OT: H1N1 Flu virus

[Kim]

My 11 year old daughter had the swine flu in June. She was miserable for 48 hours and then was fine. The rest of us washed our hands and kept our distance! It was right at graduation and many people in the audience said a lot of kids were sick but the school never admitted it. I keep asking the kids since school started if anyone has been sick but they say no. I have gotten a free flu shot from my office for the last 10 years. I only got the flu once, when my kids were both little and in day care. I know day cares spread the nastiest infections and I believe that particular illness was obviously not in that year's vaccine. We all got it; I was out of work for 10 days between staying home with the kids and then getting it myself. It was BAD! Now that the kids are older we generally have only been getting colds. So I did get my annual flu shot this year, my 9 year old son got the first half of his flu mist only because we happened to be at the pediatrician for something else, and he will be getting the other half in a few weeks. Hubby got his shot at work. My daughter won't get one. I think none of us will get the H1N1 vaccine - it's too new and I don't trust it. I take Vitamin C every day and zinc if I start to feel squiffy. I am a crazy hand washer and make a concerted effort to to open doors with my elbows, cough into my elbow and not touch my face. I wash my hands as soon as I walk in the house no matter where I've been. I wash before and after I eat. I wash after I use the common Bloomberg terminal at work, lol. I don't like sanitizer... My hands feel sticky and I feel like more germs will stick to me... Yuck! But everyone in my office has recieved a bottle of sanitizer from the firm, lol. They have a huge pandemic planning committee and plan in place. Of course it takes them 3 months to pay an invoice too. I am curious to see how this pans out once it gets cold and the real traditional flu season kicks in. My great grandmother lost TWO teenaged sisters during the flu pandemic of 1918, so I know this could be bad. I know the media hypes it because they really have nothing better to do on a slow day but it is in the back of my mind that this really could turn ugly. I hope all you Nutters stay safe!

[vespapod]

for ludditelady

ATTENUATED!!! that is when the virus is killed but he still has his "clothes on'" that is what a vaccine is...you get all or parts of the dead or "attenuated" virus and your immune sytem acts like a bunch of piranahs at lunchtime...

[luddite lady]

[quote="vespapod"]for ludditelady

ATTENUATED!!! that is when the virus is killed but he still has his "clothes on'" that is what a vaccine is...you get all or parts of the dead or "attenuated" virus and your immune sytem acts like a bunch of piranahs at lunchtime...[/quote]

Thanks vespapod. I know what attenuated means. This is something else. Up here we have adjuvented and non-adjuvented vaccines. They say that the non-adjuvented is for pregnant women while everyone gets (eventually) the adjuvented variety, but nobody was telling us what the difference is( 'cuz hardly anyone really knows what it means). I was hoping it meant you got a beer chaser with the shot or something. It turns out to be just a little bonus cocktail of vitamins added to the vaccine to boost your immune system. The only reason pregnant women are not getting the adjuvented one is because they forgot to add pregnant women to that one's test groups so they aren't 100% sure of its safety record with such folks.
Thanks to Grace for the link which explained it all to me and has been making me look so smart.

[vespapod]

Adjuvenated is when they add things to the vaccine to potentiate it or make you have a stronger immune response...why being pregnant or not pregnant I am not sure what the difference is. Perhaps they dont want pregnant females to have too strong of a response to restrict placental transfer?

[AnyOther]

In my country they just started vaccinating people. Yesterday it was decided that small children will be vaccinated too. I know a lot of parents don't trust the vaccin, and pregnant people who can't make up their minds.

I had the - as we call it - "Mexican flu" for about two weeks. This Monday I went back to work. IMy 13-year old son got ill as well, but he's already getting better. In a way I'm glad I had my "turn" (even though I felt lousy, and couldn't visit my mum who was in intensive care at the time - not because of flu) as the vaccination discussion is now somewhat hypothetical for me.

What I really hope is that our government will provide more information about the vaccin, so that people can make up their minds based on facts instead of panic. Good luck for all of you who still have to make the decision, and get well for those who do get the flu.

[luddite lady]

Today the vaccine became available to anyone in the general public in my province. But I'm presently coping with bronchitis and need to wait until that clears up before getting the shot. There's nothing like having a hacking cough in the midst of a pandemic. I'm coughing in my sleeve and all, but people are still looking at me like I'm some sort of leper. The last time I had bronchitis was during the SARS crisis and I was living about a mile from its North American epi-centre at the time. Man, that was no fun at all!

Returning back to Tamadude's original question, I read today that the number of reported adverse reactions to this vaccine in Canada have been very minimal, running slightly less than the type of numbers they usually see with the seasonal flu vaccine.

[conroy]

I got the H1N1 shot on Saturday. Everything went fine. No unusual reactions. In fact, my arm wasn't even sore the next day like it was after I got the seasonal flu shot.