Talking Allergies

I know of 2 people who've been diagnosed with the swine flu. (Before, of course, any regular priority people were allowed to get the shot.)
Both were quarantined, only one was considered bad enough to get the anti-viral.

Also heard that a couple of former colleagues have been through it, and are now better.

Are other people hearing lots of stories of people having it? How are they handling.

FYI, so much for H1N1 being overblown - CDC just released stats showing 3,900 h1n1 deaths in the States; 98,000 in hospital for it. http://tinyurl.com/ydn688p
Bring on those shots...

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Allergic to soy, peanut, shellfish, penicillin

A few people that work with dh have family members diagnosed with H1N1. Employees are being asked to inform HR when they have been in close contact (e.g. living with) someone that has it. The company is providing the employee with masks and gloves to wear. Prior to anyone being diagnosed with it, they provided employees with hand sanitizer to keep with them, and small plastic baggies to dispose of used kleenex.

DS was off school for a week due to a bad cough (no flu-like symptoms). I called the school and was advised that there were 108 students absent one day with flu-like symptoms (total of about 580 students in the school). Three were confirmed H1N1.

And another allergy forum that I'm on, one of the parents advised us his 5 year old son died. He had H1N1. (I realize on the internet anyone can say anything, but this has been confirmed as true.)



Of those 3,900, they all had H1N1 - but in some cases it is considered a *contributing factor*, not necessarily the cause of death. What would be the usual number of deaths that would include the flu as a contributing factor?

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self: allergy to sesame seeds and peanuts
3 sons each with at least one of the following allergies: peniciilin, sulfa-based antibiotic, latex, insect bites/stings

This I don't know.
And as I'm on deadline for a certain magazine ... has anyone else seen stats on that?

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Allergic to soy, peanut, shellfish, penicillin

In the summer while we were on a cruise vacation my dad caught it. They gave us all Tamiflu. My mom and dad took it (mom was sharing a room with him) but my brother and I did not as, at the time, we were unsure about the ingredients but also, we didn't have any symptoms and had our own room. My dad had a bad cough and fever and felt generally unwell. Kept saying his head felt big....also a lot of fatigue. After one dose of Tamiflu he was almost back to normal. You take it for five days basically and the last thing to go was his cough...maybe a week after his first symptoms.

Also in the summer, my cousin had it....REALLY bad and I'm surprised that she never went to the hospital. She didn't get diagnosed (my dad got tested and diagnosed on the ship in the medical facility) but it was pretty evident. She had such a bad fever that she was hallucinating! I guess her body just faught through it, just using tylenol and that kind of thing to keep the fever at bay as much as possible. Neither she nor my dad were in high risk groups but from I've read, it seems to be hitting a lot of young and healthy people and not just those who are at high risk.

I was talking to some friends in school today. One is convinced she had it but since they aren't really testing for it anymore, she just stayed home and dealt with it after being turned away at the clinic with some meds (not tamiflu or anything like that). The other one definitely had it. Her mom had it, then she caught it, then her sister caught it from her. She is asthmatic and was given some pumps to help her get through it and is fine now.

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Associate Editor at Allergic Living.
Allergies to all nuts and legumes except soy and green beans.

I know of one definite case at the school, and there were other kids who probably caught it from her. Original person ended up in hospital due to high fever, I believe.

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DD 2004 Allergy to peanuts, egg, sesame, and new: lentils and chick peas
DS 2006 Allergy to peanuts, tree nuts, milk, egg, kiwi fruit, eczema

I am a Teacher On Call. I get work often when people are sick. In BC we have had delays getting vacinations and unlike the yearly regular flu shots these are not being given to teachers unless you have chronic health conditions. I was able to get my daughters vaccinated but I still do not qualify for at least another week.
When I go to work I am in the midst of children who are coughing and sneezing and often covering for a teacher who is ill. (This has always been the case but is particularly uncomfortable now). The grade 2 class I was called to on Friday had about 5 students absent. Of course other students tell you Johnny has H1N1 but there is no confirmation.
At least students are better about covering and washing but need constant reminders. More parents appear to be keeping sick kids home.
I wish they had started vaccinations in the school for teachers and students who wanted it several weeks ago.

Alison's mom and I are at the same school and although there were few confirmed cases, I think a lot of us had it...the class I work in had 10/22 students away for one week - the health board is informed if #'s go above a certain percent - we had about 15% of the kids out sick that week - I think the average is about 3% of kids off sick. I think my whole family has had it, although we were not terribly sick, and we didn't bother to get tested.

The news a couple of weeks ago said about 10% of people in BC have had it so far. We tend to catch everything first, so I am assuming we are part of the group affected.

Allergist thinks our daughter had it a few weeks ago (she missed a week of school all told). Hubby was quite sick but I was fine. The allergist told me that there is no way to be certain as they only swab those admitted with H1N1 and they can't tell after the fact.

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Moderator
Daughter: asthma, allergies to egg, milk, peanuts, tree nuts, most legumes (not soy) & penicillin. Developing hayfever type allergies.
Husband: no allergies
Me: allergies to some tree that flowers in May
Cat: allergic to beef, pork and lamb

My daughter likely had it, and I actually know of quite a few people that have likely had it (kids at school, neighbourhood children, and a few adults). Apparently, (as stated in the Toronto Star by the Head of Microbiology at Mount Sinai hospital*) it's the only flu out there right now, so if you know of anyone out there with flu-like symptoms, it's H1N1.

*I read this information in the Toronto Star, but I am unable to find the article on-line. If anyone is successful in finding it on-line, it appeared sometime in the last couple of weeks.

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14 yr old daughter: no health issues
11 yr old son: allergic to peanuts, tree nuts, eggs, fish, sesame, sunflower, mustard, poppy seeds, green peas, some fruits, instructed to avoid all other legumes (except soy & green beans), pollen, cats, horses

First I had a bad flu that took me off my feet for 5 days with fever, aches and very tired for 2 weeks after then hubby got it and a week later both kids got it. My daughter was better after a week but my son had a fever for a week and took 2 more weeks after that to get better. We couldn't get in to see a doctor, they are hard to see at the best of times here but we suspect it was H1N1. My son's fever was very high but since no other complications we just kept him home and hydrated. That week in my daughters class there were only 11 kids at school out of 27. I will add that my allergist advised me against getting the vaccination due to positive allergy tests to the regular flu vaccine. Other than losing time from work and school it wasn't that bad.

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allergic to all tree pollens except grass, hazelnuts, fruit and some veggies

While looking for something else, I found this at CBC.

http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2009/11/ ... eaths.html





It's an interesting article with a lot more information then just that. Worth the read, imo.

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self: allergy to sesame seeds and peanuts
3 sons each with at least one of the following allergies: peniciilin, sulfa-based antibiotic, latex, insect bites/stings

Oh, just heard of another friend with H1N1. A woman in her late 30s, with a 6-yr-old.

Was planning to get the shot now that it's open to public. And now, too late.
She says she's coughing a lot, quarantined herself.

Husband and child got their shots.

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Allergic to soy, peanut, shellfish, penicillin

I know of hundreds of people who have had it! I'm a front-line medical worker, and unfortunately, came down with it myself only 3 days after getting vaccinated. My son got it too. The vaccine takes a few weeks to work, but the doc said our cases were possibly a bit milder because the vaccine was doing a little "mopping up" while building the immune response. My son was prescribed Tamiflu due to his asthma. They stopped swabbing for it in September, and as far as I know, are only swabbing those who end up hospitalized. 99% of swabs were positive for H1N1, so doctors are pretty much able to figure it out just by looking at people now, as it's pretty much the only flu circulating right now. Sudden onset of fever and cough are the hallmark symptoms, but fever is sometimes absent in children under 2, and adults.

As far as comparing death statistics though, I recommend you hold off - most influenza deaths occur later in the season, well into Jan & Feb and up to May. Comparing current death rates from H1N1 to past "regular" flu seasons is very premature. Hopefully, we will continue to see low death rates due to education, common sense and vaccination!

I can confirm 1 important point though, and that is this H1N1 is affecting children much harder than adults. I would say 80% of the Tamiflu handed out is for people under the age of 30. For several weeks in late October and early November, I saw the eyes of many a worried parent ... they've never seen their child so sick. The latest wave appears to be over - not much Tamiflu going out this past week, but I expect we will see another wave soon.