The H1N1 flu emergency is no joke
Earlier today, President Obama declared a nationwide “flu emergency” in response to the quickly spreading H1N1 virus.
The accompanying chart, provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, shows why. The number of people going to nationwide hospitals complaining of flu-like symptoms is skyrocketing.
“Emergency” status will free up federal resources and mobilize health officials to move more quickly to aid Medicare recipients, among others, in getting the treatment they need. It will cut red tape, and hopefully save lives.
I’ve been filing several stories about H1N1 for AOL News over the past couple of weeks, including a first person account of taking care of my two children, both of whom came down with “swine flu” last weekend.
Unfortunately, vaccine production has lagged at the very time when the virus is set to peak–between now and the first week of November. The federal government is not to blame for the delay. Along with researchers at dozens of U.S. universities and private labs, federal agencies have been working hard since last Spring to come up with roughly 150 million doses, but production yields have proven disappointing.
Schools seem to be the initial clearing houses for the virus, but rates of infection are now climbing among the adult population, too, a potential sign that we may revise our thinking that “H1N1 targets children” to “H1N1 targeted children first.”
So, if you can find a shot, and you are given the option of taking it, should you? Yes. H1N1 has a very good chance of mutating again, and a shot this year will offer some protection whatever version of the virus turns up next year (just as the seasonal flu shot seems to help mitigate H1N1).
Watch for a big wave of news on H1N1 this week. Schools are closing across the country. Infection rates are way up. Death statistics will continue to climb. If you have a combination of flu symptoms now, you almost certainly have H1N1. Seasonal flu hasn’t surfaced yet.
Most doctors and hospitals have stopped giving H1N1 tests at this point. For one thing, the tests are not terribly reliable, with some having “false negative” results upwards of 40% of the time. Second, the combination of symptoms that typify H1N1 are not that hard to read. If you have dizziness, headache, runny nose, cough, fever, muscle aches, etc., then you have H1N1.
Asthmatics and those with underlying health issues should take special care with the virus. For my family, it lasted a week. One boy we know on our block who also came down with the virus took Tamiflu and was feeling better after two days.
Unfortunately, Tamiflu has some potential side-effects, and a doctor at Kaiser told me that because Tamiflu had been so widely used some resistant strains of the virus were being found.
While there are still plenty of people out there who say that the media (and now the president) are over-hyping H1N1, my hunch is that that talk will be quieted in the coming weeks.
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There is no health emergency…..the only emergency is that Obama wants to take over the health care of 300 million americans before they wake up from the BHO flu…..
The tanks should be in the streets soon, a la Tiananmen Square; Czechoslovakia…and when the tanks are in the streets, the leftists will be in the streets cheering
Next stop Delusionville, all aboard! I knew this is exactly what would happen when I got the news alerts from The Times about the president declaring an emergency, the wackos would start claiming this was part of Obama’s plot to take over health care, start rounding people up, whatever. Cue up the them music from the Twilight Zone.
In response to another comment. See in context »I found this a highly readable piece with good, specific information. Thanks.
Great stuff David, I liked the AOL piece too. One question, are people more likely to die from swine flu than other strains of flu? If so, why? The impression I got from your story was that swine flu symptoms aren’t so different from traditional flu symptoms, so I’m wondering why people are more concerned about it.
Thanks!
P.J.,
Mortality rates are higher with H1N1 than with regular flu. In addition, it appears that it has a higher infection rate. 63% of the U.S. population, according to a Purdue University study, will become infected with the virus.
What has really worried people is that the profile of who the virus hits hardest is different from that of seasonal flu. There are still many mysteries with this virus, to be sure.
36K die of seasonal flu each year in the U.S. H1N1 death estimates range from 30-90K. That’s a lot of people who could die in the coming months.
Wow. That is really, really scary. 63%! 30-90K deaths! How awful. It also means that every American will know somebody who catches this. Good thing I’m nice and safe in Afghanistan.
[...] primary schools will be closed for the next three weeks, due to H1N1 fears. As David Knowles has written, this flu is nothing to take lightly. In fact, for the last few days I’ve had the flu and [...]