4 ms·

Poll: Who has been exposed to swine flu?

2 points by helium 17y ago

helium 17y ago
Wikipedia states that there has been 226,682 reports and 219,681 laboratory confirmed cases worldwide. With 2,047 suspected and 1,882 confirmed deaths. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_flu_pandemic http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_flu_pandemic
- ErrantX 17y ago
  This figure is possibly not all that useful. For example here in the UK barely anyone is beign tested now: if you have flu like symptoms they assume you have H1N1 and hand you Tammiflu (there is even a phone line for you to self-diagnose.... doh). My doctor admitted to me last week that he has no idea how many of his patients are infected - it's faster just to assume swine flu - and that he suspected the figures are significantly lower (here in the UK) than reported (currently they are waffling about 100,000 new cases day)
  - helium 17y ago
    Hence the laboratory tested figure.
gojomo 17y ago
Before the big recognition of the H1N1'09 in April, my workplace seemed to have slightly more-than-usual flu-like illness in February/March. I had a very brief flu-like illness at that time, even though I'd received the seasonal vaccine last fall. I think there's at least a small chance this was a mild form of the H1N1'09 flu circulating early. (It was said to have been circulating in Mexico for months before being recognized, and the California-Mexico travel-commerce links are strong.) Since the April panics, a number of other coworkers or acquaintances have reported flu-like illnesses, either among themselves, family members, or other acquaintances. As far as I know none of these cases have been definitively identified as the H1N1'09 flu, but I suspect many were. Everyone within 1-2 social hops from me has recovered without problems; I don't even know of any who took antivirals. So I don't definitively fit in any of the poll categories. There's a very small chance I had it before April (but with no diagnosis). There's a strong chance I've interacted with someone who's had it (with no formal diagnosis) but recovered.
joshsharp 17y ago
I live in Melbourne, Australia, and had flu-like symptoms a couple of weeks back. I heard afterwards that "Australian Federal Health Minister Nicola Roxon said 80 percent of people testing positive to influenza now have A/H1N1 flu." so while it's likely I had H1N1 I couldn't definitively say. I'm not sure whether it's worth adding an option for this sort of case in the poll, or whether it's too vague.
helium 17y ago
Ok,after reading the comments, I've added another option to the poll

2 points by helium 17y ago

Wikipedia states that there has been 226,682 reports and 219,681 laboratory confirmed cases worldwide. With 2,047 suspected and 1,882 confirmed deaths. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_flu_pandemic http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_flu_pandemic

ErrantX 17y ago
This figure is possibly not all that useful. For example here in the UK barely anyone is beign tested now: if you have flu like symptoms they assume you have H1N1 and hand you Tammiflu (there is even a phone line for you to self-diagnose.... doh). My doctor admitted to me last week that he has no idea how many of his patients are infected - it's faster just to assume swine flu - and that he suspected the figures are significantly lower (here in the UK) than reported (currently they are waffling about 100,000 new cases day)
- helium 17y ago
  Hence the laboratory tested figure.

gojomo 17y ago

Before the big recognition of the H1N1'09 in April, my workplace seemed to have slightly more-than-usual flu-like illness in February/March. I had a very brief flu-like illness at that time, even though I'd received the seasonal vaccine last fall. I think there's at least a small chance this was a mild form of the H1N1'09 flu circulating early. (It was said to have been circulating in Mexico for months before being recognized, and the California-Mexico travel-commerce links are strong.) Since the April panics, a number of other coworkers or acquaintances have reported flu-like illnesses, either among themselves, family members, or other acquaintances. As far as I know none of these cases have been definitively identified as the H1N1'09 flu, but I suspect many were. Everyone within 1-2 social hops from me has recovered without problems; I don't even know of any who took antivirals. So I don't definitively fit in any of the poll categories. There's a very small chance I had it before April (but with no diagnosis). There's a strong chance I've interacted with someone who's had it (with no formal diagnosis) but recovered.

joshsharp 17y ago

I live in Melbourne, Australia, and had flu-like symptoms a couple of weeks back. I heard afterwards that "Australian Federal Health Minister Nicola Roxon said 80 percent of people testing positive to influenza now have A/H1N1 flu." so while it's likely I had H1N1 I couldn't definitively say. I'm not sure whether it's worth adding an option for this sort of case in the poll, or whether it's too vague.

helium 17y ago

Ok,after reading the comments, I've added another option to the poll