had to hurry home. Ugh.

A friend of mine had swine flu and the symptoms were worse than any case of the flu I've ever heard of. Especially for someone his age/usual health level.

Met an unusual semi-vacciner last night, who got his kids most of the major vaccines, spread out, but won't get his kids any of the "optional" vaccines, like chicken pox or flu because ... it's unclear why. Something about "research" (cough google cough) and their little developing bodies being overwhelmed by such powerful medicine? Bunk, whatever it is, but there's no changing his mind. Annoying, more than anything else. Given anti-vacciners are overwhelmingly educated and affluent, skipping vaccines is sort of like the opposite of entitled conspicuous consumption. Conspicuous non-consumption?

really getting paranoid abt this, esp as im not feeling 100% atm. last year got my ass kicked three different times by some vicious bug (not out of bed for 4 days at a time), so i can only imagine what this'll be like. im not sure i can get the vaccine and my job pretty much guarantees my getting it. i have four students home this week the symptoms. i should stop smoking.

rly dont wanna get this when its my last weeka t work

i should stop smoking.

If you get the H1N1, you won't be smoking for at least a few days. In which case, there's your ante on a complete withdrawal.

Note for the afflicted w/ the hanging-on cough: Delsym, though possessed of a very strange texture, seems to work really well for cough suppression.

i feel my sinuses swelling/closing. i hope im just getting a cold x 1000

i should stop smoking.

If you get the H1N1, you won't be smoking for at least a few days. In which case, there's your ante on a complete withdrawal.

― Aimless, Monday, October 26, 2009 5:22 PM (19 minutes ago)

yeah the only real bright light about this whole thing is i am now 2 weeks smoke free! i mean, why the fuck not (and yeah i normally smoke during flus/colds, but there was just no way that was happening when i was sick, like physically impossible).

J0n W1ll1am5 told me the other day that he has now quit smoking thanks to a bout of H1N1.

This will possibly create some openings for temp work, right?

Sure as shootin, it ought to.

The girl that sits next to my daughter in third grade -- and who has had obvious signs of sickness for a few weeks -- is now out with Swine Flu. Her father is a brain-surgeon, so we figured the girl would be pulled out of school by him at an early stage if her symptoms suggested H1N1. My daughter is now sniffling a little. I'm concerned. I am overly-paranoid, I guess.

Anyway, we're calling the pediatrician tomorrow to see what can/should be done.