Squeal like a pig!

[jnjpream]

Today they closed down my son's preschool because 12 of 16 students in the class are sick. One was tested and confirmed Swine Flu. And the hospitals can't take any new patients because they are already full. (The poor kid is running 104+)

I know there is a pretty big cross section of the planet on this forum. How bad is this thing in your area?

And to tie this into something to do with tractors: How much seat time have you lost due to the swine flu etc? Just curious..

 

[johnk]

My son said there were 146 kids sick at the school in which he is faculty. New record according to the principal. Flu like symtons are the majority of the illnesses.

 

[Ken Cunningham]

I wish your son a speedy recovery. I have been worrying about my kids catching it, so i feel your pain.

 

[MossRoad]

They closed two school in the town to the north of us. 1/4 of the kids were out sick. That translates into 700 kids out of 2800.

My sister teaches in public schools in central Indiana. She said they have about 20% out.

One of our local high schools had 30 kids out from the football team and still managed to win sectionals!

 

[robb01]

They closed a school about 40 miles from here for the week

 

[Bird]

One small town school district in the area closed for a week because of the number of absences, but I'll quote just a few parts of an article in the Denton Record-Chronicle this morning:

Denton County officials received positive news about the swine flu Tuesday: The number of flu-related absences in schools has dropped, according to county health director Dr. Bing Burton.

The percentage of students out of school with flu-like symptoms dropped from 10 percent to 6 percent in the last couple of weeks in the county, he told the Commissioners Court.

While that is good news, Burton said, the number is still six times as high as in recent years. 甜But] weæ±*e heading in the right direction, and weæ±*e optimistic it will continue to decline, he said. é�‘ots of children had the disease but now have the immunity.

Since April, 50 Denton County residents have been hospitalized with the flu and seven of them required intensive care, Burton said. There have been no swine flu-related deaths in the county, he said.

 

[MossRoad]

And we had a local 11 year old girl pass away from it about two weeks ago. She showed no signs of it on Sunday, went to the hospital on Monday and passed away later that day. They found no other extenuating circumstances, either. We all expected to hear she was weakened from some other condition, but that was not the case. Very sad.

 

[TomOfTarsus]

My goodness, that's terrible. God help the family.

Here in Pittsburgh, I haven't heard too much. They say about this, though, that it hits younger types harder because they are young and strong and the worst effects are due to an overstimulated immune system. Us older types (if I have this correct) are actually at less risk because we are older and have a weaker immune system.

Go figure.

So wash you hands, cover your sneezes...and keep at least three wheels on the ground!

Tom

 

[bpattie]

from what I had heard and read, "us older folks" were exposed to a similar strain back in the late 50's or early 60's

 

[Bird]

What I mentioned above was for my county (Denton County) just north of Dallas. But the Dallas Morning News two days ago reported the 10th confirmed death from swine flu in Dallas County. The story also mentioned that Tarrant County (Ft. Worth) has had 2 confirmed deaths from swine flu.

 

[Bird]

from what I had heard and read, "us older folks" were exposed to a similar strain back in the late 50's or early 60's

Yep, Bill, we get the seasonal flu shot each year, but there probably won't be enough of the H1N1 vaccine for us old folks, but they claim we probably don't need it, and I'm inclined to think they're right.

 

[jnjpream]

I've never had a flu shot in my life.. I guess I'm of the mind set that if I get sick my body will probably do a better job of building an immunity towards other similar strains than if I was given immunity towards just a couple.

Maybe that's not how it works, but I don't like the idea of somebody messing with my immune system.. Have you seen "I Am Legend", yeah it's only a movie but you get the general creepy idea.

Up until two weeks ago, I hadn't been sick in years.

 

[MossRoad]

I've never had a flu shot in my life.. I guess I'm of the mind set that if I get sick my body will probably do a better job of building an immunity towards other similar strains than if I was given immunity towards just a couple.

Maybe that's not how it works, but I don't like the idea of somebody messing with my immune system.. Have you seen "I Am Legend", yeah it's only a movie but you get the general creepy idea.

Up until two weeks ago, I hadn't been sick in years.

Yeah, you kind of wonder if you should or shouldn't get the shot. They say something like 35,000 people die from the seasonal flu each year and are expecting more than that from the H1N1. I haven't had the flu in decades. I had it real bad once as a kid. Down for a couple weeks. I usually don't get a seasonal flu shot but this year I got the seasonal one. We will get our kids the H1N1 when it becomes available.

Best of luck to all of you weather you get the shot or not.

 

[Bird]

The first time I took a flu shot was in 1960 or 1961. Three days later, I went to see a doctor because I had the flu. I didn't think I was going to be able to drive myself home, but I made it home and didn't get out of bed except to go to the bathroom for 5 days. So I decided to not take flu shots. I got the flu once every year or two bad enough to see a doctor, but never as bad as after that shot. However, they changed the formula, of course, and the way the vaccine is made, over the years, so my wife and I have both gotten the seasonal flu shot every year for over 20 years and I haven't even had a bad cold since.

I can understand people being afraid to take the flu shots, but I reckon I'll keep on taking them. The last few years, my wife and I have gotten ours the first day they were available.

 

[IslandTractor]

I've never had a flu shot in my life.. I guess I'm of the mind set that if I get sick my body will probably do a better job of building an immunity towards other similar strains than if I was given immunity towards just a couple.

Maybe that's not how it works, but I don't like the idea of somebody messing with my immune system..

No, that is not the way it works. Your immune system will do a better job if it has seen a similar or related virus via vaccination than if you are immunologically "naive". Both the seasonal influenza and the added H1N1 vaccines are valuable allies to your immune system.

It is sad that in a country that can afford to provide public health services, like vaccination, that so many are confused about the value of vaccines like those for influenza. It is a tragedy that for the country with the world's premier public health organization (CDC) that so many listen to self proclaimed experts on the internet who discourage people from following CDC's advice. Kinda like choosing to look up fighting fires on the internet instead of listening to trained firemen in my opinion.

 

[MossRoad]

No, that is not the way it works. Your immune system will do a better job if it has seen a similar or related virus via vaccination than if you are immunologically "naive". Both the seasonal influenza and the added H1N1 vaccines are valuable allies to your immune system.

Well, now, see... that is helpful information!

Hey, maybe we should move this post to the related topics forum?

Any objections?

 

[arrow]

Regular flu is also an H1N1 variety. The pork industry was worried that it would impinge on their sales with the "swine flu" connotation as it has in the past so the government put the good old H1N1 tag on it. This H1N1 carries quite a few variants however but its basic structure is still H1N1.

 

[Bird]

I was talking to a local doctor this afternoon and asked him if he'd gotten any of the H1N1 vaccine. He had not. He said he ordered 600 doses and the whole state of Texas got 500.

 

[Bird]

I moved this thread from the Owning/Operating forum to this forum where it might be seen by more people and left a one month redirect in the old location.

 

[IslandTractor]

I was talking to a local doctor this afternoon and asked him if he'd gotten any of the H1N1 vaccine. He had not. He said he ordered 600 doses and the whole state of Texas got 500.

Initially there is limited availability but that should change over the next month or so. Pregnant women, children and healthcare workers will be prioritized for the first lots of vaccine so most people won't really be able to get the H1N1 vaccine for another month or more. In the meantime, the regular seasonal flu vaccine is readily available so don't delay in getting that one.

Take your kids (especially the young ones) to the pediatrician soon as they probably will have both vaccines (shortly if not already).

I'm pretty sure the Republic of Texas has received more than 500 doses by now but they may not have been distributing them to local docs very efficiently or may be sending them to pediatricians and OB/GYN practices and hospitals first.