Correct me if I'm wrong, but from reading through the threads on here, I don't get the impression any of you are too concerned about contracting the swine flu. I've been wanting to join my local volunteer squad, but with all the talk in the news about the swine flu, I admit I'm getting cold feet. Is it all just hype? I'm thinking maybe I should wait until it all blows over, but I don't know. :unsure:
swine flu--is anyone concerned?
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Chelle
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H1N1 could be picked up at the grocery store or any place we work. After it has passed, it will likely be replaced by the "next thing".
Fear not & serve now - that's my motto.
Fear not & serve now - that's my motto.
Hal9000
Forum Captain
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Half my friends have gotten it, yet none of my partners (WORK partners.) have.
akflightmedic
Forum Deputy Chief
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Seeing how 30000+ people die every year from the plain old "regular flu", and swine flu deaths have not reached anywhere near that number....I feel ok with my chances.
I will continue to use proper hand washing techniques, reduce unnecessary exposure between myself and my patients (if any of us are showing symptoms) and go on about my life.
I will take the vaccine first chance I can. I only started taking flu vaccines a few years ago and now I never get sick as opposed to all the years previously when I seemed to catch everything going around.
I will continue to use proper hand washing techniques, reduce unnecessary exposure between myself and my patients (if any of us are showing symptoms) and go on about my life.
I will take the vaccine first chance I can. I only started taking flu vaccines a few years ago and now I never get sick as opposed to all the years previously when I seemed to catch everything going around.
medichopeful
Flight RN/Paramedic
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Hal9000
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Point taken. There is a lot to be said for good grammar when it comes to things like dangling modifiers. The vaccine isn't required where I work, and I don't know how many people have gotten it.
As someone else mentioned regular old seasonal influenza kills around 36,000 each year in the U.S. alone. So far current data suggests H1N1 carries with it about the same mortality as seasonal flu. The one caveat is in some people (which I honestly don't know if a cause has been confirmed yet) it can create cytokine storm and trash the lungs. This is the part that concerns the CDC as while normal flu targets an immunodeficient population, the issues with cytokine related deaths were in young healthy people.
RescueYou
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Eh...we've had local schools close around here temporarily and had a pt in a local county (young kid) stop breathing from it, but we're not too concerned. We're highly encouraged to get the shot, but it can't be forced. We do get it free at my school if we want it though. I personally don't see it being an issue. The only difference in this and the reg. flu is that this can stay alive longer outside the body so it spreads more. EMS is well protected though with your BSI so...
i am worried how virulent the strand is. It really is a matter of time until the virus mutates and becomes more dangerous. I feel like a previous epidemic did the same thing. Not bad in the fall, then it mutated (effectively in the sense of a virus) and killed many people.
The seasonal flu could do the exact same thing.
the seasonal flu is currently much less contagious and not as easily passed. For instance some middle sized universities have already had over 2000 cases of H1N1, they probably get 1/3 the amount of seasonal flu in a year.
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RescueYou
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And that is the ONLY difference. More contagious, but not necessarily more dangerous. EVERY virus can, and probably will, mutate. Swine flu and the seasonal flu are no exceptions of course. But truth be told, BSI takes care of most things and honestly, flu cases are not super duper abundant for EMS ppl to get called to and the swine flu is even less.
Most people in EMS can tell you that there are bigger things to be concerned about contracting than H1N1. And as a volunteer, you are really doing it because you enjoy the field despite the risks. If you are really this concerned or worried about it, then nobody is making you join right now. It's your choice as to when you feel most comfortable joining and how big of "risks" you are willing to take.
Thanks. That's very good advice and I will consider what you've said.
The last little while all the talk we have heard about 'swine flu' this 'swine flu' that, I think alot of it is hype created by the people in the media who are scared about it because it is relatively new and unheard of so the story gets alot of attention. It reminds of 5 years ago when the SARS virus scare came along, everyone went crazy fearing SARS, and now how much do we hear about that? You know, and it's not to say SARS wasn't real or posed no threats, but sometimes maybe these things are played up to much...perhaps this is the same now as 'swine flu', and personally I think it is.
Summit
Critical Crazy
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It's the flu. It sucks. Just like the flu.
MIkePrekopa
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I won't be working in EMS till beginning of next year, hopefully in January. I have never had a flu shot, and have only once had the flu. I am getting a shot this year due to going into EMS, and I'll be getting a few other shots just to stay up to day, so why not. My mom works in the ED and they are "looking for volunteers" to get the swine flu shot. Based strictly on the terminology, I'll pass. based on a random swine flu tracker i found online, apx. 30 "confirmed/suspected" cases in my county...
as a friend always says when theres a new fad illness, "wash your hands, and don't lick sick people, and you'll survive."
as a friend always says when theres a new fad illness, "wash your hands, and don't lick sick people, and you'll survive."
8jimi8
CFRN
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i've been taking care of h1n1 patients in my icu. Just try to limit exposure, wear your ppe and wash your hands. oh and try not to disconnect any ventilator tubing!
mycrofft
Still crazy but elsewhere
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Mods could you invite an epidemiologist here for a guest post?
I went through the first of two swine flu shots in 1976. In the late Eighties it was gospel that AIDS-related disease would overwhelm the American health "system". SARS would slide throuigh like a scythe. Bird flu was going to wreak havoc. West Nile, Hanta...malaria reappearing in the southern US. E.Coli in mass processed food.
And yet we are still here.
Practice hygeine, insist your coworkers go home if sick, stay home if you're febrile, and stand firm.
I went through the first of two swine flu shots in 1976. In the late Eighties it was gospel that AIDS-related disease would overwhelm the American health "system". SARS would slide throuigh like a scythe. Bird flu was going to wreak havoc. West Nile, Hanta...malaria reappearing in the southern US. E.Coli in mass processed food.
And yet we are still here.
Practice hygeine, insist your coworkers go home if sick, stay home if you're febrile, and stand firm.
Aidey
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I'm the same way, I got pneumonia every winter for 5 years straight until I finally started getting the flu shot, and poof, no more pneumonia.
I am both concerned and not concerned. I'm not concerned for my self really. My immune system tends to be pretty decent (with the exception of the pneumonia noted above) and I've been exposed to it more than enough times to get it, and I haven't yet.
I am concerned that we could be seeing a lot more serious respiratory calls, especially once the "regular" flu season starts. People who were told 'oh it's just the swine flu, you'll be fine in a few days' and just kept getting sicker.