petmoosie: (Emily)
Grr. The nearby site has all its slots filled already. All the other (more distant) places don't have dates until February.

Bleh. This is her second dose that I am trying to arrange.
petmoosie: (braids)
It is now available at our doctor's for patients without any risk factors. [livejournal.com profile] mrmoosie and I are going to get stuck tonight.
petmoosie: (Default)
The trend is unambiguously down in number of new infections and number of new visits to physicians about flu-like symptoms. It's now below the peak of 2006-2007's flu season, and substantially below the peak of 2007-2008's flu season. It's not below the epidemic threshold yet.

The amount of vaccine available (in the US) is 78 million doses. Some states are allowing non-high risk groups to be vaccinated.

Bleh

Oct. 31st, 2009 09:52 am
petmoosie: (Default)
My leg no longer hurts like the dickens. I have to follow up with my primary care physician to get the Lyme disease screening. The doctor tried to imply that the reason it hurt was [livejournal.com profile] mrmoosie 's attempt to remove it, but it hurt long before that.

So many sick children at the Urgent Care place (Nighttime Pediatrics is the name, but they do adults also). I feel really sorry for those poor children.

The news from CDC about H1N1 is NOT good. 8% of all visits are for Influenza-like lllness or Pneumonia. 40% of people with symptoms have flu (which is really high, they usually see seasonal variation in this, but the yearly high is usually in the 20% range). The % of all deaths due to Flu or Pneumonia has exceeded the epidemic threshold.

I did not feel it appropriate to share the FluView diagrams with any of the parents there who were worried about their children. Even (or especially) the parents that I discussed MS Word and computer systems with in an effort to not be bored stiff.

petmoosie: (Default)

During past pandemics, a third or more of the entire population has got flu, and the risks of flu killing you or causing nasty problems such as Guillain-Barré syndrome are far greater than those of the vaccines.

Fears from the 1970s

The 1976 vaccine caused around 10 cases per million vaccinated. Even ordinary flu vaccines, however, are thought to cause one extra case of Guillain-Barré per million, in addition to the 10 to 20 per million who get Guillain-Barré some other way every year.

Does this mean it is safer not getting vaccinated? Absolutely not. First, there is the risk of swine flu killing you. Second, what few people know is that flu itself is far more likely to cause Guillain-Barré than any flu vaccine.

A 2009 study found that out of every million people who get flu, between 40 and 70 develop Guillain-Barré. So your best chance of avoiding Guillain-Barré is to get vaccinated, a conclusion backed by a 2007 study.

The vaccine risk is also diminishing. Cases of Guillain-Barré in the US have fallen 20 per cent since 1996, and cases reported after flu vaccination have fallen by 60 per cent. Intriguingly, this coincides with a fall in infections by the food poisoning bacterium Campylobacter, thanks to improved meat hygiene. Guillain-Barré usually follows infections, and Campylobacter is the main cause. It is also endemic among chickens, and flu vaccines are grown in chicken eggs. So the occasional contamination of flu vaccines with Campylobacter proteins might explain the link with Guillain-Barré, according to a 2004 study.

(From the New Scientist)

petmoosie: (Emily)
Stood in line for 2 hours and 15 minutes to get Emily the 2009 H1N1 FluMist. Spoke with the teenage boy (and his mother) behind me for a good deal of it. Emily rode on my shoulders for much of the wait. She enjoyed looking at the many maps of the school.

H1N1

Oct. 24th, 2009 03:00 pm
petmoosie: (bad guy)
is now a State of Emergency in the United States.

You may return to your previously scheduled status of alarm or calm.

petmoosie: (braids)
Widespread. Everywhere. Consider immersing yourself in handsanitiser.

The vaccine (FluMist H1N1) will be available for children 6 months to 24 years at three high schools on Wednesday the 28th of Oct. My child will be at the high school closest to me. I'm sure that the line will be tremendous.

Emily's school (of 550 students) had 85 out sick today.
petmoosie: (braids)
I'm a little sad in many ways.

Several people I know are mourning the loss of an SCA fighter to H1N1.

I yelled at my daughter today. Our disagreement just kept escalating.

[livejournal.com profile] mrmoosie 's plane doesn't get in until 12:30 tonight. He'll be exhausted.

My studying time was spent on tasks for my PTA committee. I won't get that back.

I was afraid that I had overstepped the levels of privacy appropriate for a blog in my comments on another person's blog.

I got a rejection from the job I applied to. I know it was a long shot, but it's still a rejection.

Our oven is still broken. It's just a low-level background annoyance.

petmoosie: (Default)
The southern half of the US has widespread flu. Washington state, Illinois, Minnesota, Maryland and Pennsylvania, to pick out a few that my readers might be interested in, have widespread flu. About 5% of visits to doctors are for flu-like illnesses.

Done.

Sep. 22nd, 2009 12:35 pm
petmoosie: (Default)
I have closed registration for my class(es). There will be three, Spanish level 1, and two sessions of Introductory Spanish. Now to send out the paperwork, and safety information, etc. Sigh. It will all work out.

My doctor will have flu shots on Oct. 6. Flu is widespread in the Southeastern region of the US and isolated states in the Midwest and Southwest. That includes Illinois and Kansas, but not Massachusetts or Missouri. 99% of all Flu cases are H1N1.

Tonight is my first Spanish class of this year.
petmoosie: (Default)
Update from WHO

Transmission is decreasing in the Southern Hemisphere (with few isolated places that are increasing (mostly those that started seeing infection later)). Transmission is falling in Europe, especially Britain. Transmission is rising in those areas of Asia that have a monsoon season, India, Bangladesh, etc.  Transmission is steadily quite high in Central America.

We will see how the back-to-school season goes in the Northern Hemisphere, especially Mexico, the US and Canada.

So tired.

Aug. 7th, 2009 10:10 pm
petmoosie: (braids)
I'm back from teaching. Must prepare timesheet and submit.

The swine flu (H1N1) vaccine is in clinical trials. Everyone, get your seasonal flu vaccine ASAP to clear the decks for the H1N1. They ARE planning on two doses, probably with adjuvant.
petmoosie: (Science)
More H1N1 in the news.

Stay well, everybody.

petmoosie: (dc)
The Maryland Renaissance Festival is prepared for H1N1 transmission. The story line includes "The Great Pestilence". 1543 or 2009, who can really tell the difference?
petmoosie: (Science)
H1N1 flu officially dying down. The only regions or states reporting substantial new cases are New York, New Jersey and New England. So not out of the woods for those areas, but the rest of the country can start winding down.

And in the end, we will have had substantial immunity built up in certain parts of the country. (Practically none in my local region, however).

petmoosie: (shoes)
I have a friend who is an epidemiologist. I'll be seeing him at class tonight.

ETA: No, I won't. T is too busy for me to make it to Spanish class tonight.

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