H1N1 -anyone?

Well, I can't believe it. Here we are all being told to take the threat of swine flu seriously and I know a bloke who returned from aus, had some symptoms so was duly quarantined and tested. Now SIX days later he is still waiting for his results - FFS what a joke, if we're meant to be taking it seriously how about getting the results back pronto so people aren't being held captive in their own homes!

It takes a good 3 days to incubate anyway, so they cant give pronto results.. and they cant cope with the number they are having to do, as right now the primary health care cant differentiate between man flu and H1N1.
I hear they are thinking of starting to have H1N1 parties to get it done and over with so that the teenagers wont be sick for balls and exams!!!

I expect swine 'flu will mutate with bird 'flu.

Flying pig disease!

I am loving the excuses... I might try some out at my work!

Organix, we can all do the funky chicken!

You know all this media excitement about the H1N1 bugs me (no pun intended) Its a flu and its killed some folk. Well guess what? The flu kills thousands of people around the world every year! The real difference with this one is it is choosing a different demographic, and not just taking out the elderly and infirm.
It is supposed to be normal practice to keep your kids out of school if they are sick and to stay home yourself if you are. One of the biggest problems is that we have got lazy, and greedy and are not prepared to take a few days off work to look after our kids as we have too many HP's to pay off and can't afford it. (Yes, I know that bit is a gross generalisation[])

Everybody knows that this swine flu will make the rounds but if it is left to spread uncontrolled all the health services will be overrun and many people will die unnecessarily.
Only 10% of the population get the normal flu as most individuals have some immunity. This new virus will infect at least 40% of the population which means 4 times as many people requiring hospital treatment for instance.

If the spread is slowed down, the swine flu season will be longer but better use can be made of the few hospital beds there are for severely affected patients.

Just imagine it is you or a loved one who gets severely affected. When you call an ambulance you will be told that flu patients have to be cared for at home because the hospital is overloaded.

I've been to the hospital once with a very sick child who was admitted to a ward with a long row of chairs along the wall full of parents holding their sick children. I overheard how the mother of a severely ill child was asked to take her home as the bed was needd for an even sicker child. This mother was going ballistic with the young doctor, fretting out, screaming, being convinced her asthmatic daughter will die if she isn't in hospital. She wasn't sent home but we were. And that was during a normal day during a normal flu season.

Multiply this by 4 and you'll see why health care professionals are keen to keep the spead under control.

I don't think anyone is doubting that the spread needs to be contained as far as possible. But delaying telling anyone that they have the virus is asking for trouble - especially if the person feels fine, they'll just carry on as usual!

They should be telling people who are tested...but in the not too distant future when the numbers are rising into the early hundreds, I doubt there will be the resources to keep testing. It will be a case of assuming if you have the flu, whichever one, that you need to keep yourself away from others until symptoms have passed.

If it does hit hard, hospitals and doctors won't be able to cope so folk will be on their own dealing with it.

Beedee and I were having an interesing discussion about this the other day. As a matter of interest...how many have got enough food in their house to feed the occupants if, by chance, tomorrow you found out you'd been exposed and you were required to isolate yourselves for 3-4 days, if not more by the time that the primary person who was sick passed it on to the rest of the household, meaning a potential week or so of no shopping?

What about animal food so you can look after your critters? Or instructions on feeding/care somewhere other than in your head so if neighbours were kind enough to help out they had some info on what they needed to do?

Basic civil defence things really but good to keep in mind...[]

And after hearing a lady on the TV last night who was upset that they told her NOT to bring her sick daughter in to the hospital/doctor, but to treat her at home...good to remember what to do for those with fevers to help make them more comfortable and bring body temps down...

Bottom line is, if this does hit hard (and let's be realistic here, the hospitals can't cope with the usual winter flu influxes), everyone would be expected to look after themselves/their own families at home.

tigger;255902 wrote:

good to remember what to do for those with fevers to help make them more comfortable and bring body temps down...

Don't forget that a fever is your bodies natural immune response, a raised body temp is the natural way to kill off bugs that make you sick, so drink lots of fluids and get some rest for a mild fever.

If its a really high fever with aches and pains some panadol is in order.

We over medicate our children with Panadol, its the other antibiotic, some kids get a "double" dose every time they sneeze. What happens when they really need it? It doesn't work as well as it should...

Not that we have small children in this household but...I seem to remember that if peoples temps get too high (risking seizures) a tepid bath is in order..?

The other thing to think of is any medications you need to take on a regular basis...

If you get sick I guess you won't be eating at all.
I had the flu some 20 years ago, high temperature for 2-3 days and I did hear things I knew wasn't kind of normal
It was mid winter and snow so I opened the window to lower the temp when it became way too high. I heard the dog running on the garden gravel path outside the window,, I had not had a dog for a couple of years dog and it was deep snow and I realised that I was kind of having way too high temp.
Heaps of fluid and chill down when too high temp but otherwise just wait it out.
The risk with not having food at home could be if there is no food delivered to the shops and you are still healthy!

What I do not get is why it is pandemic?
I read that a milion people die every year of the basic flu and we are not close to that and those that have died so far has been sick already and weak of some kind of reason.
Or they have not had the flu earlier so no resistance at all.

How do you know if it is just the yearly basic flu or this one?
Some of the basic stugg told as wash your hands and blow your nose and throw away hankie should be done all the time but many seem to ignore that.

If I would fly they would put me in quaranten since I get sinus problem and bad cough every time I fly and it sits for 2 weeks.

I read that there is no vaccin for this one yet and stil those that have got it get tamiflu?? why give tamiflu if there is no ok vaccine yet?

I read so much conflicting stuff and it is a bit of hyetsreia at the moment.
Yes we should do our best to stop it but reading in newspapers that it increased with 80% makes it sound very violent. If it was one case only and one more would it say 100% flu cases then??
What about those told to stay at home and no tests done, they might just have a cold.
I went o the pharmacy today and realised that that is probably the place you should NOT go to if there is a risk to get it and if it is that dangerous!! make sure you have basic painkillers at home so you don;t need the pharmacy!

Fever seizures affect 2-4% of children up to 5years old.
Don't put in a bath, strip down and use a cool wet cloth to lower body temp.

when it is as cold as it is now just undress kid and stand holding the kid in open window for a few minutes and dont keep the room too warm.

Hestia;255925 wrote: when it is as cold as it is now just undress kid and stand holding the kid in open window for a few minutes and dont keep the room too warm.

Ha ha, done that before, LOL

Good thing the school hols are in a couple of weeks, an enforced break at this time may just sort everything out.
Keep em at home and boost them with lots of healthy food and vitamins and echinacea.

Whether you have swine flu or just the common or garden variety andrographis based herbal remedies are extremely good for stimulating immune response. We have been converts to this herb for the last 10+ years since being put onto it by a homeopath and have found it to beat echinacea hands down. 5-15 drops at the first sign of trouble usually nips it in the bud. Be warned though, it isn't called the "King of Bitters" for nothing []

After searching and phoning throughout NZ it seems that the more effective tincture is available but expensive but there are a number of capsules available containing the dry herb.

Happy to advise of the NZ source of tincture if you want to PM me