Evi said:
I have seen so many posts regarding the "Swine Flu" on different messaging boards, and have wondered how many people really know the different distinctions of Influenza. Some nurses that have already posted, are probably well aware of the distinctions as they see this stuff pretty much consistently during the cold and flu season, but I have never seen someone come out and explain things further so here we go. There are pretty much three (1) Influenzavirus A (2) Influenza virus B and (3) Influenza virus C, based on different readings there looks to be about five but we are typically only affected by the first two listed above. The first one Influenza virus A has two proteins which are found on it which make up the H and N:
(1) Hemagglutinin - H
(2) Neuraminidase - N
There are 16 different H subtypes and 9 different N subtypes, which commonly only H1, H2 and H3 are found in humans including N1 and N2. The word commonly is important because you could get other types of Inluenzavirus A, but basically the common ones we get are:
H1N1
H1N2
H2N1
H2N2
H3N1
H3N2
Now, those are only six of the sereotypes humans commonly get, but it doesn't mean you could not get some others that are out there. If you attempt to figure out all the combinations above, and if my math is right your looking at 144 types of possible Influenza A:
There have been a few posts on many sites where I have seen that people have not been swabbed, and for a doctor to say someone has "Swine Flu" would be inaccurate unless it could be confirmed. Many of the different types of Influenza A viruses have very similar symptoms across the board. Similar to another poster it makes me wonder the accuracy of the reported "Swine Flu" cases, especially if a doctor has reported it without swabbing someone and definitely confirming it first. I would presume that this has happened too out in the medical fields.
The Influenzavirus B has only one species, but can have many different strains to it. Because this virus isn't passed among many species, and typically people have formed an immunity to it already, there usually insn't a pandemic.
Although, I listed Influenza virus C above, its honestly not worth mentioning or going into detail since its typically pretty mild.
The wikipedia has some information on it, but I have found some other sites that explain the different types very well. I recommend reading more about it, and make sure you get swabbed to definitely determine if thats the type virus you have. I am sure some previous posters who are nurses, or doctors, or even studying for their doctrates could go into more detail....but the bottom line is that there are so many Influenza A type viruses, if your not swabbed then you don't really know what you have, most of the time the doctors are assuming based on what is prevalent in the area. That does drive me crazy though, since they should be taking the time to really identify it for sure, but that is another debatable thread all together. The Influenza vaccine also only covers a small amount of the Influenza virus, and not all the 144 serotypes are covered above, you can look any many sites about the Influenza vaccine, but here is some information from the wikie http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Influenza_vaccine I recommend also looking at CDC, WebMD or any other health sites where you can find out with types of Influenza are covered. Oh, and lets not get into the Rhinovirus, another totally seperate thread
I have read all the posts, and would agree that cancelling the trip probably would have been the best bet, especially since he knew he had some sort of virus. Although, I know there are many families with illness and weakened immune systems that go to WDW, and want to enjoy it similar to the rest of us. Magic Kingdom having attendances from 25,000-80,000 (a guess probably could be more at times), would you think that being inside a park with such large crowds would be good for someone with illnesses or weakened immune systems? Honestly, I don't know the answer I am just throwing that out there since there are so many people attending that any one of those thousands of people could be coming down with a virus and not know about. Therefore could be passing it onto these attendees with weakened immune systems or illness. Pretty much every visit I end up coming down with some sort of cold or virus...Plus, Lets not discuss the circulated air on an airplane while heading down to WDW
Evi said:
I completely agree with you regarding cancelling, and honestly our family almost had to cancel an upcoming trip because of surgery complications which should have been 100% healed before the trip. Unfortunately, Family member had to go through many different procedures and the initial surgery a second time, and one of my concerns was the cost of cancelling since we didn't purchase insurance. In my opinion, I prefer to eat the one night reservation cost and cancel at the very last moment, but there are many who don't want to lose anything (The plane fares are usually the worst with cancellations, but that is a long story too...Grrr!) Unfortunately, with the cold or flu that can be everybody's elses loss as its passed around especially when you have been tested for it. I think when you go to a place as large as Walt Disney World, and with the millions of people who visit every year its hard to sometimes not get some sort of cold or flu. The folks who are just starting to get it into their system and aren't showing symptoms could be just as contagious if not more sometimes. Just make sure you bring your clorox wipes, vitamin C, hand sanitizer and anything else to help a possible prevention. The good news is we are still going, but may have to rent an ECV...Already contacted place about it, and they have been very helpful and accomodating, but we will see how things go the first day we are down there.
Where did you get this info from? Hopefully it's not You Tube or Wikipedia...
In fact, the opposite has been proven thus far. Out of millions of doses worldwide, there haven't been that many serious or deadly reactions at all. Anything you consume or put on your body can be problematic: Tylenol, food, drink, sunscreen, etc. Reactions can, and do happen for no reason - I have allergies/sensitivies, so I can attest to this. This needs to be considered when choosing a vaccine or not - many normal things cause reactions too.
Not sure where you are getting your info from - it seems to just be justification for many other things...irresponsible behaviour being one, since you were on a cruise with the flu. That whole response doesn't seem right at all, as you have to answer questions about being ill. So, if you lied about being ill to get on the cruise...that's another whole moral problem altogether. If you didn't lie, then the crew on that boat is highly irresponsible as you should have been quarantined.
I'm just scratching my head, as I see others are on here, at most of your posts... Tiger
