Epic cold/flu season?

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surfisup1000

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#175282 23-Jun-2015 18:56

Nearly 1/3 of the kids in my childs primary school are off sick. One class of 30 had 16 sick.

My kids have been sick, I've been sick, heaps of friends and their children are currently or have been sick.

Does the winter cold season seems worse than usual? Seems to be in my area.

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#1330161 23-Jun-2015 19:26

Hardly had anyone at work off, or from school. Seems pretty good to me, to be honest. Maybe it hasn't hit us yet.

mdav056

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#1330167 23-Jun-2015 19:33

I heard that it was a bad year for pneumonia. I can vouch for that... Started with bronchitis, though I could fix it, being a bloke, 3 weeks later ended up in hospital. Moral: Don't be blokeish, go to the GP! Now!

gml

Fred99

13684 posts

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#1330255 23-Jun-2015 21:29

Google flu trends suggests that 'flu activity is low.
Of course most of the time when people say they have "the 'flu" - they really don't.

wasabi2k

2096 posts

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#1330258 23-Jun-2015 21:33

7 month old and a 5 year old.

Had 3 bouts with the 5 year old, cold/sniff turns into cough.
7 month old had a bad cold for a week.

touch wood on the mend now.

Geektastic

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#1330262 23-Jun-2015 21:42

Fred99: Google flu trends suggests that 'flu activity is low.
Of course most of the time when people say they have "the 'flu" - they really don't.

This is very true: most people are lucky enough never to have the genuine article.

Flu kills people. What most people mistakenly identify as flu is a passing cold or similar bug.

muppet

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#1330263 23-Jun-2015 21:47

I hope flu kills this thread.

E3xtc

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#1330330 24-Jun-2015 07:03

Had the flu 2 weeks back - the pain was intense, and coming from inside out (felt like all my muscles were being pulled from the bones)...so intense it was waking me at night (even after taking numerous painkillers...ended up getting over it, only to get hit with a secondary infection which went into the lungs...almost managed to get pneumonia...still getting over it...but much better now....oh happy days....previously I can't recall the last time I actually had been sick (let alone the flu)....I don't wish the flu on anyone; it's seriously horrible.

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surfisup1000

5288 posts

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#1330352 24-Jun-2015 08:25

E3xtc: Had the flu 2 weeks back - the pain was intense, and coming from inside out (felt like all my muscles were being pulled from the bones)...so intense it was waking me at night (even after taking numerous painkillers...ended up getting over it, only to get hit with a secondary infection which went into the lungs...almost managed to get pneumonia...still getting over it...but much better now....oh happy days....previously I can't recall the last time I actually had been sick (let alone the flu)....I don't wish the flu on anyone; it's seriously horrible.

yep, flu is horrible. This is probably not a round of flu.

Seems to be a simultaneous wave of croup/bronchitis/respiratory infections, sprinkled in with a round of chicken pox and a stomach bug.

Over it.....

sidefx

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#1330366 24-Jun-2015 08:53

Fred99:
Of course most of the time when people say they have "the 'flu" - they really don't.

So true. It's one of the reasons I don't understand the craze of getting flu shots - if you're young(ish) and relatively healthy you should not need it. If you think you get the flu regularly so you need it, then you probably don't know what flu really feels like....

That said, my kids and the kids at their school\kindy always seem to be getting sick around this time of year - no different this year.

"I was born not knowing and have had only a little time to change that here and there." | Octopus Energy | Sharesies
- Richard Feynman

itxtme

2102 posts

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#1330407 24-Jun-2015 09:43

sidefx:
So true. It's one of the reasons I don't understand the craze of getting flu shots - if you're young(ish) and relatively healthy you should not need it. If you think you get the flu regularly so you need it, then you probably don't know what flu really feels like....

Hmm, if you are getting the flu regularly you must be licking the flu testing petrie dish. Most people will get the flu 1-5 times in their lives. It is a different type of hell on earth, and it does kill people. In fact remember the scare with H1N1 (swine flu) a couple years back? Thats kill rate is only marginally more than the flu (both less than 0.2%). The flu is more likely to kill young children and elderly - however it doesnt discriminate, and kills plenty of perfectly healthy individuals.

I highly recommend the flu vaccine to everyone, if not to save your life - at least it will mean you miss out on 1-2 weeks of the most miserable sickness average joe will experience. 400-700 people will die from the flu this year in NZ, and approx 200,000 will be unproductive and unavailable for up to two weeks, its a bigger burden on society than many people appreciate.

Check out this infographic on infectious diseases, quite fascinating

sidefx

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#1330435 24-Jun-2015 09:54

itxtme:
Hmm, if you are getting the flu regularly you must be licking the flu testing petrie dish. Most people will get the flu 1-5 times in their lives.

Yes.. that's kind of why I don't understand the craze for flu shots. Most recommendations I've come across seem to say it's more recommended for the old\infirm and those in certain jobs. My doctor has always said the same when I've asked him if it's worth getting.

400-700 people will die from the flu this year in NZ

Citation needed...?

"I was born not knowing and have had only a little time to change that here and there." | Octopus Energy | Sharesies
- Richard Feynman

itxtme

2102 posts

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#1330496 24-Jun-2015 10:50

Data I was referring to Data sources: Ministry of Health Mortality Collection, ESR Weekly Virology Reports. Please note this would be a very low indicator on death. As many more deaths will not be tested for influenza, thus they will never be reported as the cause of death. Internationally the respected standard is around 0.1% so that equates to 4000 New Zealanders.

Once again we are talking about deaths and not the cost on the health system (where death doesnt occur), or the cost to the economy in terms of productivity. Ever considered why most employers are happy to pay for influenza shots? I certainly dont think they should be fully funded for everyone as this is cost prohibitive, however I always make sure my family is properly vaccinated, and always recommend people take up the offer.

You have more chance of dying from the flu than winning the big one in lotto - 1 in 10,000. Might be worth forgoing the lotto for a couple weeks to pay for your vaccination?

EDIT: **Yes indeed the elderly and young are overrepresented, hence the free program is targeted at them

Geektastic

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#1330500 24-Jun-2015 10:53

sidefx:
Fred99:
Of course most of the time when people say they have "the 'flu" - they really don't.

So true. It's one of the reasons I don't understand the craze of getting flu shots - if you're young(ish) and relatively healthy you should not need it. If you think you get the flu regularly so you need it, then you probably don't know what flu really feels like....

That said, my kids and the kids at their school\kindy always seem to be getting sick around this time of year - no different this year.

Flu shots are there so that if and when the flu DOES actually rear it's very ugly head in a pandemic (see below) you might survive. I get mine free due to artificial heart valve, so what the heck - why not.

"The 1918 flu pandemic (January 1918 – December 1920) was an unusually deadly influenza pandemic, the first of the two pandemics involving H1N1 influenza virus.[1] It infected 500 million[2] people across the world, including remote Pacific islands and the Arctic, and killed 50 to 100 million of them—three to five percent of the world's population[3]—making it one of the deadliest natural disasters in human history."

Dairyxox

1594 posts

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#1330518 24-Jun-2015 11:23

https://www.google.org/flutrends/nz/#NZ
From this it appears that this year is off to the slowest start (to the Flu season) on record.

DravidDavid

1907 posts

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#1330526 24-Jun-2015 11:38

I know what you mean.

I've been sick (I never get sick) my partner has been sick, my friends have all been sick, my colleges, parents and other relatives.
I'm REALLY surprised I got sick. I haven't been sick in years, nor have I been to a doctor in 15+ years. I still managed to evade the doctor, but it was pretty horrible.

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