wluk asked:

Checking up on H1N1 in Northeast Wisconsin communities.

As a parent of a young child you, no doubt, are concerned about children contacting the H1N1 virus (swine flu).

Even adults want to know the difference between a garden variety cold and the H1N1 virus or even the common flu.  Here are some symptoms to look for.

The symptoms of a cold…

There rarely is fever with a cold. A cough is productive, tending to be mucous filled. There are slight body aches and pains. A stuffy nose resolves usually within a week. Sneezing is common. Chills are uncommon and fatigue is usually mild. Symptoms of a cold take several days to become noticeable. Headaches are uncommon but a sore throat is usually present. If there is chest discomfort, it is usually mild to moderate.

The symptoms of H1N1 virus (usually worse than seasonal flu)…

Fever is present in 80% of the cases, 100 degrees or more. A dry cough is noted and the aches and pains can be severe. Stuffy nose is usually not present. Chills are felt in at least 60% of the flu cases. Fatigue rates from moderate to severe. Flu symptoms come on rapidly, usually within 12 hours. Headache and severe chest discomfort is experienced. Sore throat usually is not present.

The above information are Red Cross guidelines intended for individuals to make smart decisions when it comes to their family’s health care.  Hospital care is expensive and there are many people who can take care of themselves at home rather than in the ER at their local hospital.

The number one preventative medicine is good hand washing.  Don’t shake hands and cough into your elbow.  Stay home when feeling sick.  No one appreciates you sharing your symptoms of either a cold or the flu.

By: Sybille Jones

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dnt4get2luvme asked:


Please list products you use or methods you take to cure your cold/flu. I caught a VERY nasty flu and have tried many over the counter products. I am taking Airborne…now what?

ndtv asked:

Hundreds of Armymen and civilians were trapped in an avalanche near Gulmarg in Jammu and Kashmir this morning.

As late fall turns into winter, perennial concern arise from influenza. Some people are frightened about the flu for good reasons, others have unwarranted fears based on limited knowledge of fly epidemics such as the one that broke out in 1918. The reasonable fears we have stem from the particular vulnerabilities of some groups, such as the elderly, kids and pregnant women.

The unwarranted fears are based on expectation of an influenza plague as lethal as the 1918 pandemic, during which there were over thirty tines as many influenza deaths in USA as occur in a normal year. About one out of hundred people on earth died from influenza within twelve months.

Experts have been looking at the form of the two protein molecules that stick out of surface of the influenza virus. One protein is hemagglutinin, which allows the virus to bind to our cells for entry. The other is neuraminidase, which keeps the flu virus molecules from sticking to each other. If the influenza experts detect a combination of these proteins that is similar to the combination of the 1918 pandemic viruses, which is referred to as H1N1, alarm spreads same as nowadays.

H1N1 virus is not new, it happen before at 1976, causing a cascade of events that flowed out of control. When a large proportion of the population has not been exposed to a particular flu H1N1, the potential for a global outbreak of influenza is especially great. Flu experts were anxious in 1976 because they were nearing a period when immunity to the H1N1 combination would virtually have disappeared from the population.

People who were infected as babies in 1918 and survived were about sixty years old in 1976. So everyone who was less than sixty years old had no immunity to the 1918 virus. The anxiety was magnified by political forces, which pushed through a “swine flu” vaccination program, which caused a paralytic disease called Guillain Barre syndrome in about five hundred people, about twenty five of whom died. The benefits of the program are hard to gauge. Probably no more than a few lives were saved from flu outbreak that apparently burned out on its own.

Concern over a pandemic of an H1N1 virus was justified, but anxiety about a re visitation of a virus with the harmfulness of the 1918 influenza viruses was not.

We are seeing flu viruses that have the H1N1 combination but do not have exceptionally high virulence. We will fail to see a recurrence of a pandemic influenza with the kind of lethality that characterized the 1918 pandemic.

By: Ino Kostandini

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yummy mummy asked:


I am so scared as a few cases of it have been confirmed in Doncaster where i live.
I know most cases are very mild, but i’m so scared in case my 7 month old gets it and my 2 year old.
My friend got flu like symptoms and was advised by the doctor to stay in for 5 days, and he prescribed her Tami-flu in case it was swine flu.
She came back from the carribean 2 weeks ago so the doctor didn’t want to take any risks.
But i am so terrified for my babies, Anybody any idea?

Kukubird asked:


I am really freaked out that it’s going to come to Washington. Someone threw up the other day, and everyone is coughing like nuts, it’s really freaking me out, I don’t like going to school because this guy keeps coughing on me on purpose and I am really scared as helllll from catching the swine flu.
What are the symptons that let you know if you have it?

Influenza is a respiratory tract infection involving the upper airways and lungs. Many refer to influenza as the “flu”. Influenza is highly contagious transmitted by saliva and airborne droplets expelled by coughing and sneezing. The incubation is very short ranging from one to three days. Common symptoms of influenza are fever, chills, muscle aches and pains, dry cough, nasal congestion, sore throat, headache, malaise, fatigue, sneezing, sweating, and irritated eyes.

The influenza virus is an RNA virus that belongs to the orthomyxoviridae family. Three genera of the influenza virus currently exist. Each influenza virus is identified by the antigenic differences in their nucleoprotein and matrix protein.

The influenza B and C viruses infect only humans. Populations tend to have more resistance to these two viruses. This is because influenza B and C only undergo a type of evolution referred to as antigenic drift. RNA replication in these viruses is frequently error prone and leads to many point mutations. These point mutations lead to very little change in the new viral strain. Influenza B and C viruses cause relatively mild and limited disease epidemics. The influenza A virus infects mammals and birds (avian influenza). This virus is more likely to cause a pandemic (world wide epidemic). Influenza A is a recombinant virus, meaning an interchange of gene segments if two different viruses infect the same cell. This type of evolution is referred to antigenic shift. Avian and human strains recombining in pigs in the Far East may permit the virulent human strains to evolve. Common antigenic variants include H1N1, and H3N2.

Influenza A can be further classified by the surface proteins. Sixteen subtypes of the viral surface protein hemagglutinin (HA or H) currently exist. Nine subtypes of the viral surface protein neuraminidase (NA or N) exist. These surface proteins are essential for the virus’ life cycle.

The flu season reaches a peak prevalence in winter. The Northern and Southern hemispheres have winter at different times, meaning that there is actually two flu seasons annually. Two different vaccinations are made for the different flu seasons each year. The Northern Hemisphere flu season peaks in January or February. The Southern Hemisphere flu season peaks in October.

Influenza vaccines are developed each based off the predominant strains in the Southern Hemisphere. The vaccine contains an inactivated (killed) virus. Protection provided by the vaccine depends on effectiveness of the strain used to make the vaccine.

Vaccinations typically begin in October. Those that are susceptible to illness such as the elderly (65 years and older), young children (under 5 years of age), and immunocompromised patients are encouraged to be vaccinated. Young children are likely to get complications from the flu such as pneumonia, bronchitis, sinus and ear infections.

Anyone who has an allergy to eggs should not be vaccinated. Allergy to the vaccine is due to small amounts of egg protein that remain in the vaccine after purification. This is considered to be a rare side effect. Many complain of injection site soreness up to two days after vaccination. This is temporary and should go away. Typical side effects include fever, malaise, muscle aches occurring 6-12 hours after vaccination.

There are currently medications used to treat influenza. Amantadine and rimantadine are medications used to treat influenza A only. Neuraminidase inhibitors such as Tamiflu and Relenza block the normal function of the viral surface protein neuraminidase. These medications can be used to treat influenza A and B. Resistance to adamantine derivatives (amantadine, rimantadine) is seen in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and South Korea due to availability in over-the-counter remedies.

The avian flu naturally infects aquatic birds. However, pandemics occur when the avian adapted virus infects porcine (pigs). This virus will then recombine to form a genetically new virus. The genetically new virus infects humans that are in close contact with the infected porcine. The flu is then transmitted from person to person, beginning an epidemic.

In 1997 the avian flu (H5N1) originating from chickens in Hong Kong, killed 6 of 18 infected. This strain was not readily transmissible from human to human. However, this strain resurfaced in 2004 in Cambodia, Vietnam, and Thailand. This virus remains avian adapted and cannot be transmitted from person to person. A vaccine cannot be made until this virus has recombined into a human adapted form.

Elderberry extract is a trademarked over-the-counter remedy to shorten the duration of an influenza episode. This will not prevent the illness if taken before hand. Only vaccination can help to prevent influenza infections.

Influence is on the minds of many and rightfully so. The avian flu will pose a threat to the world’s population if predictions are correct. Maintaining good health is essential during the flu season. One way to do that is take a good vitamin supplement.

Copyright 2005 Kristy Haugen

By: Kristy Haugen

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Texicano-AlWassab asked:


It was a terrorist attack!
The puppet government of Cuba behind the bacteriological/biological terrorist attack against Mexico!
Swine flu affects pigs. But it was modified in labs to make it affect humans.
Mexico suspect in Cuba’s clandestine labs.

Cuba is afraid and ban Mexico to visit the island.
Florida is afraid too.

Terrorist cells in Cuba and Florida are under investigation.
Cuba “has at least a limited offensive biological warfare” capability that could support biological warfare programs.
Cuba is attempting to develop weapons of mass destruction.
The State Department’s top nonproliferation official, called on Cuba to cease transfers of biological weapons technology to “rogue states and to fully comply with all of its obligations under the Biological Weapons Convention.”
For four decades Cuba has maintained a biomedical industry. Swine Flu virus might be modified in Cuba’s clandestine laboratories and used against Mexico.!!!

Wendy asked:


are there reasons or preventative ways (prior to the h1n1 vaccine) that would make a community/city less susceptible to h1n1 or would make them have a lower rate?