Flu symptoms self-assessment: Do you have seasonal or swine flu (H1N1)? (328 hits)
With flu season and swine flu converging on us, it's time for a primer. Find out what the differences are, take a self-assessment if you get symptoms, and see what a Mayo Clinic expert says about other key questions.
Had the Flu? It Was Probably Swine Flu If you're wondering whether your sniffling co-worker's bout of flu is indeed the swine flu, then wonder no more. Doctors across the nation are saying people who came down with the flu this summer probably had the new swine flu (H1N1) strain.
"In the U.S., all the flu that is circulating now is the H1N1 virus," said ABC News Senior Health and Medical Editor Dr. Richard Besser on "Good Morning America" Wednesday. "If you've had the flu; you've had the swine flu."
Since the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention first started tracking the H1N1 strain in mid-April, the agency has counted 9,079 hospitalizations because of it. Swine flu also accounted for about 96 percent of all tested flu strains in the past week, according to the CDC.
Those statistics prompted a number of infectious disease experts across the country to echo Besser's assumption. "Most people recently stricken by flu are highly likely to have had swine flu," said Dr. James Wilde, associate professor of pediatrics at the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta...
"It is important to take all the precautions that have been talked about since late April: cover your cough/sneeze; good hand hygiene, stay at home if ill and, if having shortness of breath or severe symptoms, go to the doctor," said Carlos de Rio, a professor of medicine and infectious diseases at Emory University in Atlanta, Ga.
I'm encouraging every one to wear a mask for the sick and for those who don't want to be sick. surgical masks painters mask. it may save a life.
Wednesday, September 23rd 2009 at 3:20AM
Johnny Watson
