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Swine Flu (H1N1/09)
The 2009 Pandemic Swine Flu, A-H1N1/09, the Type A influenza virus that was first identified in the early spring of 2009 in Mexico and then spread world wide to become a true Pandemic by June 2009. Different from other current seasonal strains of H1N1, and also not the same Swine Flu from prior epidemics or outbreaks (like in 1976), it is known by many different names in different places and settings, such as: H1N1, Novel H1N1, A/California/7/2009 (H1N1)v-like virus, la grippe porcine, The Mexican Flu, la epidemia, Schweinegrippe, and SOIV (Swine Origin Influenza Virus).
1,816 Questions
What does the H1N1 vaccine cover?
Originally in 2009 the vaccine for the pandemic swine flu was a monovalent vaccine, which means it was made to only prevent that one type of flu. Then for the 2010-2011 flu season, a trivalent vaccine was made for the regular flu just like every year. Trivalent means it is made to cover/prevent three different kinds of influenza virus infections. For the most recent flu season in the Northern Hemisphere, the "regular" flu shot contained the vaccine for swine flu and two others. So, the monovalent H1N1 vaccine covered only one type of flu: the pandemic swine flu. But the trivalent seasonal flu vaccines cover three types of flu (one of which, for the 2010 - 2011 flu season, is Swine flu H1N1/09).
What are the differences between the 1976 H1N1 vaccine and the 2009 H1N1 vaccine?
The ingredients and manufacturing process for the 2009 A-H1N1/09 vaccine are entirely different than those in 1976. Besides the virus strain being entirely different, the method to "grow" it is different, too. For example, the virus is now incubated using chicken eggs as the medium for growth (this is why those with allergies to eggs or chicken proteins should not take the vaccines). Different processes are used to purify and "kill" the live virus for use in the inactivated vaccines used in the injections in the US. The nasal vaccines are also made with weakened ("attenuated") viruses created by using a new process for making them unable to make recipients of that type of vaccine ill.
The 2009 vaccine for "Swine Flu" is made using the same new process and ingredients as the seasonal flu shots have been being made for more than 3 decades now. The process was changed after the 1970's. The seasonal flu vaccines have an extremely low incident rate, with a safety record that is very good. There is no scientific reason to expect any different outcome with the 2009 H1N1/09 vaccinations made the same new way.
The risk of the flu is much greater than risks of adverse effects from the vaccine.
See related questions below for additional information about the ingredients in the 2009 "Swine Flu" H1N1/09 vaccines.
What is also new for the 1009 H1N1 Swine Flu vaccine is that it contains squalene, which is an ingredient that was never approved of in the USA. But the FDA quickly put through an approval for it, so it could be included in the 2009 vaccine. This is vastly different than in 1976 and squalene has been implicated in causing the Gulf War Syndrome. Squalene also causes the human immune system to a hyper reaction where the body attacks itself and sets a person up for auto-immune diseases later. The H1N1 Vaccine was never tested in 2009 for longer than 21 days and it does hold serious side effects such as causing miscarriages in pregnant mothers that were never reported by the CDC.
There is much to worry about -in 2010 as there is virtually no epidemic of swine flu yet the US government has allowed the H1N1 3 viruses to be included in every normal flu shot this year. It is too loaded with dangers to be administered to every person and have never to this day been tested for causing cancer. Buyer beware.
What do letters W H O stands for in Swine Flu?
WHO stands for World Health Organization. The WHO is responsible for tracking the progression of the swine flu, and other diseases that have the potential for being transmitted across the entire world.
It can kill by inflaming the lungs making it impossible to breath.
Are diabetics more prone to complications from Swine flu?
Yes. They are more prone to problems with all infectious diseases. See the related question below for information on why that is.
What is the acronym of N95 mask?
The respirator masks that are designated with the filter class of N95 means that the respirator filter will block at least 95% of small particles. The N refers to its properties related to oil resistance of the mask: N = Not Oil Resistant, R = Oil Resistant, P = Oil Proof
How many people have died from some other type of flu since the beginning of the swine flu era?
common cold
How does the body's immune system work with a vaccine?
Vaccines take advantage of the body's immune system's way of fighting pathogens. When your body is exposed to some pathogen, which has various antigens on its surface, the immune system would start making antibody against those antigens. Normally, it would take sometime for your body to response with first exposure. Subsequence exposures would result in much more rapid response.
Vaccines work by isolating these antigens and give it to you exposing the immune system. You should not get the disease, since only the antigens are given instead of the full pathogen. Sometimes, it may be difficult to completely separate the antigens, so they weaken to pathogens to the point that they would not cause the infection in healthy individuals. These are call live attenuated vaccines. Exam of these are MMR, Varicella Vaccines, Flu mist.
How many people in Colorado have been infected by the swine flu?
As of 9/21/09, there are 171 cases and 1 death reported for Colorado.
It depends somewhat on the cause and severity of the immune system compromise. In some situations, the recommendation is to wait for a week after the vaccination before being in close contact with some people who are immunocompromised. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention information on the use of the intranasal live attenuated (weakened) vaccines includes the following excerpts:
In clinical studies, transmission of vaccine viruses to close contacts occurred only rarely. The current estimated risk of getting infected with vaccine virus after close contact with a person vaccinated with the nasal-spray flu vaccine is low (0.6%-2.4%). Because the viruses are weakened, infection is unlikely to result in influenza illness symptoms since the vaccine viruses have not been shown change into typical or naturally occurring influenza viruses.
People who are in contact with others with severely weakened immune systems when they are being cared for in a protective environment (for example, people with hematopoietic stem cell transplants), should not get the nasal spray vaccine, including the 2009 H1N1 nasal spray vaccine if they will come into contact with the severely immunocompromised person within 7 days of vaccination. People who have contact with others with lesser degrees of immunosuppression (for example, people with diabetes, people with asthma taking corticosteroids, or people infected with HIV) can get the nasal spray vaccine. The full information at the CDC website about vaccines is available at the link provided in the related links section below.
Is there blood in the H1N1 vaccine?
No. The virus is grown in eggs, weakened or "killed", and then added to a solution with preservatives to make the vaccine. There is no blood.
That depends upon how much direct contact the campers and other staff had with the counselor and how careful the counselor was being with cough and sneeze etiquette and precautions like basic handwashing.
If the camp is still open, good cleaning with regular cleaning products should be undertaken to clean the surfaces and frequently handled areas, especially in restrooms, community areas and food preparation and dining areas, along with equipment or other things which the counselor used.
All those who were in direct contact should be screened for fever or symptoms frequently and separated from the rest of the group if any signs of the flu are detected.
All should continue good hygiene and especially hand washing and covering coughs and sneezes. If water for frequent hand washing is not readily available in the camp area, then wet wipes or bottles of hand sanitizer should be distributed among the campers and staff.
Any people in the high risk groups should be sent home such as asthmatics, people with underlying chronic diseases, the very young under five, pregnant women, etc. (see related question below for information on high risk groups). If more individuals begin showing signs of the flu, or if it is clear that many had close direct contact with the counselor, then consideration should be given to closing the camp.
See additional information below in related question section regarding prevention and see the related links section for links to the CDC guidelines for summer camps.
Is it possible to get H1N1 more than once?
yes and no because if you had the swine flu once and you get vaccinated you propelywont get it again.
What steps involving the immune system and white blood cells help people with the swine flu recover?
There are 2 parts to the immune system, general (also called innate) and specific (also called adaptive). The general immune system is made out of immune cells that attack anything deemed bad by the general immune system, and don't specify later. The specific immune system is made of cells that specialize in targeting specific germs and other bad things [viruses, bacteria, fungi, small animals (yes, small animals can infect you, such as worms), damaged/ dying/ malfunctioning cells etc.].
When a germ first comes in (swine flu in this case), the general immune system responds. The skin is actually the first line of defense, but apparently it got past that. Mast cells are land mines. When tripped they "blow" releasing histamines, which tell the surrounding tissues to inflame, and draw other parts of the immune system to the scene. The inflammation tries to tighten the area up, to make it harder for what was detected to get in.
Neutrophils are one of the first types of cells responding to the inflammation, and come to try and kill off bacterial infections with anti-microbial secretions. If things get intense, dead neutrophils pile up and form pus.
Monocytes, half of which are stored in the spleen, come to the area changing into macrophages and dendrites. There is a muddled line between these 2 forms of the cell. Macrophages gobble up germs and other foreign junk they find, and shred the junk into pieces inside it. The pieces are then carried to the surface of the cell, where they are put on antigen-presenting proteins (platters of display, if you will). Think of it as a hunter holding the head of his prize buck. Displaying of antigens (the shreds of the invader) is what dendrites do (muddled line).
Transitioning to the specific immune system, the cell then carries its "catch" to a helper T-Cell that changes its shape to match the shape of the antigen, but in the negative form of the shape (negative, as in cast and mold negative, as in one fits in the other like a peg in a hole). When its shape fits into the antigen shape, that helper T-Cell releases chemokines that draw killer T-cells and plasma cells to the site of infection.
Once activated, a plasma cell is called a B-Cell. B-cells shoot antibodies, which are like arrows coming from an archer. The antibodies bind to the germs, disable them, and mark them for destruction by the immune system.
Killer T-Cells are VERY special. So far in these steps, the immune system has been only able to recognize things by what's on their surface. Killer T-Cells actually connect to a cell, look beneath the surface to find out if it is infected with the virus, and kill the cell if it is, before the thousands of replicated viruses manufactured in that cell can get loose. Everything in the cell gets broken down, so the viruses made in there thus far don't make it out "alive" to infect new cells.
When the infection has been killed off, T-regulatory cells put out the "stop-fighting signal", and immune memory gets stored. "Immune memory", refers to the process of the killer and helper T-cells and B-cells, that where involved in the fight, keeping the pattern of the germ for future reference. Then they go hibernate in a lymph node somewhere. If the same or very similar germ reappears some day, these memory immune cells are able to immediately react and kill the infection almost instantly (because they already know the shape of the antibody that is needed for that specific invader).
Don't forget to recycle! After the infection is over, all the dead cells get broken down to make new cells. Material from germs that has been properly broken down is safe to make cells out of as well, which the body does.
In what cases can phalloplasty be done on?
Phalloplasty can be done as part of gender reassignment or simply, sexual reassignment where the person in question stays the same gender, but alters their sexual organs.
Should you shower or bathe when you have flu?
Either. Usually a shower or bath will make you more comfortable, helping with the body aches from flu, refreshing you after fever and perspiration, and humidifying the air to soothe your nasal passages and throat.
The criteria for administering swine flu vaccine have not been released as yet. A lot will depend on the speed with which sufficient quantities can be produced.
As of 07/13/09, manufacturers were having trouble growing the virus fast enough. They are attempting to hybridize it with a virus that propagates faster, so as to be able to produce the vaccine more rapidly. Results are still unknown.
What is the time span from receiving the seasonal flu shot to the H1N1 shot vaccine?
Actually you can take them at the same time. You can not mix the vaccines in the same shot, but you can take them in separate shots at the same time. You can also take one by nasal spray and the other by injection at the same time. The only combination that doesn't work is to take both the seasonal vaccine and the H1N1/09 vaccine by nasal spray at the same time. The nasal spray vaccines need to be separated by several weeks between vaccinations of the two types of nasal flu vaccines.
Pertussis, aka Whooping Cough.
Who should not receive incentive spirometry?
Patients who are unable or unwilling to properly and consistently practice incentive spirometry as prescribed should not receive this form of treatment.
What is the origin of the name swine lu?
Swine flu was first discovered in people working with pigs. Flu is a disease that is transmitted in various forms among people, pigs, and birds. Sometimes bird flu is transmitted to pigs, and sometime pig flu is transmitted to people. What actually happens is that a pig has pig flu and catches bird flu. A chromosome from the bird flu gets mixed with the pig flu and changes it to a different type of flu. Then a person with human flu catches pig flu. A chromosome with pig and perhaps bird flu mixes with the human flu. The flu is mainly human flu but contains pig and bird flu chromosomes. It got the name swine flu because people working with pigs caught it first. Because it has the pig and bird chromosomes, people with resistance to human flu, have less resistance to swine flu.
