I love Wisconsin. My parents have a little cabin way up there and I've always got that in the back of my mind when things like this happen!
Just to clarify, since I've been watching news conferences all day
Flu, as in INFLUENZA, is a respiratory virus, not a stomach virus. It amazes me how many people are misinformed about this. I've been watching the news today and I'm happy that they are trying their best to communicate that information. Influenza will hit you quickly, but it is a high fever, cough and/or sore throat, muscle/body aches, etc. It's like a VERY bad cold. It's also possible to have these symptoms and not have influenza. I went from perfectly fine to fever, dizzy, sore throat, trouble breathing, etc. within like 8 hours last winter and I went in for a flu swab test (they swab your nose) and it was clear, so it was just a really bad cold. So, if you think you have this STAY HOME and call your doctor and/or urgent care and they will instruct you where to go for a flu swab. If they confirm flu (any flu, not just H1N1 Swine Flu) they can give you Tamiflu or other anti-virals. But in my experience they will not just give you Tamiflu without a swab
So, definitely call and ask what to do! (I hate being sick so I try to be very proactive
)
(That's not to say stomach viruses aren't horrible - they are - they just aren't "the flu" I wish we could get away from saying "stomach flu" because it's totally not...)
Also, people are apparently avoiding eating pork?? Again, it's a
respiratory virus. Eating pork will not make anyone sick with H1N1.
There are couple reasons this might get pretty bad:
Pigs are very close to humans genetically. That is why they use pig organs for experimental transplants, etc. In the past with the "avian flu" people could pretty much only catch it FROM birds, not so much human to human. Because this strain was in pigs before it "jumped species" there is a better chance that it will easily transmit from human to human. It's more complicated than that, but I am always thankful for my having had an AP Bio class when trying to understand this sort of thing.
The other reason is that this is similar to the 1918 flu in the sense that it is attacking healthy people. Because this is a *new* flu, people with robust immune systems have a significant response to it. It's called a cytokine storm:
Cytokine storm - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Apparently, that is what happened in 1918 and they think it might be happening again. Typically the flu is most deadly to children and elderly, not healthy adults. So that is why they are watching this so closely.
There are also some reasons it might not get so bad:
Communication and quarantine - like previously said 1400 people isn't a high % of MC and the whole world is preparing for the spread.
Antibiotics to treat secondary pneumonia.
Antivirals like Tamiflu.
Diagnostic tests to identify the spread
We don't know how transmissible this is human to human yet. We know that it is transmissible, but there's a chance it will slowly weaken unless it mutates again. The bird flu fizzled out because it wasn't easily transmitted.
Also, they are saying that the symptoms are very similar to regular flu, not necessarily worse. I think it's odd that it happened in April at the more traditional end of flu season. I don't think anyone knows just what will happen...
Regardless, we need groceries so I'm going to really stock up just in case. They might be over-reacting by closing schools, etc. but why take the chance? I guess the officials got some flack last time for over-reacting to the bird flu but I'd rather be informed! We've only had 1 case in IL so now is a good time to still get out and stock up
They just said that the toddler who died in Texas had been sick since April 4th and his family is not sick, so that is a sad situation but it's actually a good sign that the family did not get sick even after 3 weeks...
Do they know how the teenagers in NY got sick??? They said they went to Mexico for spring break but no details.