Lick the Pig – Swine Flu Facts and Fallacies

By admin • October 28th, 2009

With flu season in full swing, we thought it time to discuss some of the facts and fallacies about swine flu and its treatment. If you have a school age child, then chances are you either have experienced H1N1 first hand or you know someone in your child’s class that has had H1N1. And unless you have been hiding under a rock, you know that President Obama declared a Swine Flu emergency. What does this declaration of a state of emergency mean? Simply put it ceases certain government functions to allow the expeditious dealing with of an emergency. In this case the government is concerned that healthcare facilities in certain locations will be overburdened due to the rapidly increasing number of H1N1 cases. Current production of the H1N1 vaccine have been unable to keep up with demand as well.

Now with that being said, if you are a healthy adult with no immune system problems then you have llittle to be concerned with when it comes to H1N1. The at risk segements of the population are:

pregnant women
young children, especially those under the age of 2
people with immune system suppression (HIV for example)
people with diabetes, kidney, or blood disorders.

This list is by no means exhaustive but does represent the majority of those affected. So far the majority of cases reported have been in children and young adults. While a large amount of adults that have had the disease were morbidly obese, it does not appear to be the obesity that is to blame, rather the health complications, like diabetes, that arise out of being obese.

One thing to remember is that your pediatrician will not be able to tell if you or your child has swine flu. The only way to confirm that the diagnosis is in fact swine flu is to send a sample to a state laboratory. Most likely, your doctor will make a judgement call based on a positive Influenza A test that you have swine flu and treat you accordingly. This is in fact what happened with my son several weeks ago. He tested positive for “Flu A” and was subsequently diagnosed as most likely having swine flu due to the number of outbreaks in this area. It is important to note that most people make a full recovery with little more than rest, fluids, and time (which was the case with my son). His symptoms were fairly mild… low grade temperature, stomach ache and a very sore throat. In fact, we assumed prior to our visit that my son had strep throat. If medication is indeed needed, then your doctor will prescribe either Tamaflu or Relenza, with Tamiflu being the most popular. Some of the symptoms for children that indicate a more urgent doctor or hospital visit are trouble breathing, persistent vomiting, a fever with a rash or a return of flu like symptoms with a worsening cough. There is a great resource about symptoms and treatment of the swine flu at WebMD.

So how can ease the likelihood of getting the swine flu? Take the same preventative measures you would take to avoid getting the seasonal flu. We have listed some common preventative steps below.

Wash your hands regularly, especially after sneezing or coughing. Scrub for at least 20 seconds with soap and water. If there is no soap and water available, use an alcohol based hand sanitizer.
Keep your distance – stay 6 feet away from people exhibiting any flu like symptoms.
Attempt to avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth. Difficult to do, I know. That’s why it’s important to keep your hands clean.
If you develop a fever and a cough or sore throat, stay home until your are symptom free for 24 hours. This is actually a requirement for many school districts right now. At my son’s elementary school they mandate that a child is temperature free and is 48 hours removed from taking any medications for the illness.

The swine flu vaccine is another option for the prevention of the disease as well. Of course, due to it’s recent creation, there have been a lot of concern about its effectiveness and its safety. What we must realize is that the vaccine has undergone rigorous testing and has been approved by the Food and Drug Adminsitration in both the mist and shot forms and was delevoped in much the same way the seasonal flu vaccine was developed over 60 years ago. The mist is the same delivery method that has been used for the past 30 years in the seasonal FluMist vaccination.

H1N1 does warrant our concern, but with a little due diligence in its prevention on our part, we can keep it at bay. Again, a great resource for information on the swine flu is the H1N1 Information Center found on WebMD.