Earthling
10-28-2009, 09:37 AM
M E R I D I A N M A G A Z I N E
?H1N1 has arrived, and It?s the Real Thing?
By Carolyn Nicolaysen
A year ago I began writing about pandemics and how to prepare them. At the time, disease experts were warning of the H5N1, or Avian Flu. Scientists warned the Avian Flu could and probably would mutate and become infectious between humans ? transmitted not only from contact with infected birds.
I began work on a preparedness book: Prep Not Panic: Keys to Surviving the Next Pandemic, and most of my friends thought I was over the top. Maybe some readers of my Meridian articles thought so, too.
It was a shock to all of us when in March 2009, a pandemic was declared by the World Health Organization and it was the H1N1 influenza instead of what was anticipated. Since all pandemics follow a pattern, it should be no surprise that infections are now increasing at a rapid rate every day.
On Friday, Oct. 23, 2009, President Obama declared the H1N1 flu a National Emergency. This action will free up government stockpiled medications and make it easier for those in government medical programs such as Medicare, to get vaccines.
The facts of this pandemic are frightening and should not be ignored, no matter what your view regarding vaccination or the politics behind government involvement in addressing a pandemic. We have heard much in the media and especially on the internet, so here are the facts:
1) Virtually all the flu we see now is H1N1 and not the seasonal flu. The seasonal flu will begin showing up in a few weeks but all the statistics as of this moment are believed to be swine flu, whether or not those illnesses have been confirmed through medical testing.
2) We can expect many, many deaths. Although the death rate from the H1N1 is the same as the seasonal flu, four times as many people will contract the illness. That means four times as many deaths, about 150,000. And, the seasonal flu will also kill the usual number, approximately 36,000 annually.
Consider this - of those hospitalized for H1N1:
* 53 % are under 25 years of age
* 39% between 25 & 64 years old
* 7% over 64 years of age
* During a normal seasonal flu season 60% of hospitalizations are those over 65.
Of those who have died:
* 25% are under 25 years old (95 confirmed deaths as of October 17, 2009)
* 65% are 25-64 years old
* 12% are over 65
During a normal flu season, 90% of those who die are over 65 years old, the inverse of the H1N1. That is frightening. It means we need to completely change our way of thinking about the flu this year. School children and preschoolers, and those 20 and 30 something adults who normally cruise through the flu season, are at the greatest risk. They are also the group most likely to feel invincible. Over 40% of H1N1 deaths have occurred in those with no pre-existing medical conditions.
3) Once you have contracted the flu it is important to get an antiviral drug as soon as possible - the sooner the better to aid your recovery. Do not wait for confirmation of the flu to begin treatment. Never rely on a diagnosis based on the rapid test. This test has proven to be very inaccurate. Many have had a negative result on the rapid test when they really did have the H1N1 and should have begun treatment immediately. Some have died because they did not receive treatment in time.
4) Vaccines are not going to be available in time to treat all of those who want to be vaccinated. This means the only way to slow the spread of H1N1 is social distancing and good hygiene habits.
5) The spread of the disease is being fueled through our schools. More cases can be tracked back to contact in school than any other source. Parents have the last word about when their children should be in or out of school.
6) Pigs in Minnesota have been found to have the swine flu. You cannot contract the H1N1 flu from eating pork. Only those in direct contact with live, infected pigs can catch the flu from the pigs. The flu is respiratory and cannot enter into individual cells.
7) Never purchase Tamiflu or other antiviral medications over the Internet. If you receive a "medication" that is not truly Tamiflu and you have the H1N1, the lack of proper treatment can be deadly. No matter what your belief concerning vaccines, antiviral drugs are in fact the most effective treatment once you have contracted the H1N1 flu. Get them only from your doctor or a trusted pharmacy.
It is time to remind yourself and others of the things that can save lives. Safety within our families, wards, communities, and workplaces depends on all of us working together.
Practice good hygiene habits, and review these basic principles to keep your family and close associates healthy this season:
* Start with the most obvious: Sneeze or cough into a tissue or your arm, not your hand. If sneezing into a tissue, deposit the tissue into a trash can and wash or sanitize your hands as soon as possible.
* Do not touch your face, mouth or eyes without washing your hands.
* Use disinfectant wipes on carts when visiting a store ? many stores provide these near the carts, or bring your own.
* Open doors with a disinfecting wipe or paper towel when in a public place or leaving a restroom.
* Use a disinfectant wipe when pumping gas.
* Do not share food or drinks with anyone. Remember the incubation period before symptoms show up is 1-4 days. During that time the virus is contagious, so your friends will not know they are contagious until it is too late for you to protect yourself. Be sure to discuss this with your children before they go to a Halloween or birthday party.
* Wash your hands often. Soap up well and wash all surfaces including under your finger nails, and take long enough to sing the Happy Birthday song twice. Don't forget your wrists. Soap and water is all that is necessary. Hand sanitizers should only be used when soap and water is not available.
* If a member of your household has the H1N1 flu, you have been exposed and may be contagious. Please stay home from work and church. If you are LDS, your Bishop or Primary President would much rather substitute in your Primary class than have you share the flu. Stay away from all public places including school and work for at least four days until you are sure you are not carrying the illness.
* In studies it has been found that 40% of businesses that close for more than two weeks never reopen. Protect your job - stay home when you or a family member is ill.
* If you contract the H1N1, please stay home from all public gatherings including church and school until 48 hours after your fever breaks. This is called ?self-quarantine?. If you have been taking a fever reducing drug this means 48 hours after stopping the drug AND being fever free. Recent studies have shown that 12% of all H1N1 victims are contagious for 48 hours after their fever breaks. This is new information, as we have been told 24 hours in the past.
* Please use hand sanitizer before preparing food for others (including the preparation of Sacrament cups and trays before a church meeting).
* When preparing food for any church activity, wash your hands and wrists before touching food or serving items such as plates, cups, napkins and utensils. If you sneeze or cough, wash up again. If you need to cough or sneeze, leave the room where food is sitting out, and consider asking a healthy substitute to take your place. For the near future, consider eliminating food from activities. Do not purchase foods from restaurants to serve in your ward or branch. We have no way of knowing if the person who prepared that food discovered the next day they had the flu and were contagious while preparing it.
* In church nurseries and Day Care, wipe down toys and all hard surfaces, tables, chairs, etc. frequently, and between ward meeting blocks.
* If you have a child in Day Care, be sure workers follow all the above guidelines. Provide hand sanitizer for your child and make sure they know how to use it before eating. Bring your own snacks for your child.
* If you have a child in school, pack hand sanitizer in their lunch and make sure they use it. Hand sanitizers can be deadly to children when used improperly so be sure your children understand they are not to lick their hands after they have applied it and they are definitely not to ever drink it. Parents or other adults should apply hand sanitizer to a young child's hands.
* Washing up with soap and water is always preferable to hand sanitizer, but is not always available.
For most, the H1N1 flu has been mild, but not for all. It should be your desire to keep all those around you safe. There are some among us who have physical challenges and are more susceptible to this illness. Do not carelessly expose them. Be vigilant and proactive on their behalf.
If you suspect you may have the H1N1 and need advice or help, please contact your doctor. If you have a fever over 101?, call or visit your doctor. If a member of your family has the flu or you have the flu, stay home - don't endanger the lives of others by exposing them. Have faith, and remember that compassion requires patience. We all deal with fears and suffering in our own way.
?H1N1 has arrived, and It?s the Real Thing?
By Carolyn Nicolaysen
A year ago I began writing about pandemics and how to prepare them. At the time, disease experts were warning of the H5N1, or Avian Flu. Scientists warned the Avian Flu could and probably would mutate and become infectious between humans ? transmitted not only from contact with infected birds.
I began work on a preparedness book: Prep Not Panic: Keys to Surviving the Next Pandemic, and most of my friends thought I was over the top. Maybe some readers of my Meridian articles thought so, too.
It was a shock to all of us when in March 2009, a pandemic was declared by the World Health Organization and it was the H1N1 influenza instead of what was anticipated. Since all pandemics follow a pattern, it should be no surprise that infections are now increasing at a rapid rate every day.
On Friday, Oct. 23, 2009, President Obama declared the H1N1 flu a National Emergency. This action will free up government stockpiled medications and make it easier for those in government medical programs such as Medicare, to get vaccines.
The facts of this pandemic are frightening and should not be ignored, no matter what your view regarding vaccination or the politics behind government involvement in addressing a pandemic. We have heard much in the media and especially on the internet, so here are the facts:
1) Virtually all the flu we see now is H1N1 and not the seasonal flu. The seasonal flu will begin showing up in a few weeks but all the statistics as of this moment are believed to be swine flu, whether or not those illnesses have been confirmed through medical testing.
2) We can expect many, many deaths. Although the death rate from the H1N1 is the same as the seasonal flu, four times as many people will contract the illness. That means four times as many deaths, about 150,000. And, the seasonal flu will also kill the usual number, approximately 36,000 annually.
Consider this - of those hospitalized for H1N1:
* 53 % are under 25 years of age
* 39% between 25 & 64 years old
* 7% over 64 years of age
* During a normal seasonal flu season 60% of hospitalizations are those over 65.
Of those who have died:
* 25% are under 25 years old (95 confirmed deaths as of October 17, 2009)
* 65% are 25-64 years old
* 12% are over 65
During a normal flu season, 90% of those who die are over 65 years old, the inverse of the H1N1. That is frightening. It means we need to completely change our way of thinking about the flu this year. School children and preschoolers, and those 20 and 30 something adults who normally cruise through the flu season, are at the greatest risk. They are also the group most likely to feel invincible. Over 40% of H1N1 deaths have occurred in those with no pre-existing medical conditions.
3) Once you have contracted the flu it is important to get an antiviral drug as soon as possible - the sooner the better to aid your recovery. Do not wait for confirmation of the flu to begin treatment. Never rely on a diagnosis based on the rapid test. This test has proven to be very inaccurate. Many have had a negative result on the rapid test when they really did have the H1N1 and should have begun treatment immediately. Some have died because they did not receive treatment in time.
4) Vaccines are not going to be available in time to treat all of those who want to be vaccinated. This means the only way to slow the spread of H1N1 is social distancing and good hygiene habits.
5) The spread of the disease is being fueled through our schools. More cases can be tracked back to contact in school than any other source. Parents have the last word about when their children should be in or out of school.
6) Pigs in Minnesota have been found to have the swine flu. You cannot contract the H1N1 flu from eating pork. Only those in direct contact with live, infected pigs can catch the flu from the pigs. The flu is respiratory and cannot enter into individual cells.
7) Never purchase Tamiflu or other antiviral medications over the Internet. If you receive a "medication" that is not truly Tamiflu and you have the H1N1, the lack of proper treatment can be deadly. No matter what your belief concerning vaccines, antiviral drugs are in fact the most effective treatment once you have contracted the H1N1 flu. Get them only from your doctor or a trusted pharmacy.
It is time to remind yourself and others of the things that can save lives. Safety within our families, wards, communities, and workplaces depends on all of us working together.
Practice good hygiene habits, and review these basic principles to keep your family and close associates healthy this season:
* Start with the most obvious: Sneeze or cough into a tissue or your arm, not your hand. If sneezing into a tissue, deposit the tissue into a trash can and wash or sanitize your hands as soon as possible.
* Do not touch your face, mouth or eyes without washing your hands.
* Use disinfectant wipes on carts when visiting a store ? many stores provide these near the carts, or bring your own.
* Open doors with a disinfecting wipe or paper towel when in a public place or leaving a restroom.
* Use a disinfectant wipe when pumping gas.
* Do not share food or drinks with anyone. Remember the incubation period before symptoms show up is 1-4 days. During that time the virus is contagious, so your friends will not know they are contagious until it is too late for you to protect yourself. Be sure to discuss this with your children before they go to a Halloween or birthday party.
* Wash your hands often. Soap up well and wash all surfaces including under your finger nails, and take long enough to sing the Happy Birthday song twice. Don't forget your wrists. Soap and water is all that is necessary. Hand sanitizers should only be used when soap and water is not available.
* If a member of your household has the H1N1 flu, you have been exposed and may be contagious. Please stay home from work and church. If you are LDS, your Bishop or Primary President would much rather substitute in your Primary class than have you share the flu. Stay away from all public places including school and work for at least four days until you are sure you are not carrying the illness.
* In studies it has been found that 40% of businesses that close for more than two weeks never reopen. Protect your job - stay home when you or a family member is ill.
* If you contract the H1N1, please stay home from all public gatherings including church and school until 48 hours after your fever breaks. This is called ?self-quarantine?. If you have been taking a fever reducing drug this means 48 hours after stopping the drug AND being fever free. Recent studies have shown that 12% of all H1N1 victims are contagious for 48 hours after their fever breaks. This is new information, as we have been told 24 hours in the past.
* Please use hand sanitizer before preparing food for others (including the preparation of Sacrament cups and trays before a church meeting).
* When preparing food for any church activity, wash your hands and wrists before touching food or serving items such as plates, cups, napkins and utensils. If you sneeze or cough, wash up again. If you need to cough or sneeze, leave the room where food is sitting out, and consider asking a healthy substitute to take your place. For the near future, consider eliminating food from activities. Do not purchase foods from restaurants to serve in your ward or branch. We have no way of knowing if the person who prepared that food discovered the next day they had the flu and were contagious while preparing it.
* In church nurseries and Day Care, wipe down toys and all hard surfaces, tables, chairs, etc. frequently, and between ward meeting blocks.
* If you have a child in Day Care, be sure workers follow all the above guidelines. Provide hand sanitizer for your child and make sure they know how to use it before eating. Bring your own snacks for your child.
* If you have a child in school, pack hand sanitizer in their lunch and make sure they use it. Hand sanitizers can be deadly to children when used improperly so be sure your children understand they are not to lick their hands after they have applied it and they are definitely not to ever drink it. Parents or other adults should apply hand sanitizer to a young child's hands.
* Washing up with soap and water is always preferable to hand sanitizer, but is not always available.
For most, the H1N1 flu has been mild, but not for all. It should be your desire to keep all those around you safe. There are some among us who have physical challenges and are more susceptible to this illness. Do not carelessly expose them. Be vigilant and proactive on their behalf.
If you suspect you may have the H1N1 and need advice or help, please contact your doctor. If you have a fever over 101?, call or visit your doctor. If a member of your family has the flu or you have the flu, stay home - don't endanger the lives of others by exposing them. Have faith, and remember that compassion requires patience. We all deal with fears and suffering in our own way.