How's the flu around you?

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The flu presents itself daily in our relatively small corner of the world pediatric office. It is blatant at times and other times somewhat inconspicuous. I see parents that come to the office absolutely scared out of their minds about the possibility of their child dying from the flu. How are you educating and redirecting parents and patients thoughts about the flu? You know, I wonder how much publicity the seasonal flu would have gotten if it weren't for a bunch of pigs in Mexico!:eek: juliedhl

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My daughter came home from school today and told us there were only 10 or eleven kids present from a class of 22!

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Specializes in acute.

I am a pre-nursing student and in our small town in mid-coast Maine one town is thinking about closing a middle school. I went in to college today to see 3 classes cancelled because of this. I am not really sure if I should be worried about this flu or if it is all a hype.

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It is bad in Western Pa, no where near peak. Going to get worse before it gets better/

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Specializes in Psychiatry.

Many children out of school here. No classwork today due to not enough students in an elementary school. 5 of 6 persons in my household have gotten the flu so far.

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Specializes in Adult Acute Care Medicine.

yep,multiple cases in our school...a friend (not a nurse) has it, and so does her 3 year old son...nurses at work have had it...just the start of the season.

As of tonight, my husband has a low grade fever and sore throat...not sure what that will turn into...thought myself or one of the kids would bring it home instead of him...so still hoping it's not flu.

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Specializes in OB, HH, ADMIN, IC, ED, QI.
I am a pre-nursing student and in our small town in mid-coast Maine one town is thinking about closing a middle school. I went in to college today to see 3 classes cancelled because of this. I am not really sure if I should be worried about this flu or if it is all a hype.

It is not hype, and if you have s/s of flu, be worried enough to get to a physician within 48 hours, to get Tamiflu or whatever antiviral is recommended. Some people say the illness is mild, but I've had it, 2 weeks after having the seasonal flu vaccine, and it sure wasn't mild. It was the worst flu I've ever had! :o

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Specializes in OB, HH, ADMIN, IC, ED, QI.
yep,multiple cases in our school...a friend (not a nurse) has it, and so does her 3 year old son...nurses at work have had it...just the start of the season.

As of tonight, my husband has a low grade fever and sore throat...not sure what that will turn into...thought myself or one of the kids would bring it home instead of him...so still hoping it's not flu.

It would be best if your husband saw a physician and got Tamiflu (or another anti-viral) within 48 hours of the onset of s/s, remained isolated in a separate room drinking lots of fluid, and you and the kids wrote him notes..... rather than being exposed to him. Use a properly fitted N95 mask/respirator when you bring him things/food. It sounds like you're all in the high risk age group......

In my middle coast CA area, many people have H1N1 flu, schools aren't closing, and we lost a kindergartner who had it. Since tests aren't being done to differentiate seasonal from H1N1 flu, few people know which they have.....

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our neighbors daughter has been running a fever for three days told her to go to the dr. my niece is running a fever there are 26 kids in her 3rd grade class and i think 11 were out. Our other neighbors daughter tested positive for the flu but they didnt tell her h1n1 my next door neighbor who has been a rn for quite a few years was on the couch for 3 days couldnt walk up the stairs and everything hurt she thought she was dying swore she had the h1n1. Now today i have a cough but no fever took a 3 hour nap today will try to sleep a good 10 hours tonite i am worried about the flu only becuase you never know how your body reacts or my childrens until you get the flu

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Specializes in ER.

My area had an outbreak right after school started. It didn't get as crazy as it could have- by the time the few viral cultures that had been performed came back and it made the newspaper the worst of it was over.

Most of the kids I saw that had it were not really all that sick. A few didn't even have a fever- it was like horrible seasonal allergies with body aches.

I do have to wonder about some of the pts I saw over the summer. There seemed to be a large number of 20-something adults, mostly male, that came in sick. Many of them had GI complaints along with typical flu symptoms.

In the past month I've seen really sick kids test positive for Flu A. The seasonal flu usually hits my area late, so I'm not sure if it's still H1N1 or what. Maybe it's just that these kids are getting more opportunistic infections along with the flu since it's that time of year.

If anyone has a moment, take a look at the CDC's flu map- there's only a couple of states not classified as 'widespread'.

Out of curiosity, has anyone seen positive Flu B? If so, what are the typical symptoms this year? I haven't seen any yet.

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I had one case of Flu B back over the summer and it was an 18 yr old who presented with deep respiratory involvement without the wet cough. He did have a significant amount of wheezing, body aches, fever, and to the best of my recollection there was no GI symptoms. The symptoms seemed to come on quicker than I am seeing the flu A or H1N1. We see a lot of seasonal and h1n1 daily and we can tell from first sight that more than likely they have the virus. Symptoms have started out as back pain and tolerable nausea without any vomiting for a couple days and then boom!...vomiting, congestion, cough, fevers, body aches...full blown flu. I don't believe that we have by any means seen the end of this virus. Our schools are vaccinating and there are many clinics being set up around the area offering both vaccines via injection or intranasal. Having fun in Southwest Florida!.............juliedhl:up:

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Specializes in ICU, HIV, Peds (last 30 Yrs<;o).

We too have had one case of B late in the summer, in a child who had traveled to the Philappines.....think that's where they picked it up, as it was an atypical time of year for seasonal flu.

We're in a lull now re: H1N1 cases--we were smacked during the summer and early fall, but not as many now--waiting for the next surge. We're just inundated with calls seeking the vaccine; some people are downright nasty when they find out we only have a limited supply---we spend much of our time explaining that it is controlled by the government and the availability will wax and wane, but people are scared and want it NOW.

My son's family, including their 4 month old, tested positive for flu A in late September/early October. Everyone did well--the 4 year old and 4 month old followed up flu with wheezing and ear infections, though.

Me, not a sniffle...yet.....but I'm counting on my advanced age and immunity from the 1976 flu to keep me well...:lol2:

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