swine flu
(1) It’s allegedly still safe to eat cooked pigs; we’re just not supposed to kiss living ones.
(2) There’s Nothing fun about Swine flu. For me, it entailed a 101.6 deg fever, exhausted days, two restless nights, some painful coughing, and it felt like a rogue sprinkler had been re-routed through my nose, not to mention 73 years worth of glue-sniffing causing me to emptily stare off into space w/ an empty headache.
(3) The ‘2009 flu pandemic‘ is about the spread of H1N1, about which Wikipedia can tell you more than I can.
(4) Some are predicting that 50% of the US population is going to get some form of H1N1 this year. It’s obviously difficult to predict, but the incidents are expected to increase dramatically in the first month or so that children are back in school this fall.
(5) The best way to prevent infection is to avoid being near people. If human interaction is unavoidable, then prevent those around you from sneezing or coughing. Jokes aside, if you feel like you have the flu, my personal experience is that the best thing to do is immediately go to a doctor to get the anti-viral medicine you need.
(6) Even if you wanted to go back to work/school as soon as you start feeling better, you can’t, because you’re contagious for ~7 days from date of infection.
(7) Once I got the right medicine (Tamiflu was my savior), the illness actually wasn’t that bad…basically just a headcold+fever. The key, however, is getting to the right medicine – it is apparently especially important to do so w/in 48 hrs. I got it after 60 hrs, but by hr 66, I felt human again. Now, at day 4, I’m at about 80%.
(8) Speaking of Tamiflu, we have the ’05 Avian flu situation to thank for the large stockpiles of the medicine that is now readily available now. Fearing a global pandemic, many of the world’s governments really loaded up on the stuff. In fact, the box I received from the clinic in Bangalore was manufactured in ’06.
(9) For once, older folks (>52yrs old) may be in better shape to fight this off than us young whippersnappers. Apparently, those who got the flu prior to 1957 had a version that is similar enough to this ‘novel H1N1′ that the older folks have some immunities that anyone born after 1957 doesn’t have. Apparently, it’s most dangerous for pregnant women.
(10) Swine Flu is better than dengue fever. Another student in my intern abroad program was unfortunate enough to get the dengue (ugh). As long as you can get the right meds and you aren’t in a high-risk category, then this current version of ‘novel H1N1′ is basically just the flu.
That being said, I’m not a doctor, nor an expert on pandemics. I only know what I’ve read in the news and wikipedia, plus the advice of a handful of doctors I’ve spoken with about my current, but improving, 5-day illness. There’s an unbelievable amount of info available about this, so trust experts’ advice over mine.
