Swine Flu in our small town...one is a relative
By spalladino
@spalladino (17891)
United States
October 22, 2009 9:23pm CST
I live in a very small town in Florida. Not a tourist destination but the snowbirds are starting to arrive from up north...not that I'm blaming them. This past week there have been at least two cases of swine flu confirmed here. The reason I know this is because one case is my 9 year old step-grandson and the other is the young son of a friend of my daughter's. Both of the boys are only mildly ill...so far and under a doctor's care. We only have one elementary school here so I'm sure there are more cases. My other grandson told me that they have hand sanitizer everywhere at the school and he uses it a lot but right now he has a stuffy nose and so does his little brother and sister. This evening my daughter had to take my granddaughter to the ER because she woke up from her nap crying and pulling on her ear. She has an ear infection and they swabbed her for the flu but didn't tell my daughter anything before she left. Everyone here is on edge waiting to see how bad this gets. Has anyone else experienced an outbreak of this flu in their area?
6 people like this
18 responses
@solared (1207)
• United States
23 Oct 09
The swine flu is way overhyped, the regular flu kills far more than swine flu, also pneumonia kills more.
The main symptom of swine flu is a really sore throat, my friends who had it describe it as worse than strep, like having a throat full of rocks.
So I would say unless they have a really sore throat that they don't have the swine flu.
Did you know four members of the Cleveland Browns Football team have the swine flu.
1 person likes this
@spalladino (17891)
• United States
27 Oct 09
Yes, I heard that. I also thought I heard about some college team being sick with it...but I could be mistaken. It's hard to keep up.
@ZephyrSun (7381)
• United States
23 Oct 09
It's very widespread in Ohio and the hospitals have asked people that have flu symptoms to stay home unless they have other health issues that make them more at risk. My children's school have had almost half of the students missing from class sick but, haven't closed yet, although a few schools have closed because of absent students and teachers. My youngest and I have been sick for about 11 days now, but, no one else in the house hasn't gotten sick from us so I don't think it's swine flu.
1 person likes this
@spalladino (17891)
• United States
27 Oct 09
Sorry to hear that you and your youngest are sick Zeph. Keep an eye out for fever and breathing difficulties. Feel better soon.
@ZephyrSun (7381)
• United States
27 Oct 09
Well yesterday I had to take the youngest to the doctors because his asthma got bad after his sickness and she said it sure sounded like swine flu.
@coffeeshot (3783)
• Australia
23 Oct 09
Wow I really hope your granddaughter is ok. We have had a few deaths here in Australia but I live out in the country so there's not many people where I am. It is a real concern. Try to stay away from the public as much as you can. Good luck.
1 person likes this
@spalladino (17891)
• United States
23 Oct 09
Thanks coffeeshot. My grandkids are here every day so staying away from them isn't an option. My daughter works at Walmart so, between my grandson's school and there, we're all exposed to a lot of things. Good thing I have a big supply of hand sanitizer.
@paula27661 (15811)
• Australia
23 Oct 09
Sorry about your situation Spalladino. We are in a bigger city and at first we did hear of a few cases but not as many as on the other side of the country and lately I have not heard of any so I am hoping the risk is dwindling but it is probably not wise to stop taking precautions. We have been offered free vaccines here for all people over 12. Hope your step-grandson and the other boy feel better soon.
1 person likes this
@zhouxi (1752)
• China
24 Oct 09
here students are facing the same problom.there is student affected swineflue.the high school's teacher check their students' temperature everyday.there are four class of students get contacted with the patients are stayting at home now.
@good2go2001 (915)
• United States
23 Oct 09
Just this week on Tuesday my son and grandson got it. My grandson is 4 months and is starting to do alittle better now after 4 days. I just got it myself but honestly knew i was bound to get it since im taking care of others that have it. I hope your family all recovers without to many problems. Stay well :)
1 person likes this
@KrauseHome (36447)
• United States
27 Oct 09
I know it is hitting the area I live in, and has hit some of the colleges worse than the Schools. The hardest part I think is knowing whether it is the Flu or Swine Flu and when you work somewhere where there are a lot of people coming in and out that have been around the public it could happen where I work as well. I pray that everyone in your family is feeling better.
@AmbiePam (93953)
• United States
23 Oct 09
Well, it is certainly getting closer to home, so to speak. I've mentioned in other discussions about the swine flu that two little kids in our church had it. I was really shocked. I knew people who knew people who had it, but it surprised me about the little kids. Evidently, their school had quite a case of it, and shut down for about three days. Thankfully, those two little ones got better rather quickly. It's shocking how some kids recover quickly, and it almost kills other kids. Even the kids that seem so healthy.
@spalladino (17891)
• United States
23 Oct 09
That's what concerns me...how some kids recover quickly while other have a more severe case. I'm surprised that the school is keeping quiet about it. Who knows how many other kids have it? My daughter and I are getting pretty nervous about sending my grandson to school.
1 person likes this
@earthsong (589)
• United States
23 Oct 09
I live in a small town in Nebraska and here they aren't even testing for it any more. If you have flu symptoms they are just calling it H1N1 and that's that. My youngest just came down with the flu, and my husband and I have been fighting a bug for days. If that's what we have then thankfully we don't have it bad, and after a bad bout last night my daughter seems to be feeling better and wanting to eat this morning.
1 person likes this
@dragon54u (31634)
• United States
23 Oct 09
I hope your family isn't affected much by the swine flu! I live near Dayton, Ohio, and they've recently closed a couple of schools because more students were sick than were attending. They say it's a flu but not if it's the H1N1 strain. Supposedly it takes 3-5 days for the results.
Here in my little city, east of Dayton, we haven't had much that I've heard but when I went to buy a thermometer the other day the stores were all sold out. It remains to be seen if we have flu, H1N1, or just a lot of colds and sore throats.
I said a prayer for your grandchildren!
@spalladino (17891)
• United States
23 Oct 09
Thanks dragon! That must be why they didn't say anything to my daughter about my granddaughter's test tonight. I'll have to tell her to call the hospital if she doesn't hear anything in 5 days just to confirm that it's not swine flu.
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
23 Oct 09
One of the members of our local playgroup had both of her children suffering with it about two weeks ago, but they both recovered fairly quickly and they were still able to take their vacation this week. Many of the preschools here have had cases and we are getting biweekly updates from the superintendent of the school system regarding the swine flu as well. Luckily, we've been blessed so far in that there haven't been any cases at my daughter's school. They do keep hand sanitizer in the school, lots of it and they've been sanitizing the classrooms twice per day. They are definitely trying to keep the risk under control here.
@spalladino (17891)
• United States
23 Oct 09
It's good that your school system is keeping parents informed. That's what bothering my daughter and me...not knowing if a lot of kids are sick or not. We know about two cases only because we know the families.
@carmelbg (519)
•
27 Oct 09
I have just moved to Bulgaria and it is so sparsely populated there has been less than 20 cases in the entire country. I am originally from the UK and after speaking with my Mum the other week I found out swine flu is everywhere in the town I came from. My mums friend had it, my best friends daughter and my sister in law has also had it. She is a nurse and works at one of the hospitals dealing with a lot of cases of swine flu. I am hoping its not going to get here but it seems to be spreading everywhere.
@rhan04 (307)
• Philippines
23 Oct 09
Yeah. There was an outbreak here in our country but it was controlled. We were lucky that the type of virus that hit our country wasn't as strong as the ones that killed so many in Mexico. There were only a few number of deaths and most cases were resolved. I think there is already a vaccine available for it or they are trying to make one. I'm just not sure though.
@mengzizibo (33)
• China
23 Oct 09
Little can be done to prevent an outbreak of flu from spreading.
1 person likes this
@revellanotvanella (4033)
• United States
23 Oct 09
My problem is that I have such bad food allergies so much stuff gives me cold symptoms (i think particularly bread products) and i haven't gotten to a allergist yet and I really gotta get that taken care of because the way I am with my constant allergy symptoms it would be hard to tell I had the swine flu i would just think its a cold, anybody give me heads up on symptoms because I've heard them say quite a few but anybody know the most common symptoms? I don't like running to the doctor for nearly anything but for my daughters I would.
@camomom (7535)
• United States
25 Oct 09
Not that I'm aware of but my husband is manager in retail, he had an employee call off from work saying that she had it. I don't know the girl, so I don't know if she really has it or not.
@cyrus123 (6363)
• United States
24 Oct 09
Yes, we have it here and there is a little boy (actually, he's not so little any more. He's about as tall as I am, which is 5'6", and he's almost 13 years old) who goes to church where I do who had it earlier this year. The important thing was that they caught it right away and he's doing a lot better now. There have been a lot of cases of it reported in the schools in this area. Nobody in my family has had it, though. I sure hope your step-grandson and the son of the friend of your daughter's gets better. I hear it is very bad. Kathy.
@HEHIAN (2)
• Kenya
23 Oct 09
HI.Sorry but your not the only one.swine flu has hit us in Africa.I live in Kenya and the flu has hit major schools.My pal started mailing me about how students in her school are falling ill and the rate at which the flu is catching up on the is just alarming.You can only imagine how dangerous it would be for those in rural areas.Funny how our government says that the situation is contained but we all know that it isnt.
