Video: H1N1 “swine” flu advice from Public Health – Seattle & King County’s Dr. Jeff Duchin

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1. Anna Bacler says:

   October 30, 2009 at 8:01 pm

   There is no sound in this video Other videos i played worked.

   Reply
   • admin says:

     October 30, 2009 at 8:28 pm

     Thanks for the report. We’re able to hear sound with Safari and Firefox. Will check with Internet Explorer shortly. What browser are you using?

     Reply
2. sasi says:

   October 31, 2009 at 9:04 am

   I use Firefox and no sound for me either.

   Reply
   • admin says:

     October 31, 2009 at 11:43 am

     Hi,

     Curious.Not sure what might be going on. We’ve checked it on Safari, FireFox and Internet Explorer and didn’t run into any problems. We’ll try reloading it. It’s downloaded from YouTube.com (can be found with search words “public health seattle king county”) and it’s on the Public Health – Seattle King County Website (http://www.kingcounty.gov/healthservices/health/preparedness/pandemicflu/swineflu.aspx). You can go to those sites to view and, hopefully, hear. (Let us know if the audio works there!) Thanks.

     Michael McCarthy
     Editor

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     • admin says:

       October 31, 2009 at 11:58 am

       Video reloaded. Please let us know if you are still having problems with the audio.

       Best,

       MIchael McCarthy
       Editor

       Reply
3. Nancy Ann Luft says:

   October 31, 2009 at 10:45 am

   Greetings!

   When does this ATROCITY that is being done to us Americans who are 65 years old and older stop?

   We are being prevented from getting any swine flu shots at all, so when those that ATROCITY stop?

   WE ARE NOT NATURALLY IMMUNE TO THE SWINE FLU and the only reason that our death rates are so extremely low is we are all afraid to leave our homes!

   Oh, The CDC says that about thirty percent of us elderly test out to be naturally immune to the swine flu … that simply means that thirty percent have antibodies for it to protect them. BUT the huge problem with us elderly is our immune systems do NOT work correctly … which means even if we have some antibodies, our immune system will not react rapidly enough to defeat any flues … our immune cells just do not divide fast enough and flues kill us!

   They say that for SEVENTY PERCENT us elderly flu shots NEVER work! We just do not produce enough antibodies for any flu shots to even work at all!

   Well, the ONLY reason our death rates are so very low, is we are retired and HIDING IN OUR HOMES SO WE DO NOT CATCH THE FLU!

   I am been disagnosed for ASTHMA, I have have ONLY ONE LUNG, and I think that flu shots might work for me … PLUS I am almost 67 years old. I AM IN THE VERY HIGHEST RISK GROUP TO END UP DEAD FROM THE SWINE FLU and yet they refuse to even let me have a swine flu shot! That is a HORRIFIC ATROCITY!

   Since the swine flu came to The USA, I have been out of my home ONCE to go to my bank to get some money, which caused me to end up in an emergency room due to cardiac problems. I am being held a PRISONER in my own home because those MORONS think that I am NOT at high risk to get the swine flu, therefore they refuse to vaccinate anyone who is 65 years old or older!

   And I am extremely angry about these endless LIES about who us elderly are immune to the swine flu … WE KNOW WE WILL GET IT IF EXPOSED TO IT, IT WILL KILL US BECAUSE OUR IMMUNE SYSTEMS DO NOT WORK, SO WE HIDE INSIDE OF OUR HOMES AFRAID TO GO OUT!

   Healthy children with an extremely LOW DEATH RATE are on that top priority list to be vaccinated … and they are calling EVERYONE who is six months old to TWENTY-FOUR YEARS OLD A CHILD! Yet we elderly, who would surely DIE if we get the swine flu are being prevented from being vaccinated … and is an ATROCITY, a HORRIFIC CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY.

   In all of the UK, ALL ELDERLY are top priority to getting swine flu vaccinations and CHILDREN ARE NOT because when compared to us elderly, children have extremely low death rates from the swine flu … a fact of life!

   Here in The USA, the ONLY reason us elderly have lower death rate then children from the swine flu is WE ARE PRISONERS IN OUR OWN HOMES because we cannot get vaccinated at all … if we leave our homes, we risk CERTAIN DEATH and we elderly know it!

   When does this ATROCITY being done to all of us elderly finally end!

   Nancy Ann Luft

   Reply
   • Jeff says:

     October 31, 2009 at 12:19 pm

     Nancy’s comment must be a practical joke for Halloween. If not…

     You do realize that last time the swine flu went around, in 1976, the vaccine killed more people than the flu, right?

     You do know that those in charge today insist vaccines are safer now, without providing any evidence or explanation whatsoever, and the media simply and uncritically repeats it.

     You do know that this shot bypassed the full suite of testing, “because it is so similar to previous formulations,” while we are stampeded to demand it because unlike every previous flu, “this is a national emergency.”

     There is a real story here, but few have the guts to tell it or hear it.

     Reply
     • admin says:

       October 31, 2009 at 3:02 pm

       I looked up some background about the 1976 swine flu outbreak in response to a comment on another story by a reader who shared similar concerns.

       I’ve updated the response with the latest information about the current outbreak from the CDC:

       Science reporter Patrick di Justo wrote an interesting account of the 1976 swine flu fiasco that appeared in Salon.com in April.

       He writes that scientists were initially very concerned that we were dealing with a virus similar to the one that caused the great 1918 Pandemic, which killed millions worldwide.

       After studying the virus for a while, they became less concerned, but by then politicians were competing to show they were leading on this issue and then Legionnaires disease struck, which was conflated with the flu in the press.

       Di Justo writes:

       The scientists began to come to their senses. By July, they were pretty much agreed that a flu pandemic in 1976 would not lead to 1 million U.S. dead. The flu strain extracted from Private Lewis, they learned, was much less virulent that the 1918 strain, and modern medicine could handle an outbreak far better than the World War I doctors could. The World Health Organization ordered hospitals to keep a global lookout for swine flu, but it did not request mass immunization of the population.

       But the U.S. government was unstoppable. Congress began to pressure the drug companies to work faster toward development of a swine flu vaccine. The drug companies insisted that proper vaccine development required years of experimentation and clinical trials, and they were reluctant to develop and distribute an untested drug. The drug companies suggested that they could work faster if they were given immunity from lawsuits in the event something went wrong with the vaccine. Congress refused. The issue of legal liability remained at an impasse until Aug. 2, 1976.

       On that day, two members of the American Legion died of a strange respiratory disease they acquired at the Legion’s convention in Philadelphia. Congress collectively freaked . . . .

       That said this new virus is already showing that it is quite a bit more dangerous than the 1976 virus, which killed only one person.

       According to the CDC:

       From August 30 – October 24, 2009, 12,466 laboratory-confirmed influenza associated hospitalizations, 530 laboratory-confirmed influenza associated deaths, 25,985 pneumonia and influenza syndrome-based hospitalizations, and 2,916 pneumonia and influenza syndrome-based deaths, were reported to CDC.

       Of these, 114 are laboratory-confirmed deaths of children, the CDC says.

       So it appears, compared to the swine flu of 1976, this year’s swine flu is a much more virulent pathogen.

       To learn more:

       Visit the CDC’s weekly Flu Update Web page: http://www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly/ and read Di Justo’s article.

       Best,

       Michael McCarthy
       Editor

       Reply
   • admin says:

     October 31, 2009 at 2:27 pm

     I went to the Web sites of the CDC, Public Health – Seattle & King County and the UK’s National Health Service to see if I could find some information to address Ms. Luft’s concerns:

     Questions:

     Why are people over 64 not a priority for the H1N1 vaccine?

     Answer:

     According to the CDC, so far, people in this age group seem much less likely to come down with the new H1N1 flu, so while there is a shortage of the vaccine, the CDC recommends that they wait until those who appear to be at higher risk of contracting the infection get vaccinated first.

     Here’s the advice on the Web site of Public Health – Seattle & King County:

     “Why aren’t seniors in the priority group for H1N1 influenza vaccine, especially when Public Health recommends they get the seasonal flu vaccine?
     People over 50 years of age and especially over 64 years are more at risk from serious illness from seasonal flu (the strains of influenza virus that come around every year). However, H1N1 influenza appears to have less of an effect on older people. People over 64 have had much lower rates of serious illness, hospitalization, and death from H1N1 influenza than the rest of the public. It is possible that people over 64 have had exposure to a similar influenza virus early in life that has given their immune systems a stronger ability to fight against H1N1 influenza virus. However, after the initial target groups have had time to be vaccinated, vaccine could be made available to persons over 64 years.”

     To learn more:

     Go to: http://www.kingcounty.gov/healthservices/health/preparedness/pandemicflu/swineflu/vaccine.aspx#who

     However, it is important to note patients in this group are not forbidden to receive the H1N1 vaccine.

     That decision, according to CDC guidance, is left ultimately with the patient and his or her provider:

     “… the decision regarding who should get vaccinated is one that should be made between the provider and the patient, weighing whether there are enough doses available for those at greatest risk for infection and serious complications as well as the likelihood that patients turned away will come back for vaccine at a later date.”

     To learn more:

     Go to: http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/vaccination/clinicians_qa.htm

     Because of her respiratory and cardiac problems, health officials also recommend that patients like Ms. Luft should also contact their health-care providers to obtain a prescription for the antiviral medication Tamiflu, which is most effective when taken within 24 to 48 hours of the onset of symptoms, to have on hand should she fall ill.

     Here’s what the CDC recommends:

     People Age 65 Years and Older and Antiviral Drugs

     Influenza antiviral drugs are prescription drugs (pills, liquid, or inhaled powder) that decrease the ability of flu viruses to reproduce. While getting a flu vaccine each year is the first and most important step in protecting against flu, antiviral drugs are a second line of defense in the treatment of flu.
     It’s very important that antiviral drugs be used early to treat flu illness in people 65 and older who are very sick (for example people who are in the hospital) and people who are sick with flu and who also have a greater chance of getting serious flu complications (see http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/highrisk.htm).
     Although they are the least likely group to be infected with 2009 H1N1 flu, people age 65 and older are at higher risk for influenza related complications. Therefore, they are prioritized for antiviral treatment if they get sick with either seasonal or 2009 H1N1 flu this season.[Emphasis added]

     To learn more:

     Go here: http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/65andolder.htm

     Nancy is right that under the National Health Service guidelines, people over 64 who are at risk of serious complications from seasonal flu are considered to be a priority group for the H1N1 vaccine, but not the top priority.

     Whether the difference between the CDC’s recommendations and the NHS’s is due to a different analysis of the epidemiological data or whether to some other factor, such as vaccine supply, I am not sure.

     Here is the information found on the National Health Service’s Web site.

     The groups of people who are most vulnerable to serious illness from swine flu will be offered the vaccine first. In order of priority, these are:

     People aged between six months and 65 years in the seasonal flu vaccine at-risk groups (listed below).
     All pregnant women.
     People who live with someone whose immune system is compromised (for example, people with cancer or HIV/AIDS).
     People aged 65 and over in the seasonal flu vaccine at-risk groups.

     To learn more:

     Visit the NHS site at: http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/pandemic-flu/pages/vaccine.aspx

     Hope this is helpful.

     Michael McCarthy
     Editor

     Reply
4. Jane says:

   October 31, 2009 at 1:11 pm

   Nancy-You really need to get a grip. You’ve made yourself a victim and a prisoner in your own home. After all your griping I’m still puzzled as to what you’re trying to say. You’re clearly angry that you can’t be vaccinated, but you say that only 30% of people your age respond to flu shots. You say you’ve only left your home once and ended up in and ER, but with cardiac problems, not the swine flu so I’m confused how that ended up in your CAPS LOCK diatribe.

   I’m sorry that you’ve only one lung and seem to be in poor health, but don’t blame the government for your self-imposed jail term.

   Jane RN, CCRN
   Harborview Medical Center

   Reply