This strain has a few things that are worrying, including the fact that it is hitting the young massively harder than the elderly, and the fact that in the severe cases the time between 'cough cough I don't feel so good' and 'in the hospital with tubes and whatnot / on deathbed' is a mere matter of a few days. Of course, these are a very small minority of the total sufferers, but it makes an overall treatment strategy difficult in that you don't want to treat everyone like they are about to die, but you are afraid to miss those who are seriously at risk.

http://www.flu.gov/ has a lot of good resources, especially if you dig down into the nitty gritty statistics and weekly updates.

We had a 4 year old girl in town die from "flu like symptoms" this week. They have closed the daycare facility she was at, and are cleansing it.

We had a healthy 5 year old die last week here, and today they reported a early 20's something female has died.

Nationwide H1N1 was killed more children then seasonal flu does in a 12 month period in a normal flu year.

A scarey thought for a mother of a 3 year old and a 5 year old.

Yeah, it's staring to get scarey huh? I hate to be a fear mongerer and I'm not ready to go as far as some parents, by taking my Son out of school etc, but I'm wondering if it might be a good idea to put his gym visits on hold for a while, if he wasn't in a high risk category, I don't think I would be as worried. Although most of the youngsters dying from it are otherwise perfectly healthy He has had the seasonal flu shot, but I really won't feel any better until he gets the H1N1 shot.

The city we live in is offering free H1N1 flu vaccinations for children....through the county health department I guess. I'm just worried that it might make things worse, I've heard that they might need another dose? My daughter is 8 and usually pretty healthy, I'm not big on vaccinations, but.....

On another note, my older daughter in the UK, her fiance has some of the H1N1 symptoms and his GP will not see anyone with two or more symptoms. He was given a prescription for Tamiflu (sp) and told not to leave the house for 5 days. Trouble is my daughter and their children have been having some kind of tummybug for the last week and I worry about all of them.....

We have selectively self-segregated ourselves on a few occasions, avoiding some large crowds and paying closer attention to people near us who may be coughing than we have in the past.

A healthy 18-year-old just died in our state from H1N1, after going into the hospital for a check up a week ago and being given Motrin and sent home to having limbs amputated this week in a desperate (and futile) effort to save his life.

It is scary how it affects certain individuals incredibly harshly.

http://www.wbaltv.com/news/21363895/detail.html

http://www.abc2news.com/mostpopular/...9oYn6_-Xg.cspx

A couple of weeks ago my son was at a sleep over at his best friend's house. The following week they were both off school poorly - his friend was off all week with H1N1 apparently. They say they had him tested at Urgent Care and that the result was positive - I don't know if that would be an accurate test or not?

My son was just off for a couple of days that week - slight fever but not much in the way of other symptoms. I kind of wonder if he had a really mild case of H1N1? But then again, kids get so many bugs and stuff, especially this time of year....

I've heard of other (allegedly) confirmed cases at his school - although one mum was adamant that her kid's flu test was a false negative

Current data is showing that children under the age of 9 have little or NO antibodies for the H1N1 virus that is going around, and as such they will require 2 doses of the vaccine.

As for the seasonal vaccine, if your child has never had a flu shot before then they would also need two doses of this vaccine as well.

(it's worth noting the H1N1 is a nasal spray, not a jab in the arm, if you have a needle problem)

As for the other bit:

http://answers.flu.gov/questions/4860
Can the nasal spray flu vaccine give you the flu?

Unlike the flu shot, the nasal spray flu vaccine does contain live viruses. However, the viruses are attenuated (weakened) and cannot cause flu illness. The weakened viruses are cold-adapted, which means they are designed to only cause infection at the cooler temperatures found within the nose. The viruses cannot infect the lungs or other areas where warmer temperatures exist.

Some children and young adults 2 years to 17 years of age have reported experiencing mild reactions after receiving seasonal nasal spray flu vaccine, including runny nose, nasal congestion or cough, chills, tiredness/weakness, sore throat and headache. Some adults 18 years to 49 years of age have reported runny nose or nasal congestion, cough, chills, tiredness/weakness, sore throat and headache. These side effects are mild and short-lasting, especially when compared to symptoms of influenza infection.

There is a spray but also 3 different single dose jabs and 3 different multi-dose (as in a vial that they can get multiple doses from) jabs. I already ruled out the spray since I have issues with stuff being sprayed up my nose and the mult-dose jab because of the extra junk in it but I may get the single dose jab.

Unfortunately the testing is not incredibly accurate. It's entirely possible that he didn't have it and got a false positive reading, but at this point many doctors have been saying "treat any symptoms as if it was" and be very observant.

From a diagnosis standpoint, a slight fever, mild symptoms that go away after a few days is also behind a half a dozen other bugs that are going around, so to start a full H1N1 antiviral treatment at the first sign of something is probably not a good use of resources and could possibly speed the development of a treatment resistant virus.

Not to send you into a worry, but one of the odd things about H1N1 that has been noticed in some cases is that it hits you up twice; the first time with a slight fever which goes away, and then a few days later with a much more massive hit with a severe fever.

If your son has recovered, then chances are he's probably beaten whatever little thing he had, like the vast majority of people who are hit by this bug. However, it would be worth mentioning to him that if he feels any recurrence of the fever or other things that he should let you know immediately so you can consult your local doctor.

Good luck

I've heard the shot is probably more reliable then the spray. Of course the bigger issue is finding a place that is giving it. There is a bit of a shortage due to some manufacturing issues and folks are scrambling to try and find a place that has it in stock.

http://www.flu.gov/ has a locator but in the end you usually have to call the different clinics and pharmacies to see if it is available.

Thanks for that info - really useful.

Not to send you into a worry, but one of the odd things about H1N1 that has been noticed in some cases is that it hits you up twice; the first time with a slight fever which goes away, and then a few days later with a much more massive hit with a severe fever.

I started out with a mild fever. Thren it got really bad. Then it went down to about 100 one night and the next morning back to 103..

My 11 yr old daughter is down at our drop-in clinic right now to get swabbed. She has been getting progressively more ill since Tuesday afternoon. The surgery said at this time they wouldn't treat her any differently than any other cold/flu ... worrying, but how do you know if you crossed the line from "feeling like crap" to "feeling really, really like crap and passing a danger point".

We shall wait and see how the next few days pan out.

In the meantime, it is cold and bug season anyway, and I'm sitting here with a thumping head cold. Feel like I have a tight hat on around my forehead!

Love it .....