Fast Running Blog

Now that the virus has spread to several countries and states in the US, here are some recommendations for the bloggers and families.

 - Wash hand very often (THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT)
 - DO NOT hand-shake ANYBODY
 - DO NOT kiss ANYBODY
 - DO NOT borrow or lend ANYTHING to ANYBODY (things, food, etc)
 - avoid crowded places
 - on first symptoms, go to the nearest healthcare center. The vaccine works, but only during the first 24-48 hours.
 
and, of course, DO NOT panic. If treated properly, there should be no problem.

I sincerely wish the best to everybody. Take care.
We are praying for everybody.

If anybody needs more info, please let me know. We have plenty of information on this.

Shall we cancel all of our race plans? Stop going to work? School? The grocery store?

When can we restart these things? This is sure to be around for a while. Is it too late to go out and stock up on several months worth of Cheerios and toilet paper?

Seriously, wash your hands and try not to pick your nose too much.

Eric, it must be pretty crazy over there.  Thank you for thinking of us US folks.  We'll keep your communities in prayer. 

I'm not trying to be be harsh, but I'm just saying that as the situation stands it's not necessary to live our lives in fear. Statistically, there are a whole lot of other bad things that are more likely happen to us.

Examples
35 chicago public school children died of violence this year.
Thousands will start smoking and eventually die of it.
Hundreds will start drinking and eventually die of that.

There are 109 confirmed cases of Swine Flu in the US with 1 death. 

Normal influenza kills 30,000-50,000 people in the US each year.  Most are elderly or young, but it is still a large number, much larger than the swine flu. 

I intend to be cautious like Eric said, but keep living my normal life like Dallen says.

I agree, it is completely over blown.  How many children are killed or injured in car accidents everyday?  Does that mean we stop driving our kids around?  We take the necessary safety precautions, yes, but we cannot live in fear.  The media loves to create a frenzy and scare the heck out of everyone - it's great for ratings and it sells newspapers!

I think most of us are on the same page...just wanted to express compassion to Eric who's in the center of the "hype". 

Yes, it is easier to feel it a bit overdone when you aren't actually surrounded by people who have the disease.  Stay healthy, Eric.

just curious, what are the symptoms of the swine flu?  I don't really stay up to date on current events, so I haven't really read anything on this, other than looking at charts detailing where in the world it has spread to, and the number of reported cases.

Same as the regular flu.  I agree that this is over dune by the media, but that is why we love them right? >:(  Wash your hand after reading this.

Thanks guys.

Symptons are almost the same as a regular flu, just a little bit harder.

Dallen, yes, don't go to the extreme side, at least yet. Live normal, just take extra precautions (especially the hand washing).
The state that I live in has no cases yet, but we are all just waiting to hear the first one.

This influenza moves very, VERY, fast. And its through human contact (handshaking, kissing, etc).
The death in the US was a Mexican boy taken to the US for treatment...

Now, got to go wash my hands...again. =)

The H1N1 virus(swine flu) is similar to the regular flu--basically respiratory symptoms and fever.  As with most anything else, young children, elderly adults, and immunocompromised patients are in the most danger of serious illness.  If I lived in Mexico, like Eric does, I think I would definitely feel much more freaked about the whole thing.  As is stands now, good 'ol handwashing should take care of most of us, and don't hang out with somebody who just returned from a trip to Mexico and isn't feeling well....

April, yes, but the funny part is that most of the sick people are ages 25-40.
It might be because children and older people got shots for the regular Influenza?

That is odd--I would expect the opposite to be true!  Perhaps it is because 25-40 is the age group that is out of the house and out in public areas and more active--therefore more likely to be exposed?  I hear today that the spread is slowing down in Mexico...good news!  I hope that trend continues.

yes, so far, now they are debating whether to let children go back to school on wednesday or another day....

After a ton of days of holidays, my girls finally went back to school.
Nobody that we knew got the flu, so had bad was it, only God knows. Looks like things are getting back to normal now.

Glad you're all OK. I still say the whole thing was blown way out of proportion.

My 14 year old daughter tested positive for Influenza A, 2 weeks ago after getting sick at EFY- the silly health care staff just gave the sick kids Tylenol and sent them off to the activities :(   For those of you who do not know- Swine (H1N1) is an Influenza A.  As of two weeks ago, the state was no longer typing all Influenza A swabs for H1N1.
I did not read it before, except as referred to as "the same as the regular flu"  But many people confuse Influenza with the stomach flu.  They are not the same.  Influenza's main symptoms are very similar to the common cold, but more severe.  Fever, aches, FEVER, cough, congestion, and an overwhelming feeling of being VERY SICK, etc.
My daughter was quarantined for 10 days, which was really hard!  We sent the three of our kids away who had no contact with her.  She was limited to her bedroom, the living room and one bathroom in the house.  No one else was allowed to go in the living room.  I brought her everything she needed to the living room.  We used paper products for her and she had her own garbage can in the living room.  If she needed to leave the living room to use the bathroom, she had to sanitize her hands and put on a mask.  She was not allowed to use the sink in the bathroom, as my little boys could reach it.  She washed her hands in the kitchen and used her own roll of paper towels.  I would then go and Lysol every surface when she was done, especially light switches, toilet paper and holder, sink edge, door knobs, the door, paper towels and kitchen sink.  When she showered, I had her put all of her laundry directly into the washer.  I of course used sanitizer and hand washing to avoid infection- this was the week before UVM and I was SO scared that I would get it--- aside from the worry of my daughter becoming more ill.  She was put on Tamiflu within 24 hours of the symptoms starting and was feeling much better in about 3-4 days :)
The only thing the rest of us regular folk can do to avoid the spread is to either stay home 100% or teach our families and selves to wash hands frequently, do not touch our faces or put our hands in our mouths/eyes, always wash hands before preparing or eating foods.  We can only get sick if the virus gets inside of us.  Yes, someone could come up to us and sneeze or cough in our faces, but we are more likely to contract it (any contagions really) from touching a surface and then putting it into ourselves, ourselves ;)
Boy, my 2 cents ended up being more like a quarter ;)
BE WELL!!!!  Run away from sick people.  Tell sick people to GO HOME!!!  Overblown- yes, BUT, the media did it.  Instead of creating an undue panic early on, they should have been responsible and told people- Don't panic just do what your grandma always told you, wash your hands, STAY HOME if you are sick and don't touch your face.  Fever = STAY HOME!!! :D

Marion, I'm sorry to hear that your daughter got the influenza. Also glad to hear she is better now. Yes, so easy to get, and the only protection we have is to stay clean, so simple but so complicated, right?
Well, take care, and wash hands often!   ;)

Thanks Eric :)  We were really lucky.  The doc threatened her that if she did not keep drinking and urinating, that he would put her in the hospital.  I bought her every liquid that remotely sounded good to her.  I gave her my laptop and she had her cell.  I think she watched about 70 movies ;D  She is great now and the rest of us (7 others) did not get it :)  I feel victorious :)  There are still some morons who think that their job/work/shopping is so important, that they CAN'T stay home when ill. 
A lady came into my work looking horrible.  I asked her if she was drunk and she said no, SICK!!!  I wanted to toss her out.  As soon as she left we lysoled and sanitized the joint! 
One of the pipers on my girls Bagpipe team showed up with H1N1 to practice and the rest of the team turned on him and sent him packing.  They had to close a local Boy Scout camp as 7 staff members tested positive for Influenza A.

Sorry to hear about your daughter Marion, I am glad she is getting better -- and thank you for the reminder about staying home when sick (and washing our hands).

Part of the problem with this flu - and why they are making such a big deal about it in the media - is that it is following the same pattern as was seen with the flu pandemic of 1918.  A nasty flu virus "takes over"  a flu that is not that dangerous (the ones we generally see).   Usually, strong, healthy people that have good immune systems can fight off the regular flu (that we are "used" to), we immunize those people without healthy (or developed on the part of young children) immune systems.  The reason that this flu, H1N1, is killing healthy, young, people is that it is through the "cytokine storm" (inflammatory response by your body to fight off stuff like this) that the virus kills.  Therefore, the stronger your immunity the increased chance of you actually getting sick.  The flu pandemic of 1918 took almost 2 years for the flu to reach the point where it spread all over the world and killed over 50-100 million people.  The virulence of that strain of flu looked a lot like the current H1N1, it did not immediately kill a bunch of people, it came in two waves and the second wave was much larger than the first. The current virus is spreading much more quickly than the 1918 virus because we travel more now.  Great book on the topic is "American's Forgotten Pandemic: the Influenza of 1918" by Alfred Crosby.

Basically, it is not over, and I don't think it is being over-blown by the health officials.  By the media perhaps, that is what happens when you have to fill 24 hours with news and compete with other stations with 24 hour news.  But this is not nearly over and people are getting sick, spreading the virus (and unfortunately dying) every day.

sorry about the long-winded response, I just don't like the media's coverage of this -- there are a LOT of very smart people (from the CDC and WHO) who know a lot about this stuff, and they are worried; so I am worried.

Yes- Bonnie, you are exactly correct.  I feel it is because of the medias initial over reaction (crying wolf, if you will), that people aren't being cautious or precautious.  My daughter was at a week long conference where she was exposed in the first 24 hours of being there (monday).  By thursday evening, there were several kids in her smaller group that were sick- I don't know about the rest of the kids.  In the morning they had fevers and the health nurse just gave them Tylenol and sent them off to activities.  By the time we spoke to her in the afternoon (friday), she was hysterical.  She was SO sick, we took her straight to the doctor.  The administrators just said, "oh, you are taking her???  Will she be back?"  I looked at them and said, "SHE HAS A FEVER and is obviously VERY sick!  She either has strep or influenza.  FEVER = CONTAGIOUS!!!"  They just looked at me like I was over reacting.  When I called back to tell them that she had tested positive, they said, "Hugh?".  They had NO idea how serious it was.  I told them to call their bosses RIGHT now and tell them!  Our Doc called them too and got a hold of the heads of the conference.  The only thing they did was, at the dance that night- thousands of kids- they made an announcement saying that if you feel sick, go see a doctor.  How many teenagers are going to make sure that happens?  I am SO irritated with them.  Sending thousands of kids home, to thousands of homes all over the country without so much as a note for the parents.  All it would have to say is that there was an influenza exposure at EFY, and if you child shows any symptoms, please take them in immediately! 

One of the main problems with this as well, is that people who are sick are waiting for it to blow over, see if you get better on their own, like we do with colds, etc.  With influenza, the anti-virals need to be started VERY soon, within 24 hours of the first symptoms.  People need to get in and get seen so, #1 anti-virals can be started and #2 they can get under quarantine!!!  I was fairly confident that Ash would be OK- but what about my younger children or another person who is compromised in some way?  There is too much at risk for our population to not understand, truthfully, what is at risk and take very reasonable precautions!

Sorry- too much passion behind this topic for me :)

Yeah - I've had a co-worker coughing and hacking all over the office for 3 weeks now and he finally admitted this week that his grandfather and mother are both hospitalized with the swine flu.  I wasn't worried too much about myself - but pointed out that there are several people in adjoining cubicles to his that have small children and that he was potentially spreading the sickness. He just said - well I took most of my sick days when my back was bothering me - so didn't want to use any more now.

so, I just found out yesterday that I have the H1N1 virus.  I am just curious to know how many other people here on the blog have come down with the swine flu?  I have heard of a lot of people coming down with it lately, so I wondered if lots of people here on the blog have come down with the flu as well.

I had it in early July when it first swept through the County.  I just stayed in bed for 3 days and drank juice.  The doctors were useless, "go home and get some rest."  I was very tired and sleep a lot.  After the illness, I ran the Desert News 10K about 8 days later.  I actually think the bed rest helped my running (although not my 10K time).  A few weeks after the flu, my running and speed increased.

I'm sick of hearing about H1N1.. it's not that big of a deal. More people die from the common flu than the swine flu. Yes, there was the 1918 epidemic, but basic hygiene and medical care has certainly advanced since then. I'm sick of getting 10 emails a day from college and school telling me beware. blah blah. Just goes to show that Americans are lemmings. As if we didn't already know that.

As a person who works in public health I think you are mistaken Benn.  This is much worse than the common flu, and more people do not die of the common flu than of this current strain, especially not *healthy, young* people.  I think that the media is doing more harm than good, but your facts just are not correct.  The CDC has very informative, scientific (rather than media-hyped) information on their website that I would encourage you to read.  As well as the WHO website. 

Well everyone in NY that has died from it was someone with preexisting conditions. It may strike younger people, but they are people that have already been hit by something else. If you are a normal everyday healthy person you won't suffer more than the mild effects. As with anything though that is hyped in the media, there's hysteria. Theres moms going crazy to vaccinate their kids. Kids die from chicken pox too you know and my mom never went apeshit over protecting us from chicken pox. She encouraged us to play with the kids that had it so we'd get it and be done with it. Just my opinion though. Everyone's entitled to their own, but I feel that too many people believe only what the media tells you. As someone that's been sick once or maybe twice his whole life, 13 yrs perfect attendance in school and the whole nine yards.. I've seen people that are sick and should stay home but don't. If anything it's the ones infected that are contributing to the mass  hysteria. . there were 400 kids absent from a local high school because of swine flu... all this before anyone was confirmed to have contracted it! You think all 400 had swine flu? Nope. Not a one! I think you have to take the news with a grain of salt.

As for the state of this country's healthcare, it's appalling. I'll be without health care come December when I graduate. Good old USA right there! Way I see it if we took some of the money we're wasting on this swine flu crap and reinvest it in universal healthcare program maybe I'd be more willing ot go to the docs. Ever since I went for a checkup for the first time in four years last year and got billed 180 bucks when I HAD health insurance since I did not have a "preexisting condition", I have been a healthcare skeptic. They're just all in it for the money. No better than sports players.

Jeff, sorry to hear you've been hit with the flu.  Regardless of "hype", it's a tough strand and it stinks to be sick.  Get rested and hope you feel better soon!

Benn:

Here in Utah a math professor at Weber State died from swine flu after two days at the hospital.  She had  no known conditions or even serious risk factors. Not a smoker or drinker, not overweight.  This shows it can happen to anybody.

While I still think that panic is not appropriate, and never is, even if a nuclear bomb is about to wipe out the whole country, I think reasonable precaution is necessary.

As far as health care is concerned, I have a family of 8 people with 6 young children, and we can only afford catastrophic coverage. So in essence in the last 4 years we paid almost every penny of our medical expenses straight out of pocket. That hurts, but I believe that the way to fix our health care. Two things happen when you have to pay all non-catastrophic expenses:

a) You do not go to the doctor for every little sneeze and scratch, and you learn to take care of it yourself.
b) Doctors start charging you less because you would not come otherwise.

I believe we can and should have a system that does not make you choose between bankruptcy and death in case of a medical emergency or severe condition. Or, consider this. In America many couples wonder how they will pay for the birth of a child. In Africa they just go ahead and have them without our luxuries. Then their children race ours and beat the heck out of them :-) A couple in a country as prosperous as the United States should never have to say that they cannot afford a child.

But at the same time, I do not believe in taxing everybody to death so that people that are unhealthy by choice could live longer on taxpayer's dime.

I am with Sasha in that people need to start taking some responsibility for most of their health care. You don't need a doctor for every runny nose.

I am also still standing by my original comments from 6 months ago. Swine flu is way over-rated.

Well I take pretty good care of myself.. and I avoid going to docs for stupid ankle sprains and strains, etc. when I know that R.I.C.E. will work. Unlike most of my peers who are babies and go crying to the ER, I don't and yet I get socked for 180 bucks to get a physical .. my first physical in 4 yrs because I don't have a preexisting condition? You know a country's healthcare system is messed up when you get charged extra for preventitive medicine (though I DID have preexisting condition since as a kid I had cholesterol at 241. Running and diet has brought it down to 150 something!)

And why can't America reward those of us trying to be physically active? I mean so much of our money and copays and junk go to cover obese people and people that intentionally engage in harmful activities like binge drinking, smoking, whathaveyou. Don't those destructive habits put them at a higher likelihood to become ill from the swine flu and other illnesses? Aren't they part of the reason why healthcare is so expensive? I tell you maybe being a hermit in the mountains is a good thing!

Benn:

If people who are healthier either got more votes in the elections for being healthy or there were more of them, we definitely would have a system like this. But they get outvoted by those who are not. We are dealing with a classical pitfall of a democracy - if your voter base consists of nine wolves and one sheep, and the vote is on what's for dinner, the sheep will be eaten by popular vote. There is a limit as to what extent democracy can protect us against stupidity.

Our health care system does encourage healthiness. We do not pay enough out of pocket do discourage unhealthiness. Co-pays are too low. Insurance pays too much.

The fat smoker with diabetes and high blood pressure pays $50 a month for his 10 medications that actually cost $2000 a month. In his mind there is no reason to quit smoking and lose weight because he would rather just pay the $50 to keep himself alive. If he had to pay $500 he might make the effort. If he couldn't afford it he would probably put in the effort to become healthier because that would be the only way to stay alive.

Really wanting to move to another country now! Oiii between healthcare and taxes and trying to figure out how to pay back $40,000 in loans for my master's degree, I'm going to have to take out more loans . .. Maybe I should file bankruptcy? lol at least I wouldn't have to worry about paying money back.

It's a nice plan, but bankruptcy won't clear your student loans. The government will allow you to default on other peoples loans, but not their own. You better just hope for a job with health insurance and enough pay to overcome your debt.