Swine flu in SA

[miran]

Good heavens!!! Schools are closing (not lazy schools but top schools) and a huge number of schoolkids actually contracted the virus. Most sportsmeetings are cancelled, even practises and tours.

Was it this bad in Australia?

[Johan&Karen]

Good heavens!!! Schools are closing (not lazy schools but top schools) and a huge number of schoolkids actually contracted the virus. Most sportsmeetings are cancelled, even practises and tours.

Was it this bad in Australia?

Some schools did close here in the Northern Territory but it was more to prevent the spreading of the swine flue. Any school is a hotspot for the spreading of swine flue.

[Nes]

Wow. Which schools are you at? We are experiencing high absenteeism at the moment but so far no swine flu, just regular flu and the odd child who gets to stay off because he has a sore toe or something. Hope we get to stay that way as it is a very stressful term with concerts and tours.

Hope it is restricted to an area as this virus seems to spread rapidly

Nes

[thehulls]

I think that the hysteria part is over because it seems to be pretty prevalent everywhere now. I know that we have kids in our school who have it but they are not closing the school down, just asking those kids to stay at home. In fact, I heard somewhere that because it is so rife, they are not even testing for it in some cases and just asking the general population to be more aware.

[Zaffergirl]

Good heavens!!! Schools are closing (not lazy schools but top schools) and a huge number of schoolkids actually contracted the virus. Most sportsmeetings are cancelled, even practises and tours.

Was it this bad in Australia?

Wow had no idea it was a problem in S.A! Family never mentioned it.

The novelty has worn off here, they're not fussing anymore, but it was quite hectic at the beginning of the flu season. No cases in our school though, thankfully!

[miran]

Stellenbosch had the first fatality: a 22 year old student. The University's hostels are almost empty and students took a REALLY long weekend. Paul Roos Gimnasium (50% absent), Bloemhof and St Cyprians closed completely, I've also heard of Sutherland High in Centurion closing. Paarl Gim and Welgemoed and some others already have confirmed cases of swine flu.

2 kids from my school had their blood tested on Monday, but still have not received the results because pathological services are swamped!

Apparently the Western Cape is affected (infected) the most.

[Michele R]

I think the problem is that the health department said from the beginning there's no need to panic, so people didn't react when they felt flu-ish. My mom's got flu and went to the doc yesterday. Told her if her temperature goes higher she should take the meds, he gave her a script for it. He said it'll take too long to get te test results back.

Know of a couple of schools in CT who have kids with it, and some businesses in CT who have staff off with it. I think if you treat it early on then you'll be fine, but if you leave it alone it could be fatal.

[Dereko]

The newspapers here is SA have just reported a second swine flu death. The first was in Stellenbosch and the the second was in Durban.

Edited August 8, 2009 by Dereko

[Sirus]

Yes it was like this in Western Australia a couple months ago. Kids couldn't go to school with a cough.

But now it is back to normal and kids come to school sick because parents don't want to take time off from work. You know I found out the other day that one of main reasons they vaccinate against chickenpox in Australia is so that they can keep people in their jobs and not at home nursing their children.

The are experimenting on their new vaccination with children and babies in Australia. I can't believe how parents can let their children be ginuea pigs. You you read up about some of the severe reactions around the world that people have had with the Tamiflu vaccination. Please parents read up everything you can about a vaccination before letting them stick an needle in your child.

Good heavens!!! Schools are closing (not lazy schools but top schools) and a huge number of schoolkids actually contracted the virus. Most sportsmeetings are cancelled, even practises and tours.

Was it this bad in Australia?

[Goldie]

The people who are at risk of complications are those who are immunocompromised ie HIV pos or have lowered immunity due to cancers or other illnesses. For the rest of the population it's just another flu.

We had 2 weeks of hell with 3 sick children and a "dying" husband. All had all the symptoms and we had had direct exposure, with 2 lots of friends testing positive after we'd spent weekends with them. Our school had also had numerous reported cases. My oldest was sicker than she'd been in years, but it lasted a grand total of 5 days. She never went to the doctor, but stayed home and rested. My middle daughter I ended up rushing to the hospital the one evening, as she was delerious with a fever, just when we thought she had been on the mend. We were masked as soon as I mentioned her symptoms and put into an area with other "masked" people. The doctor examining her gave her an antibiotic for secondary pharyngitis and said she wasn't going to give her Tamiflu seen as she was already 4 days into the illness. We were to return if she didn't show signs of recovery in 48 hours. She was a whole lot better by the next evening, but was booked off school for a while longer. None of the other "masked" people seen to before us had been given Tamiflu either. My son, who is 4 had temps, cough and vomitting for 48 hours and then nothing. Hubby, as mentioned, thought he was dying and seeing the light. But glad to say he too recovered after about 4/5 days. He reckons he'd NEVER felt so sick in his life. All he did was sleep.

Whether it was Swine flu or not we will never know, but the symptoms were the same as the friends who had been tested. I did not waste my time taking the others to the doctors, cause I knew they had stopped testing in most cases and they were just advising people to stay home and rest. A healthy immune system will fight it off just like any other flu.

I personally think SA will have more fatalities than we did here.

[Sibella]

Here in the UK everyone is definitely panicking with 38 people who already died from swine flu. My husband got flu about three weeks ago and he was extremely ill, then just when we though he was getting better it turned into pneumonia and he spent 3 nights in hospital - very stressful for us.

The GP refused to give him Tamiflu when he first started getting ill, but now the NHS is dishing it out like sweets.

Touch wood myself and the kids have been okay so far, but I'm not looking forward to them going back to school in September and the start of winter here soon.

[Nes]

Typical. Just posted that there are no problems at our school and heard the very same day that we have 2 confirmed cases. Hope the long week end will help control the spread. Will have to wait and see.

nes

[miran]

What concerns me is that the 2 confirmed deaths was healthy 22 and 17 year -olds.......

We also have 2 confirmed cases (one boy in my class) at our school so far. Fortunately the mom took him out before he was actually sick, because his older brother got sick.

We've been snotterig for a while now, but my kids actually think Demazin is cooldrink.......

Goldie, what is it with men? They have a cold or a hangover and you can't get them out of bed, but mom can be much iller but still have to get up to sort everyone out!

[Dereko]

Man Flu!!! I am a guy and I suffer from it from time to time. LOL

[Goldie]

Man Flu!!! I am a guy and I suffer from it from time to time. LOL

Big babies hey Miran??? LOL It drives me mad. My one puts this pathetic agonised look on his face and looks like he is going to burst out crying at any second. I am also the least sympathetic of people at the best of times, so he gets nothing from me. Shame poor dying duck. Luckily he doesn't get sick often.

[Sirus]

Sorry to hear you were all so sick. Just saw this on the news this morning:

Kids with flu 'should not take Tamiflu'

http://bigpondnews.com/articles/TopStories...flu_361150.html

The people who are at risk of complications are those who are immunocompromised ie HIV pos or have lowered immunity due to cancers or other illnesses. For the rest of the population it's just another flu.

We had 2 weeks of hell with 3 sick children and a "dying" husband. All had all the symptoms and we had had direct exposure, with 2 lots of friends testing positive after we'd spent weekends with them. Our school had also had numerous reported cases. My oldest was sicker than she'd been in years, but it lasted a grand total of 5 days. She never went to the doctor, but stayed home and rested. My middle daughter I ended up rushing to the hospital the one evening, as she was delerious with a fever, just when we thought she had been on the mend. We were masked as soon as I mentioned her symptoms and put into an area with other "masked" people. The doctor examining her gave her an antibiotic for secondary pharyngitis and said she wasn't going to give her Tamiflu seen as she was already 4 days into the illness. We were to return if she didn't show signs of recovery in 48 hours. She was a whole lot better by the next evening, but was booked off school for a while longer. None of the other "masked" people seen to before us had been given Tamiflu either. My son, who is 4 had temps, cough and vomitting for 48 hours and then nothing. Hubby, as mentioned, thought he was dying and seeing the light. But glad to say he too recovered after about 4/5 days. He reckons he'd NEVER felt so sick in his life. All he did was sleep.

Whether it was Swine flu or not we will never know, but the symptoms were the same as the friends who had been tested. I did not waste my time taking the others to the doctors, cause I knew they had stopped testing in most cases and they were just advising people to stay home and rest. A healthy immune system will fight it off just like any other flu.

I personally think SA will have more fatalities than we did here.

[Alibaba]

People don't realise that "normal" flu is just as bad as "Swine flu". People die from the normal flu too.

I have worked in clinical reasearch for the past 12 years. It is highly regulated, don't put people off of participating in trials. Adverse effects can happen sure, but it is not to say they will necessarily occurr, it is safe and Ethics committees approve the trials before they are run.

[Simpsons]

I have two little boys, one is 7 in Grade 1 and the other is 3 and was diagnosed with Leukemia in March and so is undergoing chemo.

I contacted my eldest son's school to explain our situation and request that they please keep me informed of any illnesses going around due to the fact that my youngest was undergoing chemo and was "immunocompromised", which they agreed to do.

Well you can imagine how I was fuming when I found out about 4 weeks ago that two little ones in my 7 yr olds class had confirmed cases of swine flu.

The mums with whom I'm friendly with (thank goodness) informed me of this, NOT THE SCHOOL.

When I confronted the teacher about this, she simply said they were told by the "department" not to let it get out! So lets just put my youngest at great risk becuase of this!!!????

And she confirmed to me that there were numerous cases of swine flu at the time that they knew about.

CAN YOU BELIEVE?

[Sibella]

I have two little boys, one is 7 in Grade 1 and the other is 3 and was diagnosed with Leukemia in March and so is undergoing chemo.

I contacted my eldest son's school to explain our situation and request that they please keep me informed of any illnesses going around due to the fact that my youngest was undergoing chemo and was "immunocompromised", which they agreed to do.

Well you can imagine how I was fuming when I found out about 4 weeks ago that two little ones in my 7 yr olds class had confirmed cases of swine flu.

The mums with whom I'm friendly with (thank goodness) informed me of this, NOT THE SCHOOL.

When I confronted the teacher about this, she simply said they were told by the "department" not to let it get out! So lets just put my youngest at great risk becuase of this!!!????

And she confirmed to me that there were numerous cases of swine flu at the time that they knew about.

CAN YOU BELIEVE?

Shame - I would also be fuming!!! What school is your son in? We used to live in Rangeview x4 in Krugersdorp.

There was a case in my daughter's class here in the UK last term but luckily it did not seem to spread. But now we are heading for winter here and I'm not looking forward to it.

[Simpsons]

I stay in noordheuwel ext, on your old doorstep, lol. Monument Primary School.

[Sibella]

I stay in noordheuwel ext, on your old doorstep, lol. Monument Primary School.

What a small world! I grew up in Piet Joubert Avenue and used to walk to ballet lessons at Monument Primary School.

Still kind of miss my old valley...

[Simpsons]

Yes it is indeed!

Where in Oz are you headed?