Discuss all H1N1 related matters in this thread

http://www.cdc.gov/H1N1FLU/

CDC H1N1 website.

In alot of ways, I think that this H1N1 is over-rated. It's just another virulent strain of flu. I also think in the modern society that we live in, we focus on clean so much that our bodies cannot naturally fight off these new strains of flu very well.
Think about it. We bleach everything and hand sanitizer sales are through the roof. People don't want to touch anything. I'm guilty of this myself. Not to mention the folks that want to get antibiotics everytime they sneeze or a runny nose. I don't think that is the only problem, this flu would probably come around anyway. But what I'm saying is that our societies aren't helping matters at all.
Just my humble thoughts...

No doubt antibiotics have been abused. The hand sanitizers though are a good idea. Hand washing is the number one defense against diseases being transmitted. There have also been studies showing that antimicrobial soaps are weakening our own immune system, much like antibiotics. The virus' are living organisms fighting for survival. They mutate, or evolve to fight back against everything we throw at them. It is not recommended to use antimicrobial soaps as a body wash. It kills off the "good" bacteria as well as the bad. Leaving you vulnerable to the next contact. I work with some Infectious Disease physicians who recommend that you use an antimicrobial soap for hand washing, but a regular soap for the rest of your body.

Just one information source.

http://www.mymedicalreports.com/report/problems-with-antibacterial-soap_733.php?iCategoryID=4&csrc=centerPage

Our local hospital has a good motto...."hope for the best...prepare for the worst."

Sometimes I think we get too complacent. It almost seems that everyone is crying wolf evrytime a new disease comes round. I personally, am thankful, that someone takes these threats seriously. You can never be too careful.

CenterBHSFan wrote: this flu would probably come around anyway.

It already did, actually, in 1918. They called it Spanish Influenza and it killed roughly 65 million people world wide. Ofcourse, medical practices and treatments have improved greatly in almost a century, but still... you have to respect numbers like that.

I just saw a commercial by Lysol advertising how their product is proven to kill H1N1, i am sure their sales are going to go through the roof.

CenterBHSFan wrote: In alot of ways, I think that this H1N1 is over-rated. It's just another virulent strain of flu. I also think in the modern society that we live in, we focus on clean so much that our bodies cannot naturally fight off these new strains of flu very well.
Think about it. We bleach everything and hand sanitizer sales are through the roof. People don't want to touch anything. I'm guilty of this myself. Not to mention the folks that want to get antibiotics everytime they sneeze or a runny nose. I don't think that is the only problem, this flu would probably come around anyway. But what I'm saying is that our societies aren't helping matters at all.
Just my humble thoughts...

i agree. i believe in the theory that we have an immune system for a reason. if we dont use it, we'll lose it.

That's true, but a vaccine stimulates the immune system just as getting the disease would, and despite some people's perception, is considerably less risky.

I got into a lengthy discussion about this with one of my coworkers a few months ago, and she was 'never getting a flu vaccine again', be cause last year she got the vaccination and came down with bronchitis.
This year she refused to get the regular flu vaccination, but got a severe case of bronchitis anyway and missed 10 days of work. Meanwhile, her cousin came down with swine flu and is in the hospital in a coma, lungs filled with fluid, and may not make it. She is 34 years old. My coworker has changed her mind about vaccination needless to say.
I couldn't help thinking that if she had gotten the seasonal flu vaccination, she would have blamed her bronchitis on the vaccine like she did the previous year.
I'm not saying we should blindly take vaccinations without due consideration...but we should take and trust our medical professionals recommendations without fear that it is a government plot, or the pharm companies ripping us off.

Oh, I don't think it is a plot or a conspiracy. I just think that nowdays people are trying too hard to be as sterile as possible.

My 6 year old son's school is doing the vaccines on the 24th. I am still not sure what to do. Even doctors can't agree on whether you should get the vaccine.

Ugh.

I work in a hospital and am exposed to this crap all night long! Then of course I have to take it all home to my family. Whatever I can do to keep myself healthy I will do it. We have all already got the H1N1 vaccine!

everyone in the apartment that i live with got swine. as did my little sister. all i got was a respiratory infection, so i guess i got lucky

WebFire wrote: My 6 year old son's school is doing the vaccines on the 24th. I am still not sure what to do. Even doctors can't agree on whether you should get the vaccine.

Ugh.

I would bet the vast majority of doctors would recommend getting the vaccine!

ricola wrote:

WebFire wrote: My 6 year old son's school is doing the vaccines on the 24th. I am still not sure what to do. Even doctors can't agree on whether you should get the vaccine.

Ugh.

I would bet the vast majority of doctors would recommend getting the vaccine!

You'd be surprised!

PremithiumX wrote:

CenterBHSFan wrote: this flu would probably come around anyway.

It already did, actually, in 1918. They called it Spanish Influenza and it killed roughly 65 million people world wide. Ofcourse, medical practices and treatments have improved greatly in almost a century, but still... you have to respect numbers like that.

Yep. That's why epidemiologists have long feared a recurrence of this strain, since nobody living has any type of immunity from past exposure. All other strains of the flu circulating the globe are mutated versions of prior strains we've all been exposed to at some point -- thus we have some immunity.

How do I know all this?

From hanging around too many epidemiologists when I worked at the state health department. Those guys will scare the living crap out of you with various scenarios they have to prepare for happening any day.

As for the federal government's response to this: get a good feel for how ineffective and screwed up this whole thing has been, because it is a preview of government health care plans should they end up passing. It'll be a cluster beyond all imagining.

WebFire wrote:

ricola wrote:

WebFire wrote: My 6 year old son's school is doing the vaccines on the 24th. I am still not sure what to do. Even doctors can't agree on whether you should get the vaccine.

Ugh.

I would bet the vast majority of doctors would recommend getting the vaccine!

You'd be surprised!

actually , not really. am in the health care profession, all the docs I know recommend the vaccine. have heard VERY little reservations re: the vaccine from inside the medical community. most of it is coming from the lay people and media. The reservations are quite unfounded in my opinion.

ricola wrote:

WebFire wrote:

ricola wrote:

WebFire wrote: My 6 year old son's school is doing the vaccines on the 24th. I am still not sure what to do. Even doctors can't agree on whether you should get the vaccine.

Ugh.

I would bet the vast majority of doctors would recommend getting the vaccine!

You'd be surprised!

actually , not really. am in the health care profession, all the docs I know recommend the vaccine. have heard VERY little reservations re: the vaccine from inside the medical community. most of it is coming from the lay people and media. The reservations are quite unfounded in my opinion.

^^^ricola, agree completely...medical professionals uniformly and with few exceptions advocate vaccination. Vaccination is vastly superior as prevention. Vaccines take advantage of our own immune system to manufacture a protective response in a modified fashion to the pathogenic organism. Protection via vaccination is vastly superior to antibiotics or antivirals.

We all live in the luxury of a time in which diseases that were feared by our parents and grandparents are so unheard-of that we have lost any perspective on the potential severity of these illnesses. In the 1920's, 30's and 1940's, the specter of polio touched many families in one way or another...death, disability or life-long paralysis was commonplace...the appearance of a polio vaccine was not only embraced, but viewed as a miracle of modern medicine which virtually removed the fear of polio from every generation since in the developed world; and in fact improved disease prevention worldwide to such a degree, that we now take these advances for granted.
The same can be said of smallpox.
The same can be said of birth defects associated with rubella ("German measles").

As someone who well remembers polio and "Sabin Sundays" getting the vaccine, I have no qualms getting flu shots and similar vaccines. As I am also a high risk person because of a pre-existing health condition, I'll be getting this vaccine as well if it ever becomes available to me.

My daughter had H1N1 and she was down for 10 days. We had some scary moments.

the vast majority of illness has been relatively mild even by influenza statndards, but a small percentage definitely get very very sick with it. it will certainly leave its mark before it is gone entirely.

ricola wrote:

WebFire wrote:

ricola wrote:

WebFire wrote: My 6 year old son's school is doing the vaccines on the 24th. I am still not sure what to do. Even doctors can't agree on whether you should get the vaccine.

Ugh.

I would bet the vast majority of doctors would recommend getting the vaccine!

You'd be surprised!

actually , not really. am in the health care profession, all the docs I know recommend the vaccine. have heard VERY little reservations re: the vaccine from inside the medical community. most of it is coming from the lay people and media. The reservations are quite unfounded in my opinion.

Well, that may be, but that has not been my experience. I would say almost a 50/50 split on the medical people I have talked to. Heck, even my buddies doctor advised his pregnant wife to not get it.

All I will say is that I went and listened to this woman talk about vaccines

http://drtenpenny.com/default.aspx

I will never nor will anyone in my family ever take another vaccine.
The Risks just far out weigh the benefit in my opinion

that's the problem: you can get any crackpot that proclaims to be an expert, and is a good public speaker and relates well to people---they go out and relate information to people that is often quite contrary to established medical practice, and many people will believe them, buy what they have to say, and thus misinformation gets out there that is hard to get rid of. We see it all the time in the medical field.
If everyone across the country stopped getting every vaccine, in 20 years we'd have a crisis on our hands with tetanus, pneumonia, diphtheria, measles, etc etc.

^^^Spot on. Unfortunately there are a lot of these people who tout themselves as 'natural' medicine experts.


"I will never nor will anyone in my family ever take another vaccine.
The Risks just far out weigh the benefit in my opinion "

I read this and it scares the bejeezus out of me. How has it come to such a point where we ignore legitimate science based medicine and put our trust in charlatans?

amen!