I think the vitamin D is a good idea. In a modern society, all the interactions, it’s unlikely you’ll avoid the virus completely.

Sara only visited about a dozen houses on our street before she ran out of gas, so if any of those families come down with swine flu, I guess it’s our fault … or because they have children in the same school.

http://bostonherald.com/entertainment/food_dining/food/view/20091105kellogg_pulls_immunity_claims_from_rice_krispies/srvc=home&position=recent

I saw that. Guess that label wasn’t their best P.R. move.

By the way, my wife caught both seasonal and H1N1 this winter. She found the H1N1 much more pleasant.

As far as contagions go, as long as people sneeze into tissues, wash their hands and all that, a sypmtomatic sufferer of the flu is no more likely to pass on the flu than an asymptomatic carrier.

Considering that schools are virus-passing centers and nearly everyone in our neighborhood has a kid or two in the same school, I think we’ve all been exposed. Probably lots of us are asymptomatic carriers. I’m way more interested in keeping my immune system strong than in trying to hide from viruses.

Sorry to hear you wife had to deal with flu twice.

Nice selection of what to cut and paste: A blog posting from “HealthSpanLife”, an opinion piece from Epoch Times, and a two month old story from September 17 in the “Bangladesh News” (the latter of which by the way acknowledged that we are in the midst of a worldwide flu pandemic; you’ll be interested to know also that the same paper followed up on October 17 with a story about how unpredictable and dangerous this strain may turn out to be yet because we’re not even in the midst of the January-February traditional flu season).

Whatever….I suppose we can all justify our choices any way we like, and if you want to downplay the significance of the current death rates or the seriousness of the pandemic, you’ll certainly find someone else on the internet who agrees with you. As my brother-in-law likes to say, “If you can’t find something on the internet, you can put it there.”

The point though, and one which I don’t think even you’d quibble with is that ALL flu is potentially dangerous. As you note, even a “normal” seasonal flu death rate of 300,000 to 500,000 is something that we’ve come to expect. Certainly it’s hard to argue with the basic health advisory that the CDC promotes, i.e., that sick people should be kept away from others, especially those whose health may be compromised, both to avoid spreading the disease and getting others sick and to prevent secondary infections to the sick person.

Whatever…trick or treat, right?

I took what came up near the top of the searches. Most of them were repetitive. The Bangledesh paper quoted a researcher from Harvard — one of those infallible MDs who isn’t Bill Maher or Rush Limbaugh. (Same story appeared in several other publications, but I grabbed the first.) Epoch Times piece also written by an MD. You said you would rather take advice from MDs, so I found some for you. The blogger’s piece on the odds of dying from swine flu was compiled from government statistics, which he linked. If you don’t agree with his math, you can point out how he got it wrong. Dismissing him as “just a blogger” doesn’t alter the math.

I’m not downplaying the death rates. I’m citing them. Big difference. What the death rates make clear, as even the CDC will admit, is that swine flu is killing fewer people than seasonal flu.

My son doesn’t get sick very often; strep this year, in the summer - doc was surprised because little man didn’t have any symptoms except a high fever and he said he stomach hurt. The last time he went to the doctor, for illness, before that was in Feb 2005 - after that last illness (it was BAD) we switched our eating. Never looked back.

Usually when he gets a little sick we up his D as well, but I also give him a nice bath and put the coconut oil on as a lotion. And have him sleep in some warm PJs to sweat whatever it is out, and absorb the oil faster. Your skin is your biggest organ. We have him eat it too so he stays healthy, but when he doesn’t feel good he doesn’t eat. That’s when you know he’s really sick because the kid eats like a pig - or teenage boy (and he’s only 7).

They’re having mass histrionics over here about H1N1 too. I swear the school isn’t helping either by sending out fliers several times a week for updates. I’ve also received several phone calls updating and such. We don’t vaccinate for the regular flu so why would we for this one? Usually it’s complications from the flu anyway that kill, not the flu itself. Beyond that so many people coughing, hacking and sneezing all over the place every year, and we still never get sick in this house. In fact, my son was complaining last year that all the kids in his class were able to stay home and he had to go everyday. I had to explain they were home because they were sick and miserable, not because their parents wanted them home. This year I told him that if he made it through the winter without being sick (likely) that he could have a “wellness” day from school and spend time with me. He seemed pleased with that. (Besides, my parents did that with me.) Telling him that makes me feel like he won’t go around licking people who are sick or having them lick him so he can stay home sick too… you never know with kids!

I’d be more afraid to end up in a car accident than get sick (and subsequently die) - esp. since we live in the metro DC area!

Enjoy that wellness day. Nice idea.

In reference to flu death rates, you asked “what newspaper are you reading?” in an effort to downplay the significance of the current death rate from H1N1.

Why don’t you just use Google News. Try this: Do a Google News search for “2009 flu death rates”. Don’t even bother plugging in “H1N1″ as a qualifier, just use “flu”.

You’ll find more than 3,584 major, minor and regional news outlets from all over the world that will tell you the most dangerous aspect of the current strain of flu happen to be that more people have been killed worldwide this year from ANY TYPE of flu than since the 1918 pandemic, and that the particular danger with this strain of flu is that the death rate is as high as its been in October and November, before flu season even begins. From the NY Times, to the Wall Street Journal, to the Altana Journal Constitution, to the LA Times, SF Chronicle, AP, London Times, Vancouver Sun, Xinhua China News, CBC, ABC, you name it, every newspaper in the world has published stories about this, and you’d have to be living under a rock not to have read this. Yeah, it’s all a drug company conspiracy, right? They’re all just overstating the case to scare us, right?

In contrast, try the same Google News search with the text “2009 flu death rates overstated”. You get 4 hits. And if you read them (NY Times, Daily Kos, Montreal Gazette, and something called “HSToday”) they all say what the other reports state: Flu death rates are at unprecedented numbers for this time of year. Why is this a concern? Because of the very real possibility that the particular strain causing so much difficulty now will have mutated by the time what we call “normal” flu season hits and the vaccine may not confer protection. But I suppose since you don’t believe in vaccines, that won’t make a difference.

You may believe it’s just “hysteria” to be concerned, but when folks like you impose your decisions on others who don’t share your view, that’s just reckless. And, as Secretary Kathleen Sebelius of the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services said on the CBS program linked above, I prefer to get my health information and advice from scientists with medical degrees, not from TV commentators like Rush Limbaugh and Bill Maher.

I truly hope that your daughter is well and that nothing more serious comes of this. But next time, how about just exercising a bit more discretion and concern for the health and well-being of those around you? Your daughter will surely understand, and if she doesn’t now, one day when she grows up she will.

I also like to get my information from scientists with medical degrees, which I have, but I prefer to listen to those who don’t work for the federal government and aren’t under orders to repeat the party line. If I shared your faith in the wisdom of government experts with MD after their names, I’d be on a lowfat, grain-based diet right now, too.

Multiplying the incidence rate by the case fatality rate suggests that if you are generally well, the odds of dying of swine flu are less than 1 in a million…These fatality rates can only be the maximum theoretically, since even in these first-world countries, the great majority of those who did have swine flu symptoms would not have reported in to be tested.

http://adage.com/article?article_id=140319

When the FDA and cereal makers get into a fight, I find it hard to take sides either way … kind of like watching a gang fight.

Kelloggs and other companies are fighting tooth and nail to try and keep their secret it seems. They are worth over £12billion and they apparantly have the power to keep their crap hidden on the shelves!

My kids haven’t exploded yet, but they’re young …

As noted, for 99% of the people who get H1N1, it’s just a few days of fever and aches and pains. But for a small minority of people, it’s deadly and devastating.

Whether Kellog was misstating claims of health benefits misses the much larger point. This is a dangerous and potentially devastating illness and it’s not like chicken pox where we can all get together in a room and expose each other and then be done with it. It’s a far more dangerous and potentially complicated situation, and I think it’s just reckless to pretend otherwise.

A small minority of the population dies from seasonal flu as well, not to mention seasonal pneumonia. But again, if you want to get lathered up over a flu that is killing far fewer people than seasonal flu, that’s your choice.

Incidentally, a neighbor told us when we moved in that there are 225 families in our subdivision, and 200 of them have kids in our daughter’s school. This whole neighborhood has been exposed. We’re not exactly dropping like flies around here.