Reuters article link

It seems there is a mutant form of swine flu popping up in up to 15% of the cases, depending on the country. This form goes straight for the lungs and requires more extensive medical treatment than normal flu.


-Blast

More hand washing, more masks and a real strong hope for a vaccine.

School starts back next month too.

Don't they have a Swine Flu vaccine already... but not enough for a large % of the population.

Apparently the earliest any vaccine can be available is in mid November and even then it will not be available for everybody.

http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2009/08/24/swine-flu-vaccine.html

You could go get it now and get it out of the way and handled before there is a mad rush HEhe

Or stay healthy and clean.

Oh, the lung part is new. Sound familiar, to.

*sighs* I've got a plan for ten days- how long were the outbreak waves in 1918?

Uh-oh. This just got "interesting."

In an Alexandria, La hospital, I've noticed that those coming into the Emergency Room with possible Influenza symptoms are being given a mask (triage phase completed) to wear while they are waiting to be seen by the staff.

These are standard yellow (isolation) type paper face masks. Most people are wearing them properly but there are always a few who can't seem to grasp the concept.

Actually, so we don't spread FUD, there is NOT some new mutation and no more potent offshoot of H1N1 out there. There's just the one strain and what we see in the US now and in the Southern Hemisphere is basically what first emerged last spring, so it's not mutating. At least not yet. Which is great as far as vaccine development is concerned, and it is still sensitive to anti-virals.

What that article was attempting to describe is the subset of illnesses that have occurred in younger folks that are particularly serious. H1N1 is relatively mild in most folks, but unlike the run-of-the-mill flu, H1N1 has produced very serious illness in some younger folks. Older folks have mostly been spared very serious illness, which is the opposite of what usually happens with seasonal flu.

The writer seems to have been using this WHO press release as the source document for this article. This same document clearly states: "Studies have detected no signs that the virus has mutated to a more virulent or lethal form."

Thanks, Arney.