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April 29, 2009, 12:19 am
Flag as Inappropriate Darrin  

Does anyone know what the symptoms of the new swine flu are? I have some friends who were in New York this last week and the husband is sick with a "cold". It doesn't seem like a cold to me since he has a pretty high fever (102 degrees) and is aching all over. They swear they weren't in contact with anyone who had the "flu" so it couldn't be that. We are avoiding them since I think it's the swine flu. Does anyone know the symptoms?

Wow! That sounds like some type of flu. I think I would strongly advise him to go to the doctor, the sooner the better. They can give him some antiviral medicine and some other medicines that could help him feel better. The doctor also could report the case to the health department to help them keep track of the statistics. Hope he feels better and doesn't have any complications.

Here is a link that should be helpful: http://www.webmd.com/cold-and-flu/flu-guide/20061101/swine-flu-faq

Symptoms are the same as regular flu the danger lies in the fact that it has mutated from a flu virus that affected pigs rather than humans. Normally we don't catch the same virus they do. It is dangerous because it is so much different than human flu that we are likely to have very little resistance to it and it could spread very rapidly. Same issue applies to bird flu and is the reason world health officials are so concerned about it.

I've heard that in the United States the flu doesn't appear to be as bad as in Mexico. I mean it's not as strong. The one person who has died in the United States was actually a child from Mexico and not someone living here. I really hope that the media does not blow this out of proportion like they have done with so many things. Personally, I am not worried yet.

Here are 2 interesting articles:

Swine flu Q and A: http://www.boston.com/news/health/blog/2009/04/swine_flu_q_and.html

Texas Doctor Claims Swine Flu Cases Far Worse Than Reported, Level 6 Pandemic In Effect: http://www.prisonplanet.com/texas-doctor-claims-swine-flu-cases-far-worse-than-reported.html This was actually sent to me by a family member in an email. Dr. Marcus Gitterle, is an emergency medicine physician based out of New Braunfels, Texas; which is about 20 miles from where I live.

Thanks carybyrd for the links. I heard that a 22 month old little boy died in Texas from the flu. I hope you are taking appropriate precautions and staying safe down there. I am really concerned about this epidemic. I know that you can do a lot to help yourself (staying away from crowds, proper hand washing and sanitizing, etc). I think that the epidemics are becoming worse or maybe it's just because I'm alive now and not when they had the really bad epidemic in 1918.

I am still hearing a ton of crazed numbers out there. Has the CDC been keeping their site updated too on this? I checked the other day and it showed the little ticker box empty and I know that cant be right.