Just curious...how many??

indigo girl · Oct 12, 2009

How many people do you know that have been diagnosed with H1N1?
...Im pretty sure we've all got antibodies floating around against it by now...

I know several, and one has died. There is no accurate count of just how many people have actually had the disease as most are no longer tested. Testing is usually reserved for severe cases that require hospitalization although my employee health clinic is still testing employees with flu s/s.

About those antibodies, many of us probably have them even if we did not get very ill or even noticed that we had been infected. But, will they keep you from getting this flu again? Maybe, not.

Influenza viruses mutate rapidly, and continuously. If it changes enough, your immune system might not recognize a change in the strain, and mount an adequate defense to keep you from getting sick again.

indigo girl · Oct 12, 2009

http://www.recombinomics.com/news/10100901/h1n1_infection_titer.html

is he correct? we don't know, but it is interesting although not verifiable, at least not yet...

i am very curious to know if this is occurring, but unless there is test data, we won't know for sure.

weak immune response to mild infections driving re-infection?
recombinomics commentary 16:02
october10, 2009
anne schuchat: it would be just wonderful if new york city were not at risk for more disease, that would be great. i think, though, we're way too early to know whether disease will recur there. we have looked at our data around the country. we looked at 50 different cities to see whether places who had outbreaks in the spring are seeing increases now. in a large number of them, we're seeing increased disease. may not be on the same street where patients were. you know, i would be as happy as anyone if new york city doesn't have more disease but i really think the vaccinations is the best way to reduce the chances that anybody in new york city will get sick.
the above comments from cdc's media update indicate that areas that had high levels of h1n1 in the spring are seeing a resurgence of infections in the fall. one such area is buffalo, ny which was heavily impacted in the fall, including the deaths of two students who attended schools within a mile of each. h1n1 was confirmed in most zip codes within the city (see map). however, this fall there have been major outbreaks in school districts in or adjacent to buffalo, raising concerns of re-infections. such re-infections are supported by anecdotal reports of people infected in the spring and fall, or twice in the fall.
the recently released data on the clinical trial in australia suggests that such re-infections may be linked to low titers generated during mild infections.although prior pandemic h1n1 infections were among exclusion criteria, 31% of enrollees had titers of 40 or more at baseline. since there is little cross reactivity between contemporary seasonal h1n1 and pandemic swine h1n1, the baseline titers are almost certainly due to pandemic h1n1 infections that were not disclosed or not known to the enrollee. since many who are infected experience mild disease, including infections without fever, it is likely that many or most of these enrollees had mild infections.
figure two suggests that although these enrollees had prior antibodies, the titers were relatively low (the vast majority were between 40 and 160) and most had significant improvements (increases of 4 fold or more) after a single injection, suggesting the weak responses to earlier natural infections would provide limited immunological protection, which would support common re-infections.
these data would also explain the limited level of drift, because naïve hosts as well as those with prior mild infections would be susceptible to re-infections, which would limit the selective pressure offered by genetic drift. indeed, in recent cdc weekly updates, only one isolate has shown reduced titers to the pandemic vaccine target. however, this recently identified isolate may signal the start or accelerated drift as more of the target population develop higher antibody levels.
thus, it is likely that h1n1 will continue to expand in areas infected earlier because of a low antibody response in mild cases as well as infection in those who do not develop a robust response to the vaccine.

fmoore723 · Oct 12, 2009

I know several, and one has died. There is no accurate count of just how many people have actually had the disease as most are no longer tested.
First, I am so sorry for your loss.
According to the MD that saw our children, they havent seen ANY cases that werent H1N1 so they arent sending it for confirmation as of now. I just happened to ask them to send my older sons swab for confirmation, so they did. Interesting...

indigo girl · Oct 12, 2009

I know several, and one has died. There is no accurate count of just how many people have actually had the disease as most are no longer tested.
First, I am so sorry for your loss.
According to the MD that saw our children, they havent seen ANY cases that werent H1N1 so they arent sending it for confirmation as of now. I just happened to ask them to send my older sons swab for confirmation, so they did. Interesting...
Sorry, fmoore, I should have been more clear. I did not personally lose anyone but I did know very well, a patient that died 2 weeks ago.
She was a frequent flyer on our psych unit, but her last hospital admission was to the ICU. She had so many co-morbidities that put her at increased risk of a fatal outcome. When I learned that she was admitted there, I knew that we would never see her again, and it was easy to guess why. Her initial tests including PCR came back negative, but like so many others, H1N1 was discovered at autopsy.

jennifer0702 · Oct 13, 2009

I personally believe I've been exposed to h1n1. However I was never swabbed. I still want to get the vaccine. This virus can easily mutate and I want to do my best to boost my immune response as I am not entirely healthy. I hope people start taking this more seriously because most of my peers don't seem to care.

nurseinpa · Oct 13, 2009

I took care of 3 H1N1 positive (by nasal washing) patients this week.

Chewie_123 · Oct 13, 2009

I work on a 34 bed unit. As of my last shift 14 were suspected/confirmed H1N1 cases.

oramar · Oct 13, 2009

This morning they said our Pittsburgh Children's Hospital ER is being over run by H1N1.

Multicollinearity, BSN, RN · Oct 13, 2009

All I have to say is, pay attention to symptoms and get medical treatment quickly, and it will all be OK.

Much of the time, yes. But not always. We've had deaths in my area and the above was done.