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Is your Ped. offering the H1N1 vaccine?
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Anonymous
There's no way it was swine flu if you didn't have a fever. |
Anonymous
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Anonymous
You also have to realize that there will be colds, bad ones, and other viruses around still. They didn't disappear bc swine flu appeared, you know what I mean? So we will have usual winter sickness with swine flu on TOP of it. |
Anonymous
| At this point, they are not testing for H1N1 unless you are hospitalized. However, if you have flu-like symptoms and get the simple nose swab test you'll know if it's Influenza A. If it's positive than the assumption is h1n1 AT THIS POINT because seasonal flu hasn't really started yet. |
Anonymous
| Is it possible to get swine flu more than once this year? |
Anonymous
| 16:14: I've been given the impression by several doctors that once you've had H1N1, you're ammune to it. HOWEVER, several doctors recently have commented that they don't know enough about it to determine if you can get it again or not?!?! Not very helpful regarding giving you an answer, but just sharing how frustrating getting answers can be. |
Anonymous
How dare you say that? Our doctors said that less than 50 percent of cases have fever. Do you read the NY Times??? http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/13/health/13fever.html You are an idiot. My son's friend who had a confirmed case had NO FEVER. |
Anonymous
And here is another NYTimes article about the lack of fever: August 11, 2009 THE DOCTOR'S WORLD Seeking Lessons in Swine Flu Fight By LAWRENCE K. ALTMAN, M.D. As the three-month-old outbreak of swine flu raises havoc during the winter season in the Southern Hemisphere, officials in the United States are carefully seeking clues from there to deal with its likely return in this country in the fall, before a vaccine can protect large numbers of people. Although much about the swine flu pandemic and the virus remains unknown, experts say this outbreak has exposed several weaknesses in the world’s ability to respond to the sudden emergence of a widespread illness. Over all, the pandemic’s severity has been “moderate” compared with past influenza pandemics, the World Health Organization says, although it has spread with “unprecedented speed” to at least 168 countries. And although influenza typically strikes in colder months, the swine flu virus, A(H1N1), has swept through summer camps in the United States and Canada. That pattern has led to the prevailing belief that many more people will get swine flu than seasonal influenza this fall and winter, but that the country could face outbreaks of both strains, perhaps at different times. One of the weaknesses that officials and experts point to is that despite years of planning it is evident that the infrastructure of the health departments in many countries, including the United States, is inadequate (in varying degrees) to deal with the sudden appearance of a new strain of influenza. Also, the number of beds in hospital intensive-care units and emergency rooms is limited, as is equipment like mechanical respirators to help patients breathe when the virus attacks the lungs. Another problem is communication. Officials and experts say they have learned a lot about human swine influenza. But relatively little of that information, including periodic summaries of what has been learned since the beginning of the pandemic, has been reported and published. Some experts said researchers were waiting to publish in journals, which can take months or longer. Journals impose severe penalties for disclosing information before publication, although they say they exempt matters of public health importance. Whatever the reason, delays in reporting such information can hamper plans for public health responses. Few experts can match the personal overview that Dr. Richard P. Wenzel, chairman of the department of internal medicine at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, has had of the swine flu virus’s activity in the United States, Mexico and four South American countries. At the invitation of former trainees in those countries and aided by some travel support from industry, he has visited them to observe cases, advise on control measures and critique their data. Dr. Wenzel, a former president of the International Society for Infectious Diseases, said he had observed a broad spectrum of illness from human swine influenza: people who experienced few or no symptoms to those who rapidly developed complications and died. The standard definition of influenza includes a fever. But an odd feature of the new virus is the lack of fever in a significant proportion of documented cases, even after some patients become seriously ill. In Chile, it was about half, in Mexico City about a third and elsewhere, less, Dr. Wenzel said. Lack of fever has been noted by other observers in several Canadian cases. |
Anonymous
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This is the local school distribution plans.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/01/AR2009100104655.html |
Anonymous
Thanks, I needed that on top of a shitty week. Excuse me for not reading the Times daily and no, I didn't know that, as I have been told fever by my pediatrician a number of times. Continue to spread your cheer, by all means. |
Anonymous
| The 50% rule would explain what happened in my family. DC1 got what seemed like a bad cold/cough, temp 99 no higher but felt crummy, then 5 or 6 days in she got a real fever 102. DC 2 then got the cough and came home from school complaining about headache but never got a fever. After reading all this, I think we must have had it. Well that makes me feel better about not getting the vaccine. |
Anonymous
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Anonymous
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My pedi at NoVa Pediatrics told me that they had applied to be a vaccination site but hand't heard (this was several weeks ago). She said it's complicated because they would have to open it up to patients from outside of their practice, which is an administrative burden.
So I don't know if they will have it or not. |
Anonymous
This is a really good point. I think groups like CMG, who are so huge, are not just not able to offer the shot because of this administrative nightmare. The H1N1 vaccine distribution program is completely different then the seasonal flu distribution in that the government is paying for all H1N1 vaccines, and they will be distributed by state via the state health department. The seasonal flu can be bought directly from the manufacturing company. CMG has a very well run and very busy seasonal flu clinic. I imagine their first priority is seasonal flu, given that they have those vaccines on hand and can control that distribution process. They probably don't want to derail that program. It is a shame since we go to CMG - we just had my 14 month old's first flu shot and are scheduled to get the second one in early November. I think I will try to get that out of the way and then focus on how to get hold of H1N1. |
Anonymous
Why must you go there and be a bitch? This was a decent discussion until you have to start throwing out nastiness. I was also under the impression that you had to have a fever to be considered "swine flu." My SILs kids all had it and that is what they were told as well. So, stuff it. To the original question, my Fairfax Peds office requested the vax but they have no idea if they will get it or not. |