I have been infected by the H1N1 and am in great pain

[Guynemer]

His wife collapsed sometime after, if not hours after IIRC. While on the sofa at home?

That is decidedly odd. Glad she's okay.

[SpencerH]

The problem with "bronchitis" is that many doctors toss that diagnosis at patients who have simple viral coughs (ie, the flu), in order to make the patients happy and give them a Z-pack, which is what they really want. I've never once made the diagnosis of "bronchitis", and I've never had any subsequent problems.

I agree that 'bronchitis' is a catch-all. I just find it interesting and somewhat concerning that I'm seeing an 'epidemic' of these symptoms amongst college-age teens after a two week long mild 'cold' or 'flu'.

[Guynemer]

Eh.

Cough can last a full 4-6 weeks following infection with certain viruses, including influenza. Barring respiratory distress, this too shall pass.

[SpencerH]

Eh.

Cough can last a full 4-6 weeks following infection with certain viruses, including influenza. Barring respiratory distress, this too shall pass.

So you're suggesting that coughs can persist for 4-6 weeks in the absence of infection?

While I dont study respiratory infections, I'd like to suggest that the recent data on the chronic subclinical activation of Herpes virus and HPV (a result that is contrary to previously held ideas of viral pathogenesis) may indicate the possibility that some respiratory viruses may also persist at sub-clinical levels and trigger prolonged symptoms?

[Guynemer]

Of course; but that's not in the "absence of infection" then, is it?

Apart from that, post-viral coughing can persist for some time, as the inflammation and edema heals. Much like post-viral diarrhea.

[dannubis]

I do ahve a basic understanding of flue vaccines.

I didn't mean to say I don't trust the vaccine itself. I don't want to support the entire mass hysteria behind it.

The can wake me up when there is a strain around killing 1 in 10. Then we should use Tamiflu and get vaccinated.

You said "medicine rushed to market," which was the specific claim I was refuting.

Sorry, literal translation is bad...

[Bugs ****ing Bunny]

We see that with the HPV vaccine as well. Not a serious side effect.

And while I think this is unlikely to apply to your wife, given that she is married to you, most of the women who pass out after the HPV vaccine are those you might expect to pass out: the highly-dramatic, scared-****less of needles type.

Yep- to clarify, she was vaccinated at 3.00PM, spent the night shivering, and passed out at 6.30AM the next morning.

And Mrs Bugs is as tough as old boots. Prior to this, she'd never come remotely close to fainting in the 18 years I've known her.

[Jonny]

No vaccine for me... already had the H1N1 back in September. It was no different from a mild case of the seasonal flu.

[SpencerH]

Yep- to clarify, she was vaccinated at 3.00PM, spent the night shivering, and passed out at 6.30AM the next morning.

And Mrs Bugs is as tough as old boots. Prior to this, she'd never come remotely close to fainting in the 18 years I've known her.

Hope shes OK now! At a guess it sounds like she had an inflammatory response to the adjuvant in the vaccine. IIRC there has been some debate surrounding the adjuvant used by some H1N1 vaccine manufacturers (but I've ignored the issue since its usually from nutjobs).

I pulled this off a the USAtoday website

"Drug company GlaxoSmithKline has told Canadian doctors to stop using one lot of its H1N1 vaccine until an investigation into a higher-than-expected number of severe allergic reactions is completed. "

So there has been issues. I have a feeling that what they are describing as "severe allergic reactions" are the same as your wife experienced ie an unexpectedly strong inflammatory response to the adjuvant.

The good news is that as long as she's OK she may have better immunity to H1N1 than those with lesser responses to the adjuvant.

[Asher]

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/05/health/05flu.html

Review Shows Safety of H1N1 Vaccine, Officials Say

An extensive review of adverse effects from the swine flu vaccine indicates that the vaccine is safe, with side effects no different from those of seasonal flu vaccines, health officials reported on Friday.

Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, called the findings “very reassuring” at a news briefing on Friday. But he also noted that the results were still preliminary, because the vaccine for the H1N1 flu has been in widespread use for about only two months, since Oct. 5, when the first doses became available to the public. Rare problems or delayed effects might not show up until later, after many more people are vaccinated. The disease centers also posted a report on the vaccine’s safety on its Web site.

The information comes from two monitoring networks. One is the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, which receives reports about problems from doctors and other health workers, manufacturers and the public. Anyone can file a report, so there is no way of knowing if the problems are actually related to the vaccine until reports are investigated.

The second system is the Vaccine Safety Datalink, which has information on 438,376 people who were vaccinated for H1N1 in managed-care organizations.

According to the new report, “no substantial differences between H1N1 and seasonal influenza vaccines were noted in the proportion or types of serious adverse events reported.”

Dr. Frieden said there was no sign that the swine flu vaccine could increase the risk of Guillain-Barré syndrome, a rare neuromuscular problem that was linked to a different swine flu vaccine used in 1976. People vaccinated in 1976 were 8 to 10 times as likely as those not vaccinated to develop the syndrome, for unknown reasons. Dr. Frieden said that the likelihood of an increased risk of the syndrome this time was “vanishingly remote,” but that the disease centers would continue monitoring intensively for all adverse effects.

By Nov. 24, 3,783 adverse events had been reported after H1N1 vaccinations, of which 204 were considered serious, a category that includes death, life-threatening illness and significant disability. Most of the serious cases are still being reviewed. Nerve and muscle conditions, pneumonia, allergic reactions and gastrointestinal disorders are among the problems reported.

Dr. Claudia Vellozzi, deputy director of the immunization safety office at the disease centers, said scientists looked for commonalities and telltale patterns of illness among adverse events as a tip-off that they might be related to the vaccine. So far, Dr. Vellozzi said, no patterns have emerged.

Thirteen people have died within 19 days after H1N1 vaccination, including five children or teenagers. Nine of those who died had serious underlying illnesses, and one woman, 56, died in a car crash after leaving the clinic. Information is still being gathered about 7 of the 13 deaths, Dr. Vellozzi said, including that of an apparently healthy year-old boy who died suddenly a day after being vaccinated. The deaths had various causes, including pneumonia and heart disease, and again, no pattern has emerged, Dr. Vellozzi said.

She added that a similar list of deaths would be expected after vaccination for seasonal flu. When hundreds of thousands of people are vaccinated, some deaths will inevitably occur afterward, strictly as a coincidence.

[DaShi]

Conspiracy! It is now an established fact that scientists alter their data to fit the agenda of the NWO.

[MikeH]

I want to vote for "have not been vaccinated, although I qualify as high risk due to Asthma, but I think I've already had it anyway so meh" but the option wasn't there.

[Guynemer]

Mea culpa; apparently, there have been some serious adverse events.

However, 204 events in the millions of doses given is a vanishingly small rate.

It is now estimated that 50 million Americans have been infected with H1N1. 10,000 have died from the virus. That is smaller than what we normally see with the seasonal flu (with about as many infected in a typical year); again, for most, this appears to be a mild virus for most people.

However, the death rate from the infection is far, far, FAR higher than the adverse effect rate from the vaccine.

[Wezil]

However, the death rate from the infection is far, far, FAR higher than the adverse effect rate from the vaccine.

I think most of us can agree with that.

Why can't this vaccine be prepared in an oral form Guy? Any chance we can move past the syringe delivery system?

[SpencerH]

The actual answer to your question is quite complex Wezil. The simple answer is that intra-muscular or intravenous injections remain the most efficient methods of vaccine delivery in order to promote immunity. You should note though that there is an intra-nasal H1N1 vaccine available. Intra-nasal vaccination is something that has been worked on by my colleagues for some time (I have delved into vaccines occasionally but they are not a research focus of mine) but and there is no doubt that it's effective for some antigens and infections. If I had a choice though I would prefer the intramuscular route since there are some unanswered questions about antigen transmission to the brain with intranasal vaccine administration (in mice). Obviously, since it's OK'ed for use in humans there are few if any known side effects, but lets just say that I'm not an early adopter of new medical practices since I remain an eternal skeptic (especially in those fields where I have some scientific expertise).