Sounds like Pharma is still paying people to write "opinion" pieces.

Nowhere in this piece is the fact that h1n1 has a lower mortality rate than regular flu in most demographics. That being the case, it would be stupid to chose the swine-flue shot over the standard. Further, it would be doubly-stupid to take the nasal version when the side-effects are much more numerous and pronounced than the injected version.

Is this guy really a doctor?

I wonder how many people (as a %) who are complaining about the unavailability of the H1N1 vaccine have taken the regular flu vaccine which is more likely to actually save your life. I presume everyone knows now that the government is asking health care professionals not to separate out reports on H1N1 from regular flu. Go to the CDC site and try to get recent information. One may suspect they're trying to avoid looking stupid for blowing this whole thing out of proportion.

businessanalyst:

I wonder how many people (as a %) who are complaining about the unavailability of the H1N1 vaccine have taken the regular flu vaccine which is more likely to actually save your life. I presume everyone knows now that the government is asking health care professionals not to separate out reports on H1N1 from regular flu. Go to the CDC site and try to get recent information. One may suspect they're trying to avoid looking stupid for blowing this whole thing out of proportion.

That's not it at all! PLease leave your political paranoia at home. Our state lab has asked that NO samples of any flu be sent in for culture unless the patient is hospitalized as they are overwhelmed and can't run them.

The reason they don't want all of these analyzed is there are just too many sick people, and too many samples.

Bondsman:

The lab may be overwhelmed with samples, true. The only problem is that the result of the test most likely will have nothing to do with the ultimate treatment. IOW, the test is a waste of time and money, because lately anyone presenting with flu symptoms will be given the antiviral anyway. And yes, the powers will look stupid after this is all over, whether or not they have the lab data to show it. Not to have the data is better.

BTW, many physicians I know stopped doing the test altogether; the reimbursement does not cover cost of the test. Test a whole school of kids and you are out a whole lotta $$.

DvB

I've got to disagree that doing the test is a waste of money. If you don't test anyone you won't know which flu is causing the majority of illness. If, for example, no one is developing h1n1, then there's no need to continue manufacturing the vaccine, otoh, if everyone is showing up to the hospital with it, then everyone should end up getting vaccinated.

and yes, getting reimbursed less than the cost of doing something is a bad thing. McDonalds doesn't sell too many bags of fries at a loss, but in medicine, people do that all the time.

I received the nasal H1N1 vaccination 10 days ago. Took 5 secods and I can report no side effects at all (except very clear nasal passages for about 4 hours post-vaccinations). Look - vaccination is your choice, feel free to opt out and proceed at your risk. But when you read an article questioning the safety of a vaccine, check the author's credentials, ie do they have any medical training or are they merely a blogger?

i am sitting here with my wife who is very sick and not able to sleep because of coughing every five minutes and now i am getting it.

i pray to God you don't get it but the idea that this epidemic is overblown is crazy.

ask those of us who have it.

this pandemic could last 3 years so the idea that statistics can prove it is less severe than normal flu are misleading. talk to me a year from now.

religiouslib:

i am sitting here with my wife who is very sick and not able to sleep because of coughing every five minutes and now i am getting it.

i pray to God you don't get it but the idea that this epidemic is overblown is crazy.

ask those of us who have it.

this pandemic could last 3 years so the idea that statistics can prove it is less severe than normal flu are misleading. talk to me a year from now.

That's the thing, how much money does your family lose from loss of income, or the company lose from loss of productivity vs. the cost of the vaccine? Vaccines are very cheap for the service they provide! It's nuts that people can't see that.

Religiouslib sez:

"i pray to God you don't get it but the idea that this epidemic is overblown is crazy.

ask those of us who have it."

No one said that having The Flu is fun. Haven't you ever been sick with a flu virus? What is overblown is the fear of dying if you get this particular one. I can tell you that the schools are rampant with it and in my kids' school everyone had it, mine included. Everyone survived. My peds friends simply prescribe the kids or adults Tamiflu at the onset and in 2 days it's all over.

Bondsman:

Theoretically you are correct that treatment should be based on data. Epidemiogically (sp?) it keeps track of things. However, I can tell you that in community medicine much treatment is guided by emperic data. No one is doing gram stains in the office.

DvB

To continue:

My real fear is that the "abundance of caution" will be heard as "crying 'wolf'", and caution will be ignored when the real deal comes along.

DvB

@tonydavisnelson

like i said in another thread, it's not the number of deaths, it's who dies. Seasonal flu kills people whom are typically either very old, very young (infants) or have severe medical issues. h1n1 is killing healthy young people. this is the critical difference between h1n1 and the seasonal flu. Those who take the seasonal flu are advised to take the h1n1 shot. However, those in the high risk category for h1n1 may not be in the high risk category for seasonal flu. The author is correct that more attention should have been placed on h1n1, even though he didn't make the age demographics argument.

its not quite that simple, my wife has had it for 5 days and doctor still won't release her to go back to work.

yes of course i have had the flu before but never quite like this.