h1n1 question

[anothermom]

[quote]

Originally Posted by RoslynHolcomb

I change his clothes and wash his hands and face when he comes home from school. Doubt that it does any good,

A friend was advised by her pediatrician that giving her preschooler a bath and a change of clothes as soon as he got home from preschool would reduce his odds of getting ill. This was actually several years ago before the swine flu reared its ugly head. So according to that doctor it does help. I have had my kids wash hands as soon as they come in from school; I wash my own hands whenever I come home from the grocery store, etc. I've recently added to the routine having them change their shirts/tops as soon as they get home.

I've always been big on washing hands before eating, but I'm being extra careful now. Just today we went to Jillian's (well, now it's Dave and Buster's) and we ordered food while we were bowling. Once the food came I had the kids go wash hands, and then no one could bowl until they had finished eating. I didn't even want them touching bowling balls and other surfaces touched by others until they were done eating. Then, as soon as we got home, it was time for everyone to wash hands again. Of course, after bowling we had walked around and played games in the game area, so there sure was a need to wash hands upon getting home.

[atlantagreg30127]

Originally Posted by straightfromatown

I agree, but I don't think most people are aware of the risks of the normal flu shot. I always assumed that the worst case would be that it gave you the flu, but it can have some devastating effects:


YouTube - Swine Flue shot is a killer Cheerleader Gets A Swine Flu Shot Now She Can Only Walk Backwards!

I seriously almost removed the post/video link above, because of one thing - it was altered. But since I'm going to assume the poster is not the one who altered it, I'll let it ride, but will clear up one very important thing in it...

About 3/4 of the way through they say what SOUNDS like, "Doctors say what happened to her should discourage people from getting the flu shot". In reality, you can hear the dubbing where they turned SHOULD NOT into "should", completely twisting the message into a propaganda piece that got posted on youtube. So, to clear it up, doctors say that what happened to the girl SHOULD NOT discourage people - not should. She is a one in a million case - you run the same risk from taking tainted Tylenol, than you have in having a repeat of her reaction.

A lot of this is still stemming from fears from the 70s when a number of people contracted Guillain-Barre Syndrome from that version of the Swine Flu Shot (out of 40 million who were vaccinated), so the shots were scrapped. This Swine flu shot does have variations in ingredients over that older version and was tested with more modern equipment. Still, they are monitoring for any signs of problems with it, and so far, nothing beyond normal mild reactions have been reported, as can be read HERE.

I'm not telling anyone they should or should not get the vaccine. Somewhere down the line I'm sure there WILL be a handful of cases of people who have complications from it, but I just want folks to realize also that there's a lot of hype and drama going on about it, too. It's up to you to decide if the low risk is worth the potential benefit.