Swine flu, another fluey virus, strep throat and a crappy cold are going around in this neck of the woods. A number of docs have stopped testing for swine flu, but are testing for strep, obviously, since strep is bacterial, flu is viral, different meds are prescribed to fight the illness. So chances of getting 1 or more of these are pretty good. Great.

This is exactly the advice that is going around the hospital where I intern. I agree with it--if your kid (or you for that matter) has the sniffles or a cough, tuck into bed with some soup and call the family doctor. If there's no fever or the symptoms aren't severe, why go to an ER full of severely sick people? If you don't have the flu when you come in, chances are you will by the time you leave.

My pediatrician's office had the waiting room separated into "well kids" and "sick kids". I soooooooooo wanted to go sit on well kids side and leave my son on the sick kids side.

I think the hospital has a much stronger argument. Her job is to heal sick people in the hospital, many of whom are immune-compromised due to HIV, chemo, organ transplant, etc. An unvaccinated nurse is a danger to THEM. Thus, the request they're making is directly job-related; she cannot be an effective healer in the hospital if she's spreading H1N1, even if it doesn't make _her_ very sick.

I agree that if she's injured from the vaccine, it should come under workers' comp.

Re vaccinating children: Every parent should be thinking about their own child's best interests first, but not to the exclusion of all the other children in the community. So your kid is perfectly healthy, and there are good odds that H1N1 won't hurt him. But it doesn't only affect him; every infected child is a possible disease vector before symptoms get severe enough for you to keep him home. Every unvaccinated kid spreading virus ups the odds that the immunity-compromised child in the class gets H1N1 and is hospitalized (or God forbid, dies). Some of these vulnerable kids CAN'T be vaccinated because their immune systems can't handle it. So they're depending on herd immunity for their very lives. I really hope other parents would give a damn about that kid's life, too.
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STICKYWETCOUPLE CAM

Which makes your perspective necessarily evil.

Haha...you know, I was going to put the "evil perspective" disclaimer on my post, but I knew you'd pick up on it.

The whole idea of Swine Flu Parties is nuts because, according to some reports, H1N1 is causing a disproportionate of pediatric patients dying from complications of the virus.

I saw a pie chart on the CDC or Flu.gov site and can't find it right now.

FYI, my husband's best friend is recovering in the hospital from complications from swine flu - got sick mid last week, by friday had pneumonia, was hospitalized with fluid in his lungs, by Saturday was on a ventillator, not breathing on his own.

He is getting better now, was moved out of ICU on Tuesday.

So, while I was not a believer that it was a big deal, I'm rethinking that now. :)

The thing is, that could happen with ANY influenza. 36,000 people a year die from the flu typically. Rarely does it end up as complicated as that. For the vast majority, the swine flu will be no worse than a typical upper respiratory virus.

No, you can't. The shot is a dead virus, and while the nasal spray contains live viruses, they are attenuated (weakened) to be cold adapted, meaning they can only survive in the cooler temperatures of the nasal passages. You may experience some mild symptoms similar to that of a cold, but nothing compared to what you would have with the swine flu.

While I agree that the flu is being a bit sensationalized, I believe that if you (or your children especially) have the opportunity to get the vaccination, then it is irresponsible not to.

Congestion/runny nose, sore throat, headache.....etc. If you're worried about the symptoms, perhaps you should ask if the shot is available.

My boyfriend is getting over H1N1 and after seeing what it did to him, I would take a cold ANY day.

I know that any flu bug can be dangerous, it's just with this guy, he's never been sick like that, and it came on so suddenly. I've never seen anything like it. But, I guess it just hit him extra hard.

2 of my son's roommates had it this summer in Austin, and they both just spent some days in bed sleeping non-stop and got over it.

I'm not getting the vaccine (don't think I could, since I'm not at risk), but I'm washing my hands like crazy and trying to steer clear of snifflers.

My son had it last week and I was sick this week but didn't go to the doctor. While I wasn't as sick as he was, I'm assuming that's what I had. Since the pediatrician knows our family (has been treating the kids since they were born) and knows my daughter's asthma can be quite severe, when my son had the flu, he gave me prescriptions for Tamiflu and a Medrol pack for my daughter, just in case. (He actually said for "When" she gets it, not "IF"). Your primary care doc may be willing to do the same for you, knowing your potential for complications. Son had bad headache and a high fever (102.8 while on ibuprofen) with no appetite at all (very rare for the 13 year old boy), then sinus drainage and sore throat, then the cough set in. A fairly typical course for an upper respiratory virus. He did need some breathing treatments when it got to his chest, but he didn't have to use the steroids prescribed for him. Mucinex helped keep it productive and loose for him.

As I said before, my biggest issue was that I bought as much sudafed as I could in a one month time period, ran out and couldn't buy more. So, I had to deal with the congestion without it, but it helped my son a lot. I'm glad I wasn't as congested as he was.

I never get the flu, and only got a flu shot once as I was doing volunteer work in a hospital. However the doctor I saw for the sinus infection from hell told me I need the actual H1N1 shot and I'm on the list to get it. I'd like to thank my agricultural ancestors for being exposed to all kinds of flu linked to animals, and passing those genes and resistance on to me. My roommate had the swine flu, as well as an employee and I didn't get it, even with my jacked up immune system. The concern is that since I was exposed to TB and have positive skin tests that H1N1 could get into my lungs and the TB could become active; so I get the shot instead of the mist. I've been sick since Labor Day and haven't had any fevers, coughing, or crud in my chest so I know I haven't had H1N1.