OT: H1N1 Flu virus

[DirtyMartini]

[quote="vespapod"]for Dirty martini...I tell patients after having general anesthesia to wait a few weeks before stressing their system again with an attenuated vaccine...[/quote]

Sorry, forgot to say last week: Thanks, Dr. D.

[smudge]

Leaving aside the merits or otherwise of vaccines, can I make a plea to anyone who has the luxury of a salaried job with minimal financial penalties for taking a few days off sick? If your nose is streaming, or you're coughing all over the place, stay home. Most everyone I know who had Swine Flu (when they were still testing for it here) had a pretty mild dose of flu. It's unpleasant, makes you feel shitty, but for MOST people isn't a big deal. You could take some of those neat over the counter remedies and still function at work. However, that person sat next to you on the bus/plane/train or desk may (for no easily identifiable reason) have a far worse reaction.

The flu pandemic plan we put together for staff at my last place of work consisted of little more than 'Stay home if you feel even slightly off colour. Call us. Tell us who is looking after you. Tell us if you're on your own.' If this does get bigger, then it is in the interests of employers to give employees who are sick themselves, or who have kids who are, paid time off. It's a hell of lot less expensive than having your whole workforce incapacitated.

[conroy]

In addition to what Luddite Lady said, please stay out of the stores as well. I can't tell you how many times I've been walking around the stores seeing and hearing people cough with covering their mouths or their kids.

[TOWOS]

In the part of the Bay Area where I live, they have Lysol towelettes distributors outside the supermarkets, so that you can clean your cart handle. That is very civilized.

I am getting very mixed signals from all my European friends and family. It looks like the vaccine is harming people more than healing them. My parents are both 77 and they decided not to do it.

As an asthmatic, I am at risk and should do it after 3 weeks have passed from the "normal" vaccination. No matter how much cautious you are, you will always take public transportation, go see a movie, travel, have friends who have kids who go to school etc. It's all really down to trying to keep your hands as clean as possible and your immune system, I think. I have not decided yet if I'm going to do it.

[vespapod]

Just think of the anatomy of a snotty sneeze....you sneeze, the droplet of mucous surrounds the virus...somebody breathes it in...you eating somebodys snot and being attacked by the virus......yechhh!!!!

Actually the most common virus vector is doorknobs, somebody with snotty hands touches the knob, then you and then you touch your face and it goes in through your eye (seriously!) so dont rub your eyes!!!!

[Tamadude]

My brother got the shot last friday. Doc suggested a "place with padding", so he got it in the ass. Still hurts quite a bit, he says.

Kids get 2 needles!

Our doc is all out of the vac, and doesn't know when more is coming.

[luddite lady]

It doesn't surprise me that your doctor ran out of vaccine, Tamadude. I'd like to amend what I said earlier. The Canadian government was claiming to have enough vaccine for everyone. They were wrong. Now that we seem to have worked out most of the difficulties with the distribution system in my parts, we're running out of the stuff. It seems that the vaccine takes longer to produce than they originally thought.

And can somebody tell me what adjuvented means? People in the media are tossing around that word like it's something you learn on Sesame Street, but nobody has bothered to explain it.

[animal]

Just think of the anatomy of a snotty sneeze....you sneeze, the droplet of mucous surrounds the virus...somebody breathes it in...you eating somebodys snot and being attacked by the virus......yechhh!!!!

Actually the most common virus vector is doorknobs, somebody with snotty hands touches the knob, then you and then you touch your face and it goes in through your eye (seriously!) so dont rub your eyes!!!!

Thank you vespa for the very descriptive example.

[Madgrad]

[quote="animal"][quote="vespapod"]Just think of the anatomy of a snotty sneeze....you sneeze, the droplet of mucous surrounds the virus...somebody breathes it in...you eating somebodys snot and being attacked by the virus......yechhh!!!!

Actually the most common virus vector is doorknobs, somebody with snotty hands touches the knob, then you and then you touch your face and it goes in through your eye (seriously!) so dont rub your eyes!!!![/quote]

Thank you vespa for the very descriptive example. [/quote]

Seriously! Effective, though. I will certainly think twice today when I touch a doorknob!

[Grace]

LL: Courtesy of Public Health Agency of Canada - a definition of "adjuvanted"

"The H1N1 flu vaccine contains an adjuvant, which is an ingredient made of naturally occurring oil, water and vitamin E that boosts the body’s immune response and increases the vaccine effectiveness".

http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/alert-alerte ... ir-eng.php

And of course the aforementioned lack of supply has sent my good intentions right out the window. Que sera sera.

[Divemistress of the Dark]

Pens, too. I'm germ-paranoid - have a crappy immune system - and EVERY time I use either an auto-pen or a regular ballpoint to check out in a store, I hose myself down after.

Don't forget to wipe down the steering wheel in your car, either, especially if you're not religious about Purell every time you go shopping.

[policefan]

Maybe I'll get myself some gloves like Stewart's.

[dufmanno]

My kids had their school closed by the DC department of health last spring due to the first major outbreak in the Washington DC area. They seemingly hosed it down with hardcore disinfectant and let everyone return a week later (minus the flu ridden). This year we took our seasonal flu shot at the regular doctor but opted out of the H1N1 vaccination. Then my mother kept sending me dire web articles with crazy reports about the wide swath of terror that swine flu is cutting through the population. She likes to make sure the level of fear in my life remains steady. Needless to say I've now known close to forty people who have gotten swine flu and survived it. Some have suffered the secondary infections that were mentioned here earlier, others have not. Half of the infected (sounds like a zombie term) were kids and they bounced back well. Here's to hoping none of you get it.

[sockii]

Elevator buttons are another bad spot for picking up bad "cooties" that no one ever thinks about.

Use common sense. Don't touch things you don't have to. Carry around those pocket sanitizing sprays and wipes. Wash your hands before eating and any time you enter your home after being outside for awhile. And yeah, stay at home if you think you're sick. I don't know WHAT I had last week, it seemed like a minor flu, so I basically hibernated as much as possible...

[conroy]

I usually use my elbow or knuckles to push elevator buttons and I try to open doors by using the sleeve of my jacket and pushing those big buttons for handicap accessible entrances by leaning against them to push them open.