Elephant in the room

Let's talk swine flu. 6,000 people in Mexico have it, with 100+ deaths. And the first US death, or a 23-month-old in Texas. And now Germany's reporting it.

Yesterday I missed the school bus and took my older one to school. There was a girl wearing a mask walking into the school.

This morning I asked my older son if he'd heard of it, and he said his teaching said it was "going around the school." I'm sure that's an exaggeration, but it may not be in another few weeks.

I think we all know the best precautions:
1. Wash your hands.
2. Take care of yourself (sleep/good foods/water/laughter/vitamins/exercise).
3. If you feel sick, go to the doctor.

Can we talk about how we talk about it to our kids? And if you want to express fears, go ahead.

Comments

[ElizabethE]

And also, IMO, an important #4: If you are sick, stay home and don't spread the illness.

[Slim]

I'm stressing the handwashing, because I do that anyway, but I'm being a little more rigid about it now.
Also, I've got a kid with seasonal allergies, and I am really pounding home the importance of coughing/sneezing into your elbow, not your hand.

[SarcastiCarrie]

Yes #4 - Stay home. I cannot believe our day care had to put up a huge sign that says if your child is sick, please keep them home. It's just common sense.

[MemeGRL]

I'm with all y'all above me. @Slim, my oldest has bad allergies this time of year too and I am finding people looking at him very, very nervously out in public as he is lazy about covering coughs and sneezes, and I feel compelled to say "allergies" to everyone so they don't think I'm bringing a petri dish to the playground, etc.
I'm not terribly worried right now, but I am for once glad I am not working at the college where I spent my pre-kid career and where hundreds take Spring Break in Mexico for fun or service trips. What does concern me: this is how the 1918 pandemic started, with a flareup at the end of flu season (spring) and then back with a vengeance in the fall. Hoping our pharma systems are in place this time to prevent a 91-year redux of that.

[caramama]

I just did a post on this topic todya! I believe it is important to take the swine flu seriously, as the avian flu was taken seriously in the part of the world that was affected most. This time, it's the side of the world I live on that is most affected. Working in the health market, I have learned quite a bit about this topic as well as pandemic flu preparedness in general.

But still, don't everyone panic. We are not at panic stage yet. We are simply at practice 1, 2, 3 and 4 of what is listed above.

For more information about the swine flu and how to be prepared for this outbreak and any pandemic flu outbreak, please visit the CDC site (http://cdc.gov/swineflu/), the FDA site (http://www.fda.gov/oc/opacom/hottopics/swineflu/) and the US government's pandemic flu site (http://www.pandemicflu.gov/)

@MemeGRL - It's my understanding that the vaccine they are working on for this strain of swine flu will likely be ready for the fall, even though it's not likely going to be able to do much this spring. They are hoping to prevent wht happened in the Fall of 1918. Here's hoping they can do it without adding mercury and aluminum and goodness knows what else to the vaccine!

[Cloud]

@Moxie, the death in Texas was a child brought up from Mexico for treatment. That doesn't make it any less tragic, of course.

We're watching things develop here, particularly since I'm asthmatic and therefore have trouble with any respiratory illness. So far, we haven't had that many cases in San Diego, which surprises me given our proximity to the border. But I'm also trying to keep things in perspective. The regular flu kills thousands of people every year.

[marsupial jones]

I have nothing important to say except that I'm really scared and that this confirms my fears about overpopulation and all that. I feel powerless and it's keeping me up at night. I'm sure I'm not the only one. It doesn't help that my miniature house ape is 23 months old, same age as the child who died.

[Rudyinparis]

Yesterday I took the girls to the library. Purely coincidentally, Younger brought me the book "Germs are not for sharing" to read to her. "I wish I had been clever enough to think of this on my own," I thought to myself. I read it to her and Eldest, really taking a lot of time and stressing its points. It was a good book, aimed at the very young. I recommend it.

[Rudyinparis]

Oh, and my heart goes out to the parents and family of the 23 month old that died in Texas. It is horribly sad.

[Michelle]

I agree, it is really scary. I work at a library and am constantly running in the back to wash my hands.

[caramama]

@Cloud - Good point to keep things in perspective. But what makes me more careful and aware with the swine flu outbreak (just like with the avian outbreak) is that even healthy adults don't have the immune system to handle it the way we would human flu strains. This doesn't mean it will be more deadly than a normal flu, but it does mean that we should err on the side of being more cautious, more hygenic and going to doctor's earlier if we have signs of the flu.

And I didn't realize that the boy who died in the US was from Mexico. I'll have to read more (I had been avoiding details because of my crazy pregnancy hormones keeping me from reading too much about death of kids).

[Catherine]

@Michelle - could you keep a bottle of alcohol-based hand sanitizer at the desk? Or even ON the desk, to encourage patrons to use it too, like at some doctors' offices? My understanding is that the alcohol-based stuff doesn't contribute to antibiotic-resistant bacteria (unlike anti-bacterial soaps with Triclosan) and I find that it's much less drying to my skin that constant handwashing.

As for keeping kids home if they're sick: if we kept our 19mo home every day that his nose has been running, he'd have gone to daycare (and I'd have been at work) something like 5 days this month, because we've been passing a cold around the house all. frickin. month. But it's *just* a cold - no classic flu-like symptoms (fever, chills, aches) in any of us - so we send him off and go to work ourselves. There's "staying home when you're sick" and then there's "attempting to maintain some kind of semblance of productive work."

[Shandra]

We're practicing 1, 2, 3, 4, but this is Toronto - thanks to SARS, we have alcohol gel dispensers -- 3 of them -- on every floor of my office building.

I'm not super worried about it yet. No questions from my son.

He's been sick a lot this month so we've been all over him about handwashing anyway - to the point where I worry that we're giving him the idea that if he gets sick it's his fault. So we're trying actually to divorce the handwashing from the sickness argument and just say it's what we do.

[eva]

I'm trying not to worry about the swine flu (though funnily enough, hearing that 36,000 people die each year in the US from the regular flu doesn't make me feel any better).

It's allergy season here in SF, so everyone is sniffling and coughing, and I just spent the last two days at a conference downtown and now my daughter has come down with a bad cough today. I know it's just a cold, but I don't really appreciate the timing, or the little undercurrent of worry I'm feeling.

It's my day off with her, and we'll stay in today. I feel guilty because I'm already worrying about how and whether I'll be able to work tomorrow. :(

Of course, that's not my official position. My official position is:

"We don't know what the risk is yet. Don't panic. Just wash your hands and stay home if you're ill."

Now if I could just bring the back of my head in line with that...

[sydney]

A forensic pathologist named Dr. Baden noted yesterday that 36,000 people in the US die from the normal flu every year. An average of 100 people a day. We're not even close to that rate of infection, so I think panic is unnecessary at this point. That being said, I will still be taking the precautions Moxie listed to protect myself and my baby like I did during the last flu season. I really hope this passes quickly....

[Charisse]

It's hard not to be a little scared but I'm trying to keep perspective.

We ride transit in a big city daily so it's easy to feel at risk, but OTOH we are completely online workers and could do it from home for quite a while. I'll be stocking up on water and food though we don't have tons of storage space, and crossing fingers.

Counter intuitive questions: is it better to get the mild spring version if fall might be really bad? & if you are 20-40 and maybe at risk for immune over response, should you go on a donut run (sugary/fatty) if you feel sick?

&Cloud I just boarded for your town but only a daytrip - still, I'm virtually waving hi

[Jen]

I have always been rather cavalier about most items that reach the level of public hysteria. But this is the first time there has been an "epidemic" while I'm a mother. Motherhood has taken things to a whole different place for me. And it's not a place that I particularly like. My five-month-old coughed this morning (because she shoved her meaty fingers so far in her mouth that she gagged) and my mind immediately leapt to "I'm going to lose her." I hate that.

[eva]

Actually, I have another question --

For years I've been hearing from various sources (some doctors and some friends) that you are most contagious before your symptoms appear. Friends who MUST be at work even when their children are sick (or risk losing their jobs) frequently justify sending their kids to school or daycare with this argument.

Does anyone have the science about this?

[Ruth]

some perspective is always good.
http://www.vancouversun.com/Health/much+knowledge+exaggerate+danger+pandemic/1540616/story.html
"It's estimated that about 28 per cent of Canadians and Americans contracted the Spanish flu [in 1918]. Worldwide, an estimated 2.5 per cent of the sick died of complications, which made the pandemic one of the most lethal flu outbreaks in recorded history. Certainly it was one that imprinted itself upon human consciousness for several generations.
But there's another way to look at those statistics. You might observe, for example, that they mean that even during the worst ravages of the 1918 flu, 97.5 per cent of those infected survived and recovered. Or that 72 per cent of the population -- even in the absence of the sophisticated public health planning and infrastructure that Canada and the U.S. have since built -- was not infected during the pandemic.
So, even if we had a repeat of the 1918 flu, the chances were seven out of 10 that you wouldn't catch it and if you did, the odds were better than nine out of 10 that you'd survive."

[Nutmeg]

Yes, lots of people die of the flu every year, but unlike the usual flu, some of the people dying in mexico have been healthy adults, not the usual people who succumb to the flu yearly, who are largely the very young and the very old.

I live with an infectious disease physician and have a kid with bad asthma so I'm a tiny bit concerned, but we tend to take things in stride.

If we are really worried, it won't be until the fall, frankly when the slowly circulating virus reappears when flu season strikes again. By then chances of available vaccinations are better, however, so that is encouraging.

It's also important to realize that something can indeed be a pandemic, but the virulence of the disease can still be low (ie yes, it is all over the world and circulating within populations everywhere, but people aren't dying of it). What we don't know is how many people in mexico have it and what percentage develop serious illness... It seems like it's pretty prevalent, given the number of people coming back with the flu. So, if a hundred people died in mexico they might be just 0.1% of the people who have the virus.

Anyway... I'm mostly concerned because my husband who already works 14 hours a day now has to be called for EVERY person in the hospital who has a fever and a cough.

[Nutmeg]

Oh.. and I also have the concern that MemeGRL has... My kid has bad asthma and allergies and a constant runny nose and a decently awful sounding cough. We pretty much get dirty looks when there ISN'T public hysteria. I can't imagine what it will be like now.

[electriclady]

Despite living in NYC (with several confirmed cases already), I haven't been TOO worried. We're already good with handwashing, and I'm currently working from home and my husband is a SAHD, so we don't have many opportunities for exposure other than the playground and weekly music class.

However, my husband is taking our daughter to the zoo today. I reminded him to bring hand gel and USE IT. Beyond that...well, I'm not going to intentionally let a sick kid cough on my kid, but we have to live life, you know?

I feel that if it's going to get really bad, it'll be in the fall, not right now.

[SarcastiCarrie]

Catherine - I hear you on that. I guess my beef about sending sick kids to day care (and I have sent a kid with a cold) are the kids who are clearly too sick to be there.

If you need to leave ibuprofen with the teacher to keep the fever down, if the kid is laying on the cot at 7 am because she's too sick to be up and playing, if you send cold medicine to be given in the middle of the day because the kid is that uncomfortable, the child needs to be home to get some soup and one-on-one time and maybe some B&W TV.

Obviosuly, if we all kept kids with colds home we'd never go to work, but pink-eye, strep throat, foot and mouth, flu, fever, vomiting, achiness, lice, and lethargy probably should be at home. I keep my kid home when he's that sick and I hope other parents do too (I'm looking out for #1). And I know some people can't afford to miss work, but here's where emergency back up child care planning comes in handy.

[Allison]

Up to THREE million people (mostly children) die EVERY year from malaria according to the World Health Organization. We have the drugs to treat and eradicate this disease, yet we still continue to do very little. Where is the damn outrage?? Where is the 24/7 news coverage?

[caramama]

@Charisse - Catching the swine flu now won't necessarily give you resistence if it re-circulates in the fall because mutations in flu strains is not uncommon. Therefore, although you would be immune to what went around in the spring, it could very well mutate and you would still be susceptible in the fall.

What Ruth says is true and a good way to look at it, but as Nutmeg says, this flu strain (as with the one in 1918) is affecting the healthy adult population with serious outcomes--not just the very young and very old or chronically sick.

I'm still of the mindset to keep it all into perspective, not panic, but be more careful and prepared than you might otherwise be.

[shizzknits]

Like other posters said, I'm worried but not panicked yet. There are SO MANY things that keep me up at night now that I'm a mom. I've never been prone to anxiety, but in the past 18 mos I"ve become more and more anxious about raising my kids in this crazy world.

**sharing my fears here**
First it was the gas prices going crazy (anyone heard of peak oil?!), then the economy (will we descend into anarchy?), now a possible pandemic (and my kid has been sick with a cold for two days- lovely), and overarching all of this is the threat of war/civil unrest/etc from global warming (if that happens).

Oh, and we live in earthquake country. Nice.

I TRY not to worry too much but some nights I toss and turn because I'm thinking that maybe we need to move out into the boonies away from People, raise our own food, be self-sufficient, etc..

But that's not feasible right now and honestly I love where we live....but all these crazy, media-hyped worries are going to give me an ulcer.

I've learned to keep my anxiety level down by not reading too much on the Internet, and by avoiding the news as much as possible. But still....you can't avoid all the swine flu crap that's being put out right now.

So. We are.not.panicking.

(i keep telling myself that anyways LOL)

My kids are still going to school (even the sick-ish one because he only has the sniffles). DH still goes to work. I still go to the store. We are taking our vitamins and trying to get good rest.

Other than that, I don't know what else we can do...

[Cloud]

I'm no infectious disease expert, but I think when you're most infectious depends on the disease you have. Certainly in some diseases, you're infectious before you have symptoms and cease to be infectious long before your symptoms finally go away completely (I'm thinking of the lingering cough I get everytime I get a cold). In other cases, you're infectious long AFTER the symptoms go away (some people are still shedding norovirus 2 weeks after they get better). So its really a crap shoot.

However, as someone for whom even something that is "just" a cold is pretty debilitating, I really do wish more people would stay home when they're sick. But I also know that for a lot of people here in the US, that isn't an option. Our sick leave policies are almost as bad as out maternity leave policies.

[eccentriclibertarian]

@Ruth , thanks for that statistical breakdown of the 1918 flu epidemic. My grandfather got sick from it in the fall of 1918 (he was 10) but recovered (no hospital - just my great-grandmother's care) and lived to be 89.

I am concerned about the fact that this is an animal disease just starting to cross the boundary into humans, as several PPs have noted. Since it's new to us, nobody has immunity built up & only those who randomly happen to have genes that turn out to confer some protection can really rest easy if this turns into a major pandemic. Of course, nobody who has those genes will know it until after the fact!

I'm allaying my fears by thinking of the strong public health system in the US, where I live, and wishing that everybody everywhere had access to the same level of health care
and sanitation.

[Catherine]

@SarcastiCarrie - Oh, absolutely. Any of those things you mention would be an automatic stay-home day for J, and his daycare would send him straight back anyway. I'm talking about the run-of-the-mill nosedripping that's pretty much endemic in the under-two crowd from November through April around here.

We just had our first confirmed case here in my town, a college student who's now completely recovered. I have to admit that I'm less worried about us being personally affected through being sick ourselves, than about the larger-scale ramifications in terms of lost productivity, mass media-fueled panic, disruptions to essential services...and strangers glaring at coughing kids.

[Michelle]

I am trying not to worry about it too much. However, I am nearly 7 months pregnant and my stepson is on immuno-suppressants due to a transplanted liver. Other than that, we are basically healthy and are being a little more militant about hand-washing.

My husband and I have custody of my stepson but my real fear for him is his bi-monthly weekend visits with his bio-mom. See bio-mom is not the most observant or fastitious about hand-washing. And she has a 2 year old who is ALWAYS sick. Seriously, this kid has respiratory issues and picks up every single bug that goes around.

So I'm less than thrilled about the idea of my stepson going over there and being exposed to illness by his germy half-brother. Ugh!

[mamie]

Even though handwashing is drying, it is much more effective than hand gels. I work in a hospital and although they have those gel things everywhere, staff are required to wash with soap and water. Our risk department says that there is tons of evidence that the gels are basically not effective even when used properly, which they generally aren't. I am not sure why they put them out.

So if you are really feeling concerned about any kind of illness or germs, handwashing is your best bet, not the gels.

[MrsHaley]

One other tip I heard, which sounds really good to me, is if you suspect infection & decide to go to the ER, call them first so they can be prepared to quarrantine you. Just showing up at the hospital could pose a risk to everybody else there. Of course, just showing up with any infectious disease could pose a risk to everyone else, but if you know ahead of time why you're going, it would be considerate to allow the hospital staff to protect others before you get there.

We are not panicking (ha), washing hands, and watching the geographic pattern of infection carefully. Nobody in our state yet. Yet.

[SarcastiCarrie]

@mamie - "the gels are basically not effective even when used properly, which they generally aren't."

What is the right way to use a hand sanitizing gel? I know how to wash my hands and sing the song, but are the gels just rub in and flap hands until dry?

@Catherine - my day care *says* that kids with fever, serious illness, etc are sent home, but if they're on ibuprofen, I don't think they actually have the fever and if you dose every 6 hours, it doesn't come back, and I have seen all kinds of things that make me think they err on the side of not sending the kids home.

[hush]

What Jen said (@10:40am): "But this is the first time there has been an "epidemic" while I'm a mother. Motherhood has taken things to a whole different place for me." Totally!

I'm updating my will and durable power of attorney today because I need to make sure, should anything happen to us (not that it will, but...), that my son does not fall into the wrong hands in my DH's family. Odd, but that's my primary concern at this point.

I'm concerned about the potential for acts of hatred & fear against the Mexican migrant worker community in my area - though virtually all of the workers come from an area of Mexico that is very far removed from the original contagion in Mexico City, I can't expect ignorant rednecks to educate themselves as to that fact.

I'm slightly concerned that when a vaccine is finally developed in approximately 6 months, there will have been so much fear-mongering about its safety that not enough people will make the choice to receive it, and the virus will mutate, etc etc...

The feeling in the air today reminds me so much of the days immediately after 9/11, when it seemed like everyone was waiting for the other shoe to drop.... but nothing happened. My thoughts are with everyone at this strange time.

[pnuts mama]

well, i'll chime in with perspective of someone who lives less than a mile from the high school where the current outbreak in nyc is:

whatever. seriously, i mean, a bunch of kids and adults now have contracted a mild form of the disease here, gone to the doc, gotten their tamiflu, and are fine. i work with kids who go to that high school, shop at a supermarket across the street from it, go to the pharmacy down the street from the other school where suspected cases are, i mean, what am i supposed to do? to be fair, we've stayed away from that area this past week, but i doubt that will prevent us from catching it- our church has tons of families with kids at that school, and the school itself pulls kids and teachers from all over queens, so the thing is spreading, and we just have to be vigilant with our hygiene. if you think you have it, call your doctor, get the drugs, and chances are you'll be ok.

we're washing hands, we're talking about not putting hands in other peoples mouths, but in all honesty, even being this close to the flu strain my whole family is more likely to catch any other illness or suffer from some other 'worst case scenario.'

i do think any school that finds out they have people who have it should shut down indefinitely til they are disinfected and all cases have had the chance to surface/be treated.

i agree that if you or your kid aren't feeling well, stay home, but if you were out one or two days earlier, you've already been infectious and spreading it- that's the most urgent thing, imo, the fact that you are infectious well before you feel bad. but it seems unlikely at this point that nyc can enforce a "all schools and public buildings and businesses shut down til we've identified every case currently forming" right now- mostly because we're lucky to have identified this and are treating it aggressively, which is different than how they were able to handle it in mexico city, because they didn't know what it was before it had spread.

also, we heard that a vaccine is already being developed based on the current strain to vax us against what will most likely be a much more deadly version which could could come back next year- that seems to be how the other flus went- mild version 1st year, mutated killer version that decimates populations the following year. we'll be first in line for that vax if and when it becomes available.

[mamie]

@SarcastiCarrie: According tho the Risk Dept at our hospital, proper use of hand gel is 45 seconds of rubbing, and just like with soap and water you want to make sure you get all the nooks and crannies between your fingers, the indentation in the middle of your palm (surprisingly easy to miss), on your fingertips and down to your wrists. But even with that, they say soap and water is better, when available.

Of course, they aren't at the park, or changing a diaper in the car! So in that case, gel is probably better than nothing.

[Anne]

Cathrine - while in library school (and during my undergraduate work) I worked as a waitress and while working both as a waitress and as a librarina I've gotten my worse colds. Chicken Pox from an unknown patron (two other restaurant staff got sick possibly from me) and a HORRIBLE bout of the flue my first year as a librarian. In both jobs I was fairly annal about hand washing but it's almost impossible to be %100 about doing it.

think about it at the library there are so many possible places to pick up a germ - the reference desk and reference computer, helping a patron at a computer terminal, the copy machine, library cards, it's endless really. And all it takes is that one time you forgot to use the sanitizer or to wash your hands ..... And when you're working with food, especially food other people have eaten (gotta clear those tables) there are just so many possible places to come in contact with germs.

I know you can be contagious and not know it but if you are feeling unwell the best thing any of us can do to help our fellow humans is to try hard to keep our germs to ourselves because once they're out there it is very difficult for others to avoid them.

[paola]

Yeah, I'm waiting for it to hit over here. So far there have been a few cases in Spain and now 3 in Germany too. Also some unconfirmed cases in a city not far from us. I know it's a matter of time before everyone gets panicky here too.

Saturday the family is flying and I know that this might bring us in contact with the virus too. Also the kids and I have colds and I'm hoping we don't have any problems at the airports.

[caramama]

Total aside: I actually find that the hand sanitizers (at least the alcohol-based ones) dry out my hands way worse than washing with soap and water. But I generally use a mosturizing soap. So it's interesting for me to hear so many people say that soap and water dries hands out more.

[pocha]

I guess I'm in the minority here. While it goes without saying that the deaths are tragic, and while I completely agree that people should stay home if they're sick, and while *of course* I'm going to be adamant about hand-washing and cough/sneeze-catching, I also can't help but gristle when I see the way the MSM represents this issue. For more, see this:

http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=225152&title=snoutbreak-09-the-last-100-days

[Nick]

Just a reminder that if you start using a lot of alcohol-based hand sanitizer, be sure to keep it out of the reach of your children. According to Snopes, the ingestion of small amounts of alcohol-based hand sanitizer by small children can result in dangerous levels of intoxication. http://www.snopes.com/medical/toxins/sanitizer.asp

[mom2boys]

Did anyone else hear this broadcast yesterday on All Things Considered?

“In Mexico City, The Infection Is Fear - It's been a surreal and apocalyptic three days here since Friday…A culture built on physical contact has become a culture muted by fear, by suspicion, a distrust of others and even ourselves.”

Really? Because of masks and lack of hand shaking? I thought of people in countries like Sri Lanka or Pakistan or the Palestinians. Bombs – Bombs blowing up your house, school, library, etc. that’s apocalyptic. A cancelled soccer game is not. You know why? Because he later says that the way most people are handling the apocalypse is having pizza delivered. Um, okay. I understand everything’s relative but the tone just really bugged me. End rant.

[Cloud]

@hush- there has been surprisingly little anti-Mexican backlash here in San Diego, but yeah, that's a worry. Despite what you may hear on the national media, none of the cases we've had here are in people who have been to Mexico. They don't know yet where they got the disease, but my money is on us having had this virus circulating for awhile, and no one noticing because it presents like the normal flu.

We set up our will/trust awhile back, and it does give me peace of mind- and we don't have a single family member on either side that I wouldn't be happy to see care for Pumpkin in our absence.

One other thing I'll add about the 1918 flu- there were unusual circumstances in place that probably facilitated it spread amongst young men. I can't think of a better environment to facilitate the spread of a disease like flu than the trenches. Wet, cramped quarters populated by a lot of people under a great deal of stress (stress suppresses your immune response)....

Anyway, I agree with all those saying that the novelty of the virus is cause for concern. But I also think its been a bit overblown outside of Mexico. I guess its a fine line for the public health authorities to walk: get people to be careful without scaring them. I don't envy them.

[Cori]

I might sound a little crazy here, but I'm willing to err on the side of caution in this case. My kids are both under two and we're doing a lot of staying home this week. (Of course, with two under two that is not a huge lifestyle change.) There have been a couple of confirmed cases in our area including a 20 month old girl. Those have just been "mild" cases, but "mild" is still fever, vomiting, coughing, etc. If we can avoid it by skipping a Music Together class or two, I'm fine with that.

I'm fairly confident that this will turn out to be not a big deal in the coming weeks, but for now I'll be a little overprotective.

If my kids were in public school or daycare, I would give them the lecture on hygiene and send then on their way.

I do agree that the 24 hour news cycle is not helping the public avoid panic. Thank God for Arlen Specter yesterday or we would have had another day of constant coverage.

[SarcastiCarrie]

@caramama - I am using Waterless Hand Sanitizer with Lavender and Chamomile with moisturizers and Vitamin E

So, this product is not drying, but I wanted to use it on my phone and mouse (mostly because we accidentally discovered that one of my male coworkers in the single stall unisex washroom does not wash his hands after using the facilities), and it leaves a little film on things like the phone. Good for hands, not good for the mouse.

[sueinithaca]

a`Well, I don't have any more significant concerns than I do for any other widespread disease. My main concern is this:

My husband is travelling to Europe at the end of the week. We have pigs. (very healthy pigs on pasture) I'm concerned that he'll get over there and be turned around if he responds honestly to the "have you been in contact with livestock in the past 14 days" question on all the immigration forms. Then he'll have been flying around in a petri dish for two days for no good reason. Gah.

[CoachNancy]

How to help your child who is anxious about Swine Flu: http://tinyurl.com/clj46t

I hope this is helpful.

[pnuts mama]

also- and i don't want it to seem that i am being too flip about this whole thing- if you have super young or super old people in your family (check and check) or someone who has immune deficiencies i think you have valid cause for concern if you live in an of the areas that have reported cases, and you should probably take some heightened precautions, as you would against *any* disease that threatens your/their health.

but that said, around here, anyways, i haven't seen a decrease in people going out, going to work, shopping, going to school etc. maybe that a nyc-mentality thing (i.e. "yeah, we know we live in a higher-risk-for-everything zone and we just don't let it change our way of life"), maybe because as much as the media here is going crazy CRAZY CRAZY over this flu they are also stressing the ACTUAL symptoms of the flu (more than just a runny nose, etc.) as well as what you can do to prevent and treat it, i don't know. plus, the freakin tree pollen count in this area is affecting WAY more folks and making them miserable around here. like me. so maybe there's that.

i think it's serious, but beyond those first couple of hours when we found out it was at a school right up the street from us and we panicked a little, then got super informed about the whole thing, i don't know, we just kinda moved on.

meanwhile, on our news they had a guy interviewing the little boy who they've identified as having the first case in mexico (don't even get me started) and the reporter is wearing a face mask. even though the kid has been ok for a month- but here? in front of the high school kids who actually have the virus currently? no masks! the underlying subtext of that is blowing my mind, not to mention the PARENTS of these kids bringing them to the school so they can be interviewed!!

[KateW]

Ugh. I'm in Texas, have a 2 year old and am due in less than 2 weeks. My husband works at a hospital. I also have cold symptoms and body aches (well, who doesn't at 38 weeks??). I do have an OB appt this afternoon, and I'm going to ask her opinion - which I'm sure will be mostly reassurance, but I'm trying really hard to breathe deeply and keep my head on straight.

My brother died when he was 2 from a rare outbreak type illness before I was born, and I was raised in a (let's put this mildly) very protected environment. I'm really trying to not recreate this for my daughter - I encourage her to take appropriate risks and be bold and independent (while still being smart about precautions and such). Still, I know very well that it can and does happen, and you can go crazy trying to control your environment.

[Cloud]

@KateW- you have a lot of things going on that would heighten anxiety, even if they don't necessarily heighten risk. Be gentle to yourself! In your position, I would take the standard sensible precautions and talk to my OB to find out what I should do if I suspect illness in myself or my immediate family. Then I would institute a news blackout and spend my time watching Jane Austen movies instead. But that's just me. And yeah, my 2 year old would probably want to watch Noodlebug or Signing Time instead of Jane Austen. (Hmmm... someone should make a Sesame Street version of Jane Austen... But would Elmo be Mr. Darcy or Mr. Collins????)