swine flu

[richard p]

we had a phone call from my teenage daughters school today. one of daughters friends, who she was sharing a room with on a school activity (holiday?) week last week has been to the doctor and been diagnosed as having swine flu, so we have to be vigilant and not send our daughter to school if she sneezes.
as it happens we allready knew the friend had been to the quack yesterday with a runny nose and a temperature, (dont know what teenagers would do without msn) guess it was nothing to do with spending a week at the seaside, early morning sea dips, wet activities (canoeing surfing etc), no clothes drying facilities and no hot water and virtually no sleep.

[oldherbaceous]

Dear Richard, i do hope you all keep well and that your daughter shows none of the symptoms.

[richard p]

shes running round blowing her nose and "sneezing" whenever anyone might be noticing, moaning that all her friends are skiving off school cos theve got a runny nose(now known as swine flu) or are just skiving claiming they dont want to go to school and catch it. the school bus stops are noticibly less busy than normal this morning.
i gather that if you go to the doctor now with two symptoms, from a list that includes runny nose, cough, sore throat, feeling tired , headache etc, you are diagnosed as having swine flu, with no further tests to confirm (or not).
so every one going to a doctor with any cold or flu like symptoms becomes part of the swine flu statistics.

[glallotments]

Oh dear I've got a bit of a sore throat so have I got swine flu too?

.... and I sneezed a few times yesterday!!!!

[PLUMPUDDING]

I've come back from holiday with a horrible chest infection. I hardly ever get chest colds, and think it is something I picked up from breathing the recycled air in the plane. It did cross my mind that it might be swine flu, but I'm starting to feel better now, so I'm not worrying.

It seems to have spread since all those people came back from Mexico on planes with it. Wouldn't it be a good idea if they could sterilize the air being filtered so you are breathing clean air when cooped up on the plane and not share everyone else's germs.

What do you think about this Tamiflu thing. You have to have it within 48 hours of developing symptoms and it is said to shorten the duration of the disease by one day. It also causes nausea and vomiting in half the people who take it. Sounds wonderful.

[Westi]

We are making all our contingency plans at work
so we can hit the floor running when Phase 2 strikes.
There is a hope the cases may become more limiting
when the kids break up for hols and there is less mass
contact.

It is now a case of watch & wait and hope that it
doesn't mutate. Not everyone is tested as we know
we have got it but there will still be random sampling
to monitor how the virus is developing.

I think we have to take this seriously and wonder if
there are things the Government don't want us to be
aware of as it is a massive investment to have enough
vaccine for the whole country. (Wish I had a few shares
in the Pharmaceutical company that makes the vaccine).

Westi

[peter]

Same here with the contingency plans Westi.

But....

Just been told a colleague has been confirmed as having it.

Leading light of our contingency planning team.


Given the initail scientific investigation's findings about this virus's viability and ability to spread, it is inevitable that a lot of the UK population will catch it.
It really comes down to how quickly it spreads and how badly it affects people.

[glallotments]

My comment may appear to be flippant but it is what is going through people's minds at the moment.

At what point do people decide they may be affected? I don't think I have ever actually had real flu just bad colds and I think there are lots of people who don't actually know what real flu feels like and will say they have had flu when they haven't.

People interviewed on TV who are supposed to have had swine flu have commented that it wasn't that bad just like a case of ordinary flu - but ordinary flu is 'that' bad isn't it?

It's just so confusing!

[richard p]

i was allways told the twenty pound note test was as good as any,
if youre collapsed in bed and notice the dog about to eat a twenty pound note on the floor and cant be bothered to chuck something at the dog you' ve got flu

[The Mouse]

Hi, everyone.

I agree with Glallotments, most people have no idea just how ill you feel when you get proper flu.
But I don't know about the twenty-pound note test - with my Yorkshire/Scottish blood, that one would probably only diagnose death!!!
Personally, a chocolate test would have been better - when I have a cold, however bad, I keep nibbling - I would even say that it helps. On the couple of times in my life when I've had flu, food has been the last thing on my mind! However, when the OH said that he was going out for a meal since I wasn't up to eating (or cooking!) anything, I found the strength from somewhere to tell him just what I thought of that

[Primrose]

Real flu is not like a heavy cold or Man Flu (!!). You ache all over, don't have the energy to eat or get out of bed and it can leave you feeling weak for days. I think Plum Pudding is right about the air quality on planes - it's dire - and I'm surprised anybody survives a flight without picking up somebody else's bugs. I suspect supermarkets are another high source of infection with everybody picking up produce and putting it back again with unclean hands.

[glallotments]

The people being interviewed through glass windows on TV who are supposed to have swine flu aren't even in bed!!
!
I may be paranoid but I use bacterial handwash whenever I leave supermarkets etc It's not just products either but trolley and basket handles but the problem is that any infection may be on the money being stored in your purse or wallet.

[alan refail]

Only 67 cases of swine flu in Wales so far out of a population of nearly 3 million.

Does that mean we Welsh are more resistant?
Or less likely to complain?
Or we never go anywhere?

[peter]

Only 67 cases of swine flu in Wales so far out of a population of nearly 3 million.

Does that mean we Welsh are more resistant?
Or less likely to complain?
Or we never go anywhere?

No you daft besom.

The answer is you are lucky to live in one of the emptier parts of the UK, with less chance of infection transmission.

What is the population density of Wales?
Now compare it with the UK, then compare it with the south-east corner of England that includes London.
Do you have a mass-transit system like the tube on your lovely peninsula, or bus routes that have to run a pair of double decker buses every ten minutes, both modes of transport so crammed with people that the seams creak? If not then do you commute from your rural idyll to a place that has such things on a train so full you have to stand for forty minutes?

[alan refail]

Do you have a mass-transit system like the tube on your lovely peninsula, or bus routes that have to run a pair of double decker buses every ten minutes, both modes of transport so crammed with people that the seams creak? If not then do you commute from your rural idyll to a place that has such things on a train so full you have to stand for forty minutes?

Err...No

BTW the population density of Gwynedd is 460 people per 1000 hectares.