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Ask the Doctor
| Know What To Do About The Flu |
| Posted - 09/22/2009 |
Know What To Do About The Flu -
Educating Yourself About the 2009 H1N1 Influenza (inaccurately referred to as Swine Flu)
H1N1 is a new form of influenza virus that began to circulate in April of 2009. This virus was originally referred to as “swine flu” because laboratory testing showed that many of the genes in this new virus were very similar to influenza viruses that normally occur in pigs (swine) in North America. Further study has shown that this new virus is very different from what normally circulates in North American pigs.
H1N1 is currently circulating in the northern hemisphere, and has been identified in every state in the US. So far, the illnesses have generally been mild to moderate, but there is a potential to become severe, as people have not yet become immune to this new virus.
Symptoms include fever, muscle aches, sore throat, dry cough, sometimes vomiting and diarrhea.
H1N1 is contagious and is spreading from human to human. The best prevention is good hand washing, covering your cough, and staying home from school and work when you become ill.
Those most susceptible to the complications of the virus are babies and children, pregnant women, young adults, and people with compromising medical problems. At this time, adults over age 60 generally do NOT have serious complications, because about 30% of them became immune to a similar virus in the 1970’s.
A vaccine will be available for the public in early October, but in limited quantities. Therefore, vaccines will first be given to pregnant women, childcare providers, and children and adults ages 6 months to 24 years. If there is sufficient quantity, it will then be given to 25-64 year olds, then those 65 and older. 98point6 Emergicenter will be providing vaccines as the CDC recommends. The 2009 H1N1 vaccine is not intended to replace the seasonal flu vaccine – it is intended to be used along-side seasonal flu vaccine.
Learn more about H1N1 on the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website at: www.cdc.gov/H1N1FLU. The website is updated weekly.
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