Welcome to your weekly H1N1 news roundup.
“But Asthma Mom, when did you start writing this every week?”
Why, just now, actually.
Seriously, you may recall I slowed down on the posting this summer, what with the Job Search that Never Ends thing and the two kids home on summer break thing, but now that life has eased a little, (no, no full-time job yet but YES! SCHOOL IS BACK IN SESSION) I’m posting more frequently.
Hence, this new weekly news roundup on all things swine flu:
On the Vaccine Front
The good news is the FDA approved four companies’ H1N1 vaccines this week. And the further good news? It will only require one shot, not two.
On the Nature of the Virus Itself
If we didn’t have enough to worry about, the H1N1 virus apparently kills by damaging patients’ alveoli, and that in turn leads to mostly-fatal acute respiratory distress syndrome. (Thanks for the link, Marcia)
This doesn’t happen in seasonal flu, by the way. Doctors generally see alveoli damage occur in avian flu, and we all know how scary that one is.
One a side note, related to this article but not specific to it, I know I’m not the only one getting tired of H1N1 news reports ending with this encouragement:
“But 90% of patients who died had an underlying medical issue. Like asthma!”
Dear God, media. That sentiment is not reassuring to many of us.
On the Even More Disheartening Front
People can spread H1N1 up to one week after the fever disappears. Meaning this thing can (will?) spread like wildfire.
But!
On the Positive Front
Bloomberg reports Tamiflu-resistant swine flu is harder to spread than non-resistant strains, and that’s fantastic news.
On the Personal Front
There are no reported cases of swine flu in my kids’ school yet, although I know that can’t last. My girls haven’t even come home with so much as a sniffle or a minor cold, although that won’t last, either.
In blog news, I set up a new account on Twitter this week. If you’ve been hanging around here for awhile, you may be familiar with my former account, which I deleted because that took less time than modifying it to belong more to this blog, Asthma Mom, rather than to me, Amy. If you like your asthma and/or H1N1 news in shorter bites, or you have a burning desire to read my various and sometimes unrelated thoughts throughout the day, you might want to follow me there.
Finally, remember you can always find all swine flu posts in this link that also appears in the left sidebar.
Remember the comments on Vitamin D? Good grief, I am beginning to think it’s involved with everything medical.
While you are not blogging about elders with falling issues, I’m sending along this link because if Vitamin D protects muscle strength, that might be relevant for asthmatics. How much do airways need to protect and maintain muscle strength? Maybe a lot?
http://www.lef.org/news/LefDailyNews.htm?NewsID=8727&Section=VITAMINS&source=DHB_090917&key=Body+ContinueReading
Thank you for providing info here. I don’t have time right now to read your posts but will be returning later to read them all. I scanned this post and I have to agree with you about the comments in the media about “don’t worry because it’s no big deal for us healthy folks – just people with medical conditions”. That makes me angry ! Don’t people with medical conditions matter to them? (And it’s not really accurate. The CDC reported that about 30% of the children who died from H1N1 had no previous health issues). Everyone in my immediate family has a pre-exisiting health condition and is at risk. The people who think it’s all a lot of hype are the people who will go to work or school sick and spread it to the vulnerable ones and their families.
What I really want to know is did you ever get an answer to this question – will using an inhaled steriod make you more likely to develop pneumonia due to lowered resistance to infection? I have read that the H1N1 virus can go deep into the lungs and replicate there (like the avian flu virus and unlike the “regular” flu virus). This seems to be what is making people more likely to develop pneumonia. If I can’t get an answer to this question I will probably ask my son to stop his Pulmicort inhaler since he seems to be in good shape now that ragweed season is coming to an end. Thanks so much for keeping us informed! My son who lives at home is starting back to college next week (the biggest college in the country no less) and my anxiety levels are rising daily. I think I bought every container of Germ-X in the city last week. Now if I could just get him to wear a mask
.
On the flip side, I’m reading a lot more articles right now that the mortality rate may be even lower than they thought — maybe less than seasonal flu and maybe as low as .007 percent (or as high as .4 percent … boo!). Now, my anxiety lets me bookmark and read these articles as opposed to those links above
. But still, it’s hopeful.
My cousin’s kids just came down with what I presume is the swine flu — fever, cough, stuffy nose, body aches, stomach pain. They were really sick for about a day and a half and then bounced right back. She has it now, so we’ll see how she does.
No reports in our school yet, but cases are picking up quickly in our county. My kids are sick with a cold — sore throat, sniffles, no fever — and I’m considering keeping them home an extra day just to give them time to rest.
Anne–Wow, I hadn’t heard of any research on falls & vit. D deficiencies. It does seem a factor in so many health issues these days. I’m always searching for that happy medium–how do I make sure we’re all getting enough sun w/out exposing anyone to skin cancer?
Thanks for the link.
Marie–After talking it over w/the pediatrician, I actually upped AG’s maintenance steroid. She used to be on the lowest concentration, 44 mcg, and we bumped her up one level, the thinking being the chronic bronchial inflammation that would occur were she not on her Flovent is more dangerous and more likely than the risk of infection. She may/may not contract swine flu and if she does, she may/may not have a hard time with it, but she’ll always have asthma, if that makes sense. I was wary over the summer b/c of all we discussed here, but I actually feel really good about this decision!
Her Grace–Thanks for the info! I’m erring on the side of cautious optimism myself, lol. If this strain doesn’t mutate to a more severe form, things aren’t looking too bad. Hopefully, the worst-case scenario w/H1N1 is that the world gets good practice for any future, more deadly strain.
I am also the mother of an asthmatic child. (6-year-old little girl). She is on Flovent for her maintenance medication and we do albuterol and xopenex in the nebulizer four times a day right now.
I am worried tremendously about the swine flu. On our local radio station they have said there are 5 cases of the swine flu in her school. I called the school and they are telling me it is, so far contained to the 2nd grade. My question was “How do you contain the swine flu when the restrooms are shared, the lunchrooms are shared, the library is shared, etc.) I have sent an email to the director of schools to see what the repercussions to my daughter would be if I were to keep her out of school to keep her healthy. No answer as of yet.
I am extremely worried about what could happen if she does contract this flu. I am a paranoid wreck when it comes to her health anyway (she is my only child with asthma) and I feel really lost because it’s not something that I can make go away.
She has the hand sanitizer in her desk, backpack, purse, and everywhere else I can find to put it and I have told her to use it every time it crosses her mind. We have discussed other ways to prevent the spreading of germs also.
She has just gotten over a cold in which she was really wheezy and raspy. She didn’t have pneumonia this time but has a couple of times already. I am really worried about this flu……..
Hi Melinda–Thanks so much for stopping by & leaving your comment. It sounds like you’re taking the same sorts of precautions the rest of us are, and beyond those–well, I’m relying heavily on positive thinking. Of course, as I write this, I’m pretty sick w/something viral I may pass on to my kid myself. Anyway, I’m hoping all our kids come through this season in good health and that the virus won’t mutate to something worse.