Swine Flu?

[rigsby25]

I've been away from the boards for a while - mainly because of the games I'm playing on Facebook. But we'll be at Animal Kingdom Kidani in two weeks and we're wondering if there is any flu stuff down there? Has anyone heard anything?

 

[pennst8r]

I"ll probably see you there! I was wondering, too. Map sites that have been tracking the flu aren't up to date. DS12 has asthma, and hoping he'll be vaccinated before we go.

 

[allshookup]

The swine flu is most definitely here in the New England area with a couple of recent deaths reported in Massachusetts. Not to scare anyone, but the fact is, if it's here...it's there. Many many people travel to WDW from NE. My kids just got over having the flu. Was it the swine flu? I don't know, since their fevers & cold symptoms were mild & they seemed fine otherwise. My son also suffers from bronchial infections everytime he has a cold, so he uses an inhaler at each cold flair up & he recovered just fine. It appears that most people that do not recover, have very serious underlying health conditions.

As far as vaccines, I've heard that they will be released in October, but will go to health workers first. Not sure when it will actually be available to the general public but maybe by the end of October? I've also heard recommendations on the news to wash your hands, use hand sanitizer before eating, touching your face, etc. & cough or sneeze into your elbow. Not sure if it really helps, but certainly doesn't hurt to take some precautions. Have fun & try not to worry!

Edited to add: I thought the New England Journal of Medicine had a recent map, but the more I looked at the more I realized it isn't. Guess they are not really updating them.

 

[BLTtinkerbell]

First, go & have a great time!
I believe that the Swine Flu is everywhere & if you are flying, the germs will be on the plane. I'm not trying to scare anyone, just saying germs are out there. The best thing to do is wash your hands as much as possible, especially before eating. I would bring (or buy when you get there) wipes to wipe down the door knobs, faucets, stuff like that in your room. I would spray the room w/Lysol. Bring hand sanitizer. I would have hand santizer in my bag on the plane & in the parks. You can use it frequently. You should still go & enjoy your vacation. The Swine Flu will be at home too, so I would go about your plans & just take steps to stay well.

On a side note, I hope WDW will be changing ALL bedding, including blankets & bed spreads after each guest checks out.

 

[Minniemama350]

It's everywhere. Bring an alcohol based sanitizer. Past that just have fun! It is so widespread I can't imagine altering my life to avoid it. You can get it at home. I'd rather have a little fun first!

 

[Deb & Bill]

The H1N1 flu is everywhere. Wash your hands, make sure your kids wash their hands. Used an alcohol based handrub (not antibacterial) occasionally. Keep your hands away from your eyes, nose, mouth, etc.

My son just had it (very high temp, felt just terrible) and neither of us got it. The vaccine should be available later on this month if you really want to take that. I know we are supposed to get our first shipment this week or next week at my hospital for the higher risk persons - healthcare workers, pregnant women, caregivers for smaller children. Then the doses from the state is scheduled to arrive a little bit later in the month for every one else.

 

[JimMIA]

Here is a link to the official CDC info, current as of the week of September 25: http://www.cdc.gov/H1n1flu/update.htm Florida is one of 27 states reporting high rates of infection.

The info from CDC seems to indicate that just about all of the flu cases being reported at this time are H1N1. There is apparently not much normal seasonal flu going around, and I have heard (but do not know for sure) that health authorities are not even sending samples for identification as swine flu because it's assumed that all flu out there right now is swine flu. Perhaps Dean has more precise information.

The precautions listed above are correct, along with keeping sick people home rather than going to work or school. The use of alcohol-based hand sanitizers is especially effective. Since the disease is airborne, people who have coughs should wear masks, but vanity will prevent that in approximately 99.8% of cases.

For healthcare workers, it is recommended that we stay at least 6.5 feet away from any patient with a cough, require coughing patients to wear a mask, and wear N95 respirator masks if the patient refuses a mask. When giving oxygen, we use full face masks almost exclusively now rather than cannulas.

 

[Deb & Bill]

Last May when the first cases started showing up, the state said to send all cases to the state lab for analysis (it takes several days to complete the test). Now, the physicians are making the call based on professional knowledge and this has been supported by Public Health.

If you do get sick, call your physician. Don't go to the ER or to the doctor's office unless they direct you to the office or ER. Our son was on Tamiflu for five days and he only missed three days of school (should have gone home from school the day he got sick, but he didn't go home early - and he didn't tell me he had a fever).

 

[BBG-BLT]

Yep. Started feeling bad Wednesday night (fever chills). Stayed in the room Thursday morning but took DayQuil and Advil and went to MNSSHP. Friday was Epcot and I was misrable but wanted the kids to do Kim Possible. That's when I noticed that my twins were coming down with the same thing. I finally went to the urgent care Friday night because I thought I had strep throat (It was the most painful sore throat ever) and I wanted to start us all on antibiotics. After a 3 hour wait the strep test came back negative and 2 minutes with the doctor and he's like - you have the flu. I'm like no - I'm still standing... and he's like - I've been seeing 6-10 cases a day - you have the flu.

So yes its at Disney a lot. You do feel bad. For us its fever, very sore throat, coughing a lot, not hungrey and tired. I had the flu a bunch of years back and I remember it being worse. This one is bad - believe me you don't want it but you can fight it if you're healthy.

I agree with the rest of the boards. We didn't use hand stuff I will in the future.

 

[pennst8r]

Those little bottles of hand sanitizer are standard for us when at WDW. I think I'll give each kid their own bottle, tho, this year! Hadn't thought of sanitizing the room, tho--doorknobs, etc. Good idea. I think I'll pick up some wipes to take along.

 

[Tiger926]

Yep. Started feeling bad Wednesday night (fever chills). Stayed in the room Thursday morning but took DayQuil and Advil and went to MNSSHP. Friday was Epcot and I was misrable but wanted the kids to do Kim Possible. That's when I noticed that my twins were coming down with the same thing. I finally went to the urgent care Friday night because I thought I had strep throat (It was the most painful sore throat ever) and I wanted to start us all on antibiotics. After a 3 hour wait the strep test came back negative and 2 minutes with the doctor and he's like - you have the flu. I'm like no - I'm still standing... and he's like - I've been seeing 6-10 cases a day - you have the flu.

So yes its at Disney a lot. You do feel bad. For us its fever, very sore throat, coughing a lot, not hungrey and tired. I had the flu a bunch of years back and I remember it being worse. This one is bad - believe me you don't want it but you can fight it if you're healthy.

I agree with the rest of the boards. We didn't use hand stuff I will in the future.

I'm glad you are feeling better.

Your post is a good reminder though that if anyone is feeling fever or chills, that they need to stay away from people for several days. Doping up on meds in order to go through the parks is not fair to the rest of us who are breathing in your germs. Please, please, please, stay in your rooms, and then call housekeeping for special cleaning of your room, as well.

Tiger

 

[edk35]

It is out there. We live in MD and it is going through our schools. A family in our neighborhood all got it within a day or two of each other. Players on my son's high school soccer team have gotten it. I almost feel like we are waiting to be hit by it. We do all the things mentioned here and always have. I think you just keep on living your life and that includes going on planned WDW trips and hope for the best. If you get sick....then you try and not spread it around to others. I just read a sad article about a 14 year old girl that just died from the swine flu. She didn't have any underlying medical problems. The article went on to say that they are seeing really mild cases and then some get hit really hard and get secondary bacterial infections. I worry about it because my two oldest kids have asthma. They have both had the pneumonia vaccines too.

 

[BBG-BLT]

You're right - who knew it was the flu - I didn't or I would have stayed in.

Any fever be careful of - we thought it was a cold or at the worse strep.

My partner didn't believe it was the flu, even after the doctor told me it was. In fact I didn't believe him either - 2 days later I do.

Again she and I were thinking that the flu would totally knock you out but this flu doesn't right away - the first few days you don't feel good but it feels like you're getting a cold with a fever and chills.

When we got home we looked at a web site on reported swine cases. Orlando is very high - I guess I should have expected it but I didn't.

I agree to stay in - I did alert the front desk when I checked out.

Good luck to all - wash hands a lot.

 

[cvjw]

We came home from Disney Sept 16th, my husband started getting sick around the 18th. He had a bad case of the flu, don't know if it was swine flu or not. He caught it at Disney, and we were very careful to wash our hands and use hand sanitizer.

 

[Upanova01]

Okay, Hubby and I were at WDW last week, Sept. 20-27th. Right when we got back on Sept. 29th, DH started to feel "off." A day later I was right behind him. We both did not go to Urgent Care so we don't know if we had the Flu or Swine flu or not.

I would like some clarification as to the progression of the "cold/flu/whatever."

First off, we both got terrible, painful sore throats. That was on the first day. Weds, after we got back. After that we both got lethargy. We could still eat though, or appetites were not off and we didn't have diarrhea or upset stomachs. After the lethargy and sore throats we had a mild fever of 99 for about a day. On Thursday it was time to go to bed still with mild fever, aches and pains and some chills. Sore throat, runny nose, congestion, mild fever. Then on Friday I was in bed all day long resting with the same stuff thinking I was past it. THEN on Sat. the 4th day! after I got this thing I had a fever of 102 all day long! With all the other symptoms, that broke during the night, and I had night sweats and just felt awful. Today is the first day that I've been out of bed in three days with no fever and symptoms abating. So it sucks.

Are others having this same pattern of symptoms or am I just crazy and it's a cold that going around. Either way I'm going to get my Flu shots now.

Mlle Upanova

 

[jim martin]

I have never made a trip to WDW without someone in my family getting sick. We have been five times in the last four years.

 

[DptyDogg]

We leave for WDW in five days.

You'll rarely hear people who are thankful they've had the swine flu but my DW and I were quite glad to get it out of the way last weekend.

One less thing to worry about.

 

[allshookup]

Okay, Hubby and I were at WDW last week, Sept. 20-27th. Right when we got back on Sept. 29th, DH started to feel "off." A day later I was right behind him. We both did not go to Urgent Care so we don't know if we had the Flu or Swine flu or not.

I would like some clarification as to the progression of the "cold/flu/whatever."

First off, we both got terrible, painful sore throats. That was on the first day. Weds, after we got back. After that we both got lethargy. We could still eat though, or appetites were not off and we didn't have diarrhea or upset stomachs. After the lethargy and sore throats we had a mild fever of 99 for about a day. On Thursday it was time to go to bed still with mild fever, aches and pains and some chills. Sore throat, runny nose, congestion, mild fever. Then on Friday I was in bed all day long resting with the same stuff thinking I was past it. THEN on Sat. the 4th day! after I got this thing I had a fever of 102 all day long! With all the other symptoms, that broke during the night, and I had night sweats and just felt awful. Today is the first day that I've been out of bed in three days with no fever and symptoms abating. So it sucks.

Are others having this same pattern of symptoms or am I just crazy and it's a cold that going around. Either way I'm going to get my Flu shots now.

Mlle Upanova

If you had cold symptoms with aches & a fever, that usually signifies the flu. Although you can be nauseous with the flu, usually when people are throwing up with diarrhea, some people mistakenly call it the flu, but it's acutally a stomach virus like Gastroenteritis (commonly known as Norwalk or Norovirus).

 

[racefanof88]

We came home with it . Not much you can do to avoid it when you are in such a crowded place, like Disney. We used 2 bottles of hand sanitizer(in 6 days), I used Lysol wipes and spray in the room and we kept our hands washed. You will come in contact with people who will be sneezing and coughing and NOT covering . We encounter this VERY frequently, and we are not talking just kids . Not much you can do about it when you are closed up on the monorail or on a ride.

 

[puntagordabob]

Okay, Hubby and I were at WDW last week, Sept. 20-27th. Right when we got back on Sept. 29th, DH started to feel "off." A day later I was right behind him. We both did not go to Urgent Care so we don't know if we had the Flu or Swine flu or not.

I would like some clarification as to the progression of the "cold/flu/whatever."

First off, we both got terrible, painful sore throats. That was on the first day. Weds, after we got back. After that we both got lethargy. We could still eat though, or appetites were not off and we didn't have diarrhea or upset stomachs. After the lethargy and sore throats we had a mild fever of 99 for about a day. On Thursday it was time to go to bed still with mild fever, aches and pains and some chills. Sore throat, runny nose, congestion, mild fever. Then on Friday I was in bed all day long resting with the same stuff thinking I was past it. THEN on Sat. the 4th day! after I got this thing I had a fever of 102 all day long! With all the other symptoms, that broke during the night, and I had night sweats and just felt awful. Today is the first day that I've been out of bed in three days with no fever and symptoms abating. So it sucks.

Are others having this same pattern of symptoms or am I just crazy and it's a cold that going around. Either way I'm going to get my Flu shots now.

Mlle Upanova

Somewhat the same scenerio as we had... we returned from WDW the 27th of September and by the following day the scratchy throats started....some of us came down with it quicker than the others....but the progression of the symptoms is similar.

Our Doctor gave us the same indication that it was probably the H1n1.