Let me say right up front that initially, I thought the media was overreacting to the whole flu scenario. Well, they are. But that’s the nature of the media these days. The more morbidity in the story, the better. Nevertheless, this could potentially be a serious problem. That doesn’t mean we need to get hysterical. It *does* mean we should be prepared.
To recap on the H1N1 influenza, it is a mixed flu with swine, avian and human components. The virus has jumped species and is now transmissable from human to human. It is off season and as far as I know, the 2008 vaccine did not cover this strain. The H1N1 strain was responsible for the 1918 Spanish Flu but that doesn’t mean that this year’s strain necessarily possesses the mutations for the same degree of lethality. However, this strain is new to our immune systems so we don’t have much natural protection from it. While the vaccine makers ramp up production for this strain, we will have to use common sense, anti-viral medications and prompt medical treatment.
The World Health Organization has an alert system and protocol to follow in the event of a pandemic flu. As of yesterday, we are at level 5a.
Medical personnel and other responders have been notified and this has triggered them to hold meetings with their staffs and employees to discuss their plans in the event of a pandemic. This afternoon, my colleagues and I got our instructions. My group isn’t involved in vaccine production so things will probably proceed normally for us, although we have been told to cancel all nonessential travel and vacationers to Mexico will be asked to stay home for 7 days, the latency period of infection, before they can come back to work. They also explained the procedures we are to follow in the event that the site is closed down for an extended period of time. We were instructed to take our laptops home every evening in case events changed overnight and we had to work from home.
I like the fact that our HR reps explained the compensation details in advance. If your employer hasn’t had this talk with you yet, you might want to ask them if they have any plans in place in case there is a public health emergency. If we are lucky and very proactive, we may be able to minimize the effect of this strain and never get to alert stage 6. But it never hurts to make your plans, figure out what you’re going to do with the kids in case their classes are canceled and buy some portable hand sanitizer. Breathe defensively!
For more information, check out the following sites:
Centers for Disease Control (CDC) H1N1 Flu
FluTrackers (for the serious influenza geek)
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Filed under: General |
The Confluence 
RD
Did you see this news piece?
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/med_swine_flu_virus;_ylt=AnpfPu.WhdEhYMJxqs5itKCs0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTJsMjV0cW1kBGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMDkwNTAxL21lZF9zd2luZV9mbHVfdmlydXMEY3BvcwMzBHBvcwMxMQRzZWMDeW5fdG9wX3N0b3J5BHNsawNjZGNuZXd2aXJ1c2w-
Sounds good to me! But you have to wonder why they’re going to so much trouble over this. Ramping up vaccine production is not a cheap enterprise. And neither is triggering all of the protocol that goes with a pandemic. I have read differing reports of the lethality of the strain in Mexico. It sounds like they are getting cases of pneumonia and respiratory distress. So, it it all comes down to nothing, great! But just let’s say that there is something going on that made these companies make us cancel all travel including to conferences that are already paid for. They aren’t dicking around about this.
It’s really confusing. One moment it’s panic the next it’s no big deal. Makes you wonder if anyone knows what the heck they’re doing with this.
Be prepared for it like a good girl scout. That’s about all you can do. No matter what happens, medicine has come a long way since 1918. We’re going to be ok.
I wish THAT would be pointed out more often. It’s a very good point.
BTW, you *will* want to get a flu shot this fall.
😦
Don’t look at me in that tone of voice.
😦
:0
Haha, I’ll have to remember that one. I can tell you are the mother if a teenager in the twenty-first century.
It’s not new. My Dad used to say that to me.
The fear mongering is ridiculous. Someday there may be a real pandemic, and no one will believe it. Apparently no more of those kids in NY have caught it and they are opening the school again. It looks to me like it can be passed through one or two generations and that’s it.
That doesn’t mean I’m not going to keep washing my hands, etc. But to me it just seems like the SARS mania.
Don’t forget Rahm “stay home and knit” Emmanuel’s credo — “never waste a good crisis.”
Right.
Did the SARS thing rise to this level of pandemic warning and medical alerts, etc?
I don’t know. I just remember lots of hysteria. The flu doesn’t seem to be spreading even in Mexico. And it’s the flu. It’s not cholera.
It’s not bubonic plague either, so far.
all I could find on google was that it was low pandemic potential at a level 3 or 4
Did you visit the WHO site? As of Thursday, we are at level 5a. This came straight from my site’s department head. He was instructed to tel all of us what the company’s pandemic plans were. The HR rep was in the room with us. This is not a drill.
I think the reason for the confusion is that the media, after hitting the panic button, has now backed off because the cases in the US have been mild. And that is why we should fire everyone who has ever reported on this case with breathless hysteria.
Mild cases are to be expected in the first wave. That’s what usually happens in a pandemic. The virus is flexing its genetic muscles, figuring out what works.
In fact, it’s even more predictable than that. In the 1918 pandemic, San Antonio was one of the first cities hit in the first wave and the cases there were relatively mild. The virus will probably go into a steady state during the summer and attack with ferocity in the fall. Now, come fall, the vaccine is expected to be in short supply and no country in the world is going to want to sell any of it. So, make sure you get your shot if you can get access to it.
No need to panic. But we would be crazy if we don’t take this seriously.
RD,
We were talking about SARS and whether the level of publicity was as great as this one. Of course we have to take it seriously, but for now, I think the reaction is over the top. Just MHO.
I’ll tell you what worries me. It’s that hospital disease that killed my aunt. MRSA.
I remember. It’s terrible that we don’t here more about that.
My mom has had it twice. She was in the hospital for nearly a month between Thanksgiving and Christmas with it. Well, because of it…..
That’s serious stuff.
That’s one of those issues where they could reduce healthcare costs.
Back in the 60s there was a hand/face wash used in hospitals and sold OTC called PhisoHex. It was the first anti-biotic wash I can remember. After several babies died from the bath they were given with it, the product was banned and recalled. It returned to the shelves under the name PhisoDerm and the hexachlorophil was no long the active ingredient. (They had a very catching jingle….with Hexa, Hexa, Hexachlorophil, if you were around in the 60s)
I refuse to use anti-bacterial soaps and lotions, and after several years of having to use Johnson’s Baby Wash for liquid hand soap because no liquid soap was available without the darn anti-bacterial ingredients, am now delighted to see how many good brands are back and void of that feature. I trained my kids to be cautious of those things, too.
None of us get sick at anywhere near the rate the average person does, and none of us have had more than 3 prescription antibiotics in our lives.
My brother in law is a major executive in research and development for big pharma, and has been for 30 years. We still follow our instincts and avoid his industry as best we can. There’s a place for it, we just haven’t encountered the need, yet, in our own health care.
I know 2 people who went to the hospital when their respiratory flu went to pnemonia about 6 weeks ago. That flu was impossible to miss and I don’t know a soul in the city who didn’t have their chance to be down with it. There was no cry of an epidemic, and schools here didn’t start closing down until last week when ONE case of H1N1 was confirmed. Since no one can explain to me why the disparity in the two situations, I simply cannot take this pandemic level seriously.
You only need an alcohol based gel hand sanitizer. That will do the job,
I suspect that there is still confusion over the flus that are circulating. The one that is prevalent in Mexico is new, it is H1N1 and it should be taken seriously.
I was skeptical too even just a few days ago. But like I said, we are not in drill mode anymore.
It appears that the WHO alert system just started in 2003. That was around the time of the SARS outbreak. They had regular alerts and global conferences, etc.
http://www.who.int/csr/sars/en/
In 2005, international regulations were intiated to require countries to report outbreaks. But it didn’t work so well.
http://www.politicsdaily.com/2009/05/01/video-shame-miss-californias-anti-gay-marriage-ad-boob-job-hi#addcomments
Isn’t that when we also got the green, blue, yellow, orange, and red “threat” levels?
yea i always thought this was a bit of overkill by … im not worried
the flu i mean
Swine Flu May Have Originated in California
Doctors tracking swine flu in California are investigating a new theory: What if it didn’t originate in Mexico but instead had been floating around the border region for months?
Michael Shaw, associate director for laboratory science for the influenza division of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said the flu theoretically could have appeared first in California, but he cautioned against drawing any conclusions since the strain also exhibited genetic characteristics traceable to Eurasia.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,518572,00.html
…..
There is talk that it originated here, then went down there and now is coming back with new DNA material.
I personally think it was in the US prior to March 30th.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jh1L_vVQ1hK1bvnFG2u_tyWqouGAD97TK6580
FluTrackers (for the serious influenza geek) 😛
Germ Sleuths Stalk Origin of Killer Flu
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124113876438075685.html
Not so in the U.S. That same day, CDC officials roped in Michele Ginsberg, chief of community epidemiology in San Diego’s Health & Human Services Agency. The CDC told her that both California children had been infected with what may be a new type of swine flu. Most worrying, the children lived 160 miles apart, and neither had been around pigs.
….
The Wall Street Journal is doing some top rate reporting and I may just sign up for home delivery. This piece is excellent.
Marie-Paule Kieny, director of the WHO Initiative for Vaccine Research, discusses vaccine efforts and the expected timeline for bringing it to market.
[audio src="http://s.wsj.net/public/resources/documents/WSJ_audioPlayer08.html?audioFile=http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/media/050109swine_who.mp3&trackName=050109swine_who.mp3" /]
&
Wall Street Journal
Germ Sleuths Stalk Origin of Killer Flu (MAY 1, 2009)
Slide show of
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124113876438075685.html#project%3DSLIDESHOW08%26s%3DSB124113357173675053%26articleTabs%3Dslideshow
I remember SARS meant decline in business for Chinatown, NYC 9because of the Asian connection). Beyond that, not much hysteria.
Germ Sleuths Stalk Origin of Killer Flu
As the disease emerged, health officials put the pieces of the puzzle together relatively quickly. Unlike China’s alleged months-long coverup of the SARS respiratory-disease outbreak in 2002-03, Mexico’s government appears to have reacted vigorously.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124113876438075685.html
….
I think it is the difference between one government being closed and releasing no information and another doing the opposite. Also, Mexico is right next door and a lot closer to us than China.
People going insane over H1N1 = One Flu Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
Cuckoo? 😯 Guilty as charged, if it means to be prepared and to keep abreast of all relevant information. 😳
I found a ‘Schweinegrippe’ smilie
http://www.greensmilies.com/2009/05/01/schweinegrippe/
Cuckoo :maul:
Nite, I am calling it a night.
Egypt Slaughters Pigs to Avoid Swine Flu
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124113876438075685.html#project%3DSLIDESHOW08%26s%3DSB124113357173675053%26articleTabs%3Dvideo
Too busy to really freak out or anything….
http://syd4.blogspot.com/2009/05/just-too-busy-to-care.html
But I will stock up on ecchinacea tea and take some Vit.C/Zinc now… to protect my immune system.
Oh, and I’ll say this…. Egypy must be run by a pack of fanatics. Killing pigs will not stop the Swine flu. Pigs are now the ones that are at risk, from humans. Why? Pigs don’t travel around kissing each other… http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090501/od_uk_nm/oukoe_uk_flu_hogs
It’s the people we need to worry about!
Pigs are always at risk from humans. As are all other critters considered “edible”.
I thought it was an interesting clip, and reminded me of the little rascals when they would dust off their hands and say something like ‘that should do it’. 😆
Thanks RD. Why is it that the science community is going to get the scoop when all the news can do is sensationalize things?
ps: what else jumps species? On second thought I don’t want to know…
The science community is just tuned in. The information is freely available to the public.
All kinds of viruses have the ability to jump species: SARS, AIDS, Flu. Even prions, which aren’t viruses at all but simply infectious bits of protein.The same prion causes scrapies in sheep, mad cow disease in cows and creutzfeld-Jacob disease in man. But it’s a complicated process requiring specific mutations that make a virus virulent between humans. That happens several times in a century and according to experts we are overdue.
Still, knowing makes me cautious and vigilent but not scared. You shouldn’t be either. Just do what your health department tells you when the time comes and stay calm.
“Just do what your health department tells you when the time comes and stay calm.”
“Bring out your dead! Bring out your dead!”
Now thousands take ‘swine flu sickies’ as absenteeism soars by 20%
The Royal College of Physicians warned that hospital services may have to be cut back if the World Health Organisation declares a global pandemic.
Hospitals would begin by cancelling non-urgent procedures such as hip replacements and cataract operations.
But there was some reassurance from a swine flu victim, a 41-year-old woman from Redditch, Worcestershire, who caught the bug in Mexico.
The mother of one, who asked not to be named, said: ‘I was frightened – but it felt no more than a bad cold. I want to tell people “don’t panic”.’
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1176244/Now-thousands-swine-flu-sickies-absenteeism-soars-20.html
….
Do they know it is now called H1N1? The absenteeism is really going to hurt the economy.