Who is Most at Risk with H1N1?
I ran across this on WebMD, which I consider a great site for all your medical questions. It’s a list of people most at risk.
- those who are babies thru 19
- those who are 50 and older
- those who have weakened immunity
- those who suffer from diabetes, heart disease, or other major illnesses
It’s suggested that if you do develop symptoms to call your doctor within two days. We are not going to have a vaccine for months, but there are a couple of drugs like Tamiflu and Relenza that if taken right away when symptoms start can kill or at least tame the virus.
Stay out of confined spaces like elevators and public transportation if possible and as always Wash Your Hands!
Upgrade on Pandemic
Although it’s nightime in Denmark, the World Health Organization has met and issues a press conference upgrading the conditions for a pandemic from a 4 to a 5. Six is the highest on this pandemic scale.
We’ve got 96 cases so far here in the US, my home state of Illinois just announced it’s first case.
My concern is that my adult children and my husband all work closely with the public. They touch money from customers, and are in direct contact with hundreds of people.
I’ve already got health issues and we’ve got a six month old baby in the house. I’m going to take some extra precautions, especially since we live in an apartment in a building with 5 other apartments. So I am going to buy some bleach and rags and periodically make sure that certain elements of the building are wiped down a couple times a day. This would include the front door knob and area around it, the railings inside the hallway and stairway, the mail box area, our door knobs, etc. Handwashing will be a must as it should be.
Now I might sound like I’m panicking but, I’m home here 24/7, so it’s no big deal for me to take a few more minutes out of my day to do this extra cleaning. Also when my parents were very ill, they stocked up on all kinds of protective gloves, so we’ll probably use them when we go grocery shopping or if we need to take public transportation.
It’s very difficult for Americans to deal with this sort of thing because you want to protect yourself and your family, but you don’t want to go overboard for fear of looking like an idiot in case nothing comes of this. You want to be prepared however, and the best way to do this is to keep checking in with Medcare Forum and your preferred news agencies.
BE AWARE, WASH YOUR HANDS, AVOID TOUCHING YOUR EYES, NOSE, AND MOUTH, COVER YOUR FACE WHEN SNEEZING OR COUGHING WHETHER IT’S YOU OR SOMEONE NEAR YOU DOING IT, AND DISINFECT AREAS LIKE TELEPHONES, AND RAILINGS AND DOORKNOBS, THINGS THAT ARE FREQUENTLY TOUCHED.
IF YOU ARE SICK, SEE YOUR DOCTOR, AND QUARANTINE YOURSELF BEFORE THE GOVERNMENT STEPS IN AND HAS TO DO IT.
REMEMBER ALSO THIS COULD POSSIBLY JUST BLOW OVER BEFORE IT GETS WORSE, IT’S NOT LIKELY, BUT IT COULD HAPPEN, SO DON’T PANIC. GO ABOUT YOUR BUSINESS AS USUAL TILL INFORMED OTHERWISE.
Remember the Swine Flu Outbreak in 1976?
In 1976 the swine flu made an appearance and we all got ready for a deadly pandemic, which never happened.
A swine flu shot was available and either the drug company or the goverment scared everyone into getting this shot to prevent the flu. The problem was, that this shot had very serious side effects for certain members of our population.
My mother always had health issues, so she did not get the shot as it would have been dangerous for her to do so. My father and I were healthy so we did get the shot and fortunately we did not suffer any side effects.
If a shot now becomes available weight all your options before getting it, so you can make the best health decision for yourself.
As for me I can only tell you what happened to me personally. Every year it seemed till I was 18 I caught the flu. What strain? Who knows, since the flu virus is ever changing I expect it was different every year. After I got the flu shot for swine flu in 1976, I’ve only had the flu once since then. I’m sure there were many other factors to explain this, I’m only telling you my personal experience.
Other Ways to be a Victim During Outbreak
Unethical people are always looking for a new scam and with the outbreak of this Swine Flu they have found it.
Many people are getting spam e-mails and running across spammers trying to cause panic over the swine flu and offering useless or counterfeit medications to “protect you, cure you, and save you” from this recent outbreak of swine flu.
I can practically guarantee you that whatever you buy from them with be useless against this virus. These people and companies are taking advantage over the situation.
Washing your hands is still the first and best defense. So don’t let yourself fall victim to these spammers and scammers too.
State of Emergency
Just a short post to remind you that having an area declared state of emergency does not have to mean that you should panic. Most often it is used because by having it declared a state of emergency it is able to free up funds that normally would not be available. It also enables parts of local and federal government to more quickly obtain needed materials.
Although the swine flu is spreading, I believe our world governments so far are operating on a precautionary level. Better to be ready to handle the worst before it comes close to being at the worst.
I hate government interferance but when we are talking about a dangerous pandemic, I do think that they need to step in when the moment comes.
Many countries are quarintining people coming home from Mexico, or are considering it. I believe that’s an understandable step, however I don’t see how that will help the US or Canada, seeing as how we have so many illegals coming in over the border. We haven’t been able to stop that so far and I don’t think there’s any was to stop it now.
All I can tell you to do for now is WASH YOUR HANDS, COVER YOUR NOSE AND MOUTH, AND AVOID CROWDS.
Don’t Eat Your Sprouts
We are being asked to avoid eatind raw alfalfa sprouts because of salmonella contamination, and that includes blends of alfalfa with other sprouts or foods. They say the seeds were contaminated so no amount of washing will help to my way of thinking. Best thing to do is avoid them altogether, till we’re given the go ahead to eat them again.
US Reports on Swine Flu Status
New York has increased the number of swine flu cases to 28, but said they think another 100 may have been infected. So far the flu has been mild and is centered around people who are associated with St. Francis Preparatoroy School in Queens. The government has issued face masks and antiviral medications just in case.
The confirmed cases in the US has doubled from 20 yesterday to 40 today.
Mexico Reports Number of Dead
As of a couple hours ago, Mexico has upped it’s death toll to 149 people. Now they are sure only of at least 20 of them are from Swine flu. I’m sure those numbers will go up as they do autopsies on those that are suspected swine flu victims.
The hope is placed with Gilead, Roche who say they are ready with swine flu vaccine, and GlaxoSmithKline who have created a couple of drugs already that have shown to kill the swine flu virus.
Let’s hope that they will have enough to go around to those who will need it.
Updates on Swine Flu Outbreak
Till we are safe from the outbreak of swine flu, Medcare Forum is going to be updating the outbreak news as much as possible every day.
We have to take this seriously as the numbers of victims increases. Not only for fear of a deadly world wide pandemic, but equally the fear of what our governments are going to do about it.
Watching the news yesterday from Mexico was jolting, the streets were empty of people, and so were the places like sports stadiums where games were taking place. Make no mistake, the flu is spreading from person to person and has the possibility of a massive pandemic.
You should not panic, but should observer proper and frequent hand washing. The biggest problem with these viruses is that people touch their nose, mouth, and eyes and then touch bus poles and hand rails, and elevator buttons, and escalater rails, etc. The next person to touch those things picks up the virus and then touches their own nose and mouth. Be consious of this and avoid touching things in public without a tissue, or hanky. As soon as you are able to. Wash your hands. The soap does not have to be antibacterial, you just have to rub it really good all over your hands fingers and wrists. The virus then gets mixed with the soap you’ve created and you need to give them a good thourough rinse. Most of the virus will slide down the drain with the soap.
A frequent mistake people make in public bathrooms is after a handwashing, they use their hands to either turn off faucets or open the bathrooms door. When you do this you are picking up germs from the last person who maybe did not wash their hands, or who is carrying the virus and didn’t wash correctly. So grab a clean tissue and use that as a barrier between your skin and the door knob or faucets.
Swine Flu, Public Health Emergency
Twenty people in the US have been ill with the swine flu so far. Of those twenty, one person had to be briefly hospitalized. The other nineteen are now fine.
This swine flu is a combination of the bird flu, swine flu, and human flu. The reason that the CDC and the government are panicking, is because they are considering this a pandemic, even though it’s only twenty people out of millions. That is because they say that most people do not have imminity to the virus. They rate pandemics from a 1 to a 6, 1 being the mildest and 6 being the worst. They just upgraded this one from a 3 to a 4. They are very much afraid of this spreading quickly, and although the cases so far have been mild, they are afraid they will get worse as time goes on.
Here’s what you can do for now
- Wash your hands thouroughly and frequenly
- Do not touch your hands to your nose, mouth, eyes
- If you feel like you’re coming down with something, stay home and call your doctor
- Cover your nose and mouth when coughing and sneezing
- Don’ t get too close to those who may be sick