[SallyC]

Are we ready for the swine flu epidemic that hit Mexico hard And already started here in the US, in Texas, Kansas and NY? I'm not..

It's killed a lot of people, in Mexico.. I had my flu shot, but it won't help much for this new strain. They say that Tamiflu(sp) may help, if you start taking it in a day or two of the oneset of symptoms.

This is all us already sick people need to deal..

Take care Everyone..

[Erin524]

My dad (who has a heart condition and works in a hospital) is in mortal fear of catching the swine flu.

I have some Tamiflu that I got from my doctor about a year ago for a "just in case" event if I got sick. I think I'll call my doctor monday and ask for a refill on that, that way I might be able to get enough Tamiflu for me and my parents.

It's probably too late, but I think they need to close the borders into Mexico AND Canada, and call out the National Guard to watch the border into Mexico to keep people from coming over illegally.

And, grounding all international travel, but that's probably not possible to do and probably too late now anyways.

I've always wondered what it would be like to watch a global pandemic start. I guess we might find out now.

[Desinie]

This is scary! I haven't read much at all about this, but I wonder how likely we are to be exposed to this?

[Erin524]

Sounds like everyone who has caught it here in America so far has had some connection to Mexico....either they visited recently, or they were exposed to someone who was recently in Mexico..

Hopefully the Mexican government will be able to enforce a quarantine if it gets worse.

I hope our government manages to not screw it up if they try to set up quarantines or when the start to hand out the medications to treat it.

I wonder what the incubation time is for this flu?


Good thing I like to stay home and I've got lots of nice stuff to keep myself entertained.


I am wondering if this was somehow a lab created flu....it's a mixture of avian, swine and human flu. How do mixtures like that happen?

[SandyC]

Nik just came home from Mexico. He wasn't in the area that has the outbreak, he was in Cabo. But I told him to kiss his dad on the cheek until we know he's clear. Hey, you never know right?

I had the Swine flu as a kid and survived so I think I may be immune. This strain does have the bird and human flu added in though.

[Debbie D]

It's scary how quickly it has spread...and my son just got home from Cancun last night...

[ewizabeth]

If it comes to Illinois I'm going to stop going to church until it passes. That's about the biggest crowd I'm in on a regular basis. I don't know that it would affect me much since I seem to have a killer immune system, but with the Tysabri, who knows?

Also, we'd have to stop going to our favorite restaurant, Rositas.

[Kitty]

But aren't we supposed to have an overactive immune system with MS? Shouldn't that mean that it's harder for us to catch stuff? I might be totally wrong......but it just seems that if our immune systems are hyper we're not as susceptible to viruses and bugs.

[SandyC]

I don't know Kitty. Jim's doctors say he has a weaker immune system for some bugs yet he is pretty healthy. Good question.

When Nik had mono Jim's doctor was adament about keeping Nik away from him even though Jim had mono before.

[Dejibo]

Originally Posted by Kitty

But aren't we supposed to have an overactive immune system with MS? Shouldn't that mean that it's harder for us to catch stuff? I might be totally wrong......but it just seems that if our immune systems are hyper we're not as susceptible to viruses and bugs.

Its the medicines we take to control or "modulate" this dread disease that "dampen" our immune systems.

I worked in the prison systems for 20 plus years, and NEVER had the flu, or any of the bugs that made their way around. Started on Copaxone, and I get every cold in town. I avoided church today, but it was due to the heat, not the flu.

That stuff is scary!