CDC Activates Center to Deal With Flu

[Robb]

ATLANTA:The nation's top health agency has activated its emergency operations center and has established response teams to assist states with the country's flu outbreak, federal officials said Friday.

The first major test of the center came after SARS, the deadly respiratory disease, was first detected in China last November.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was expected to release more information Friday afternoon.

The agency also was preparing to post new information on its Web site for health workers, detailing how to properly prioritize patients who show up at hospitals with possible flu symptoms. Agency officials have been studying child deaths from the flu this season, officials said.

(more)

[mobuto]

1. A little late now

Why didn't they do this before my fever boiled off the last of the HG in my thermometer?

[tlcandie]

2. the drum beat gets louder ...

CDC
Terra Alert
Draft coming out more in the open
Bremer assassination attempt

Three strikes on this regime yesterday... Not to mention Pooti Poot's nice little veiled statement

Hmmmm :think:

[Heddi]

3. All the hospitals out here in Seattle

are handing out masks for people who are sick. THey have signs up saying "if you even FEEL remotely ill/feverish/sickly, wear this mask so you don't infect the rest of us with your crap"

Okay...not worded like that, but nicer.

2 weeks ago I did a phlebotomy internship at a local hospital and they stared doing that effective Dec 5. Had a sign in all the departments and a box of masks for people to wear.

Alot of people were wearing masks.

Is this a scare tactic? Is this flu season worse than any other?

I don't know.

[MidwestTransplant]

4. I am washing my hands a lot

that's for sure

[Heddi]

6. well try not to use antibacterial soap

if possible--all that does is add to the number of antibiotic-resistant strains of microbes floating around us---

It's extremely hard to do, I know. I have soap now that isn't antibacterial, but I don't know what kind it is--but it took alot of shopping and reading fine print to find it.

Use a alcohol-based hand sanitizer when possible.

I've seen people recently carrying around little alcohol wipes with them for when they have to use a public phone or public bathroom to clean all surfaces before they touch them---not because they're germophobes, but because they don't want the crap that's floating around in the air and making everyone around them ill.

[Gingersnap]

5. certainly causing paranoia

I don't know if this is a scam or not, but it certainly is causing paranoia. I have had the flu all week. Only last night was I really well enough to sit in front of the computer for any extended period of time, and I did feel like shit for days, but not like my life was endangered. So now I'm wondering, "is this really the flu? maybe there is another, worse flu out there?" A year ago, if I had lost a week of productivity due to being sick I would have considered it bad enough, but now I'm paranoid, wondering if i REALLY have the flu.

FWIW, my husband is a doctor and he says this year's flu vaccine doesn't work against the flu people are dying from...

[Heddi]

7. I got the flu vaccine 2 years ago

both my husband and I did through our work.

Hubby and I have been together for 6 years, and he's never ever gotten sick.

Except for when he got the flu shot.

He was out of work for an entire week, and suffered at work for a week and a half more.

I was sick for a week, but was a bit better than he after that.

I was told that if you get sick with the flu shot, then you were already 'infected' beforehand and the shot just accelerated the time it took to show symptoms.

I don't know about that, but I know I've never, ever, ever in my 27 years been as ill as I was that year. I've gotten the flu in the past--felt crummy for a week, then was back to normal.

This shit we got--it was a killer. Couldn't move. Couldn't eat. Couldn't breathe. Felt like someone crushed every joint in my body. Hot then cold then hot then cold.

And the sucky part was that both of us were sick at the same time, so there was no one to take care of the other. We were totally pathetic. Just layed in the house in the fetal position all day long and intermittenly tried to eat soup or something just to keep the calories coming in......

never, ever will I get the flu shot again. Never

[Robb]

8. Well, that

...was my experience with the flu this year, and no shot. Sucked. :shrug:

[Heddi]

9. knock on wood

last year I didn't get the flu (got a cold, tho), and this year :knocking on every peice of wood around me:, we haven't gotten sick either.

It truly does suck. Sucks in a major way. Sucks so bad that I honestly wouldn't wish the flu on my worst enemy