Swine Flu 5-1-09

5-1-09 Swine Flu

As a child, my father had rheumatic fever, leaving him with a damaged heart valve. He did not know about the damage until, in his mid-fifties, he became very ill. He was completely drained in a way I had never seen in this strong active man. Doctor Archie Keegan, a character right out of a Mark Twain novel or a Norman Rockwell painting, made a house call to look at my father. Did he have the flu? Did he have pneumonia? We learned that my father was suffering from congestive heart failure and was in need of open-heart surgery. That’s when I learned that a pig’s valve would save my father’s life. The surgeon believed the pig valve was far superior to any mechanical device. Imagine that. The very word pig is used as a primo derogatory term and now it was a savior.
Pigs are large mammals with organs similar in size to a human’s and they also get some of the same illnesses as humans. They are prone to respiratory problems and come down with the flu just as people do and their swine flu season overlaps with ours.
Sometimes people catch illnesses from animals. Vets and epidemiologists call this method of spreading as zoonotic. Rabies, leptosperosis, Lyme and Tularemia, represent just a few from the long list of diseases spread to humans from animals. The one earning national attention right now is swine flu.
We can catch avian flu from birds and swine flu from pigs. Sometimes, as these flu viruses are passed along through affected animals, international commerce and travel, the viruses change and become blended versions or they even mutate into novel viruses. These newcomers to the viral world are dangerous because we lack any immunity to them and our usual flu vaccine is not the correct mix to prevent it either. Antiviral medications can reduce the symptoms if taken soon enough after onset, perhaps within the first twenty four hours but antiviral medications cannot be depended on to prevent the disease. Currently existing vaccines are not designed to prevent swine flu. It will take at least several months to design a vaccine to prevent the current flu arriving in the United from Mexico.
That is where we find ourselves in the USA right now. Antiviral meds are being made available by the federal government in addition to supplies already owned by states’ departments of public health and by pharmacies. I have been told there is no shortage. But, keep in mind; they are for people who are sick with the flu.
The good news is very good news. This new swine flu as seen in the USA, is not behaving like the 1918 pandemic flu, where healthy young people died very quickly from it.
As of Monday evening, April 27, 2009, the virus had not been confirmed in New England. Let’s do everything we can to keep it that way.
The bad news is also good news. The bad news is that this illness is now in its fourth phase, where it is spreading from human to human. We have a great deal of control over ourselves. And we have a great deal of control over a virus that is spread in droplets dispersed from coughs. That is why it is so important for everyone to understand how critical it is to practice preventive measures to contain this virus and prevent it from spreading further. These preventive and control measures include the following:
Exercise “cough etiquette” by coughing into you elbow area, allowing the virus-laden droplets to sink to the floor.
Wash hands frequently, especially right after coughing or blowing the nose and especially right before eating. If you can’t wash with soap and water, use hand sanitizers.
When coughing or when you are around those who are known to be ill with a cold or the flu of any kind, keep your distance of at least three feet, or an arm’s length. This is called ‘social distancing”. The space allows those droplets to, once again, go out into the air but then they sink to the ground.
The whole country depends on your cooperation in this matter.
You are probably still concerned about identifying this swine flu. Keep in mind that it is primarily a respiratory disease. So, look for a cough and look for a fever. This differs from your usual allergies or cold, doesn’t it? If you have a cough and fever of 101 or more, stay home and call your doctor and practice every single preventive measure to stop it from spreading. If you are still uncertain and/or have questions regarding contact with others with recent travel history, call the epidemiologist at Massachusetts Department of Public Health 617 983 6800 and your local board of health.
Please help our country to be an informed one by avoiding television’s dire and frantic spins on this situation. Instead, each day check in online with CDC (Center for Disease Control) and WHO (World Health Organization) or your state's Department of Public Health. They will be updating us each day on this still fluid situation. If you don’t have access to the internet, call your local board of health.

Cathleen Drinan is the health agent for the Town of Halifax, MA and can be reached at 781 293 6768 or cdrinan@town.halifax.ma.us