<p>The National Institutes of Health had a “flu summit” on July 9 designed to help states prepare for an expected worsening of the swine flu this fall. According to best evidence so far, it appears that the population being hit by H1N1 virus is somewhat different than our usual seasonal flu. Children and young adults are particularly at risk, and so when the vaccine is made available it appears it may be targeted a bit differently than usual, with an emphasis being placed on students and staff in schools and child care centers. HHS Secretary Sebelius said a vaccine could be available by mid-October. " U.S. health officials have said they are considering a swine flu immunization campaign that could involve an unprecedented 600 million doses of vaccine," according to the Medline article below. Officials are preparing for school closures, and the possibilities of more deaths and illnesses among younger people seems real.</p>
<p>I know that last year the Swine Flu didn’t strike as many people (or as severely) as some forecasters feared. However, it looks like it may be back stronger this fall. How is this going to affect our kids?</p>
<p>Flu – Influenza A, of which swine flu is a subset – caused one session of CTY (nerd camp for middle/high schoolers) to shut down early. So many kids were coming down with flu or flu-like symptoms, they couldn’t all be isolated, so everyone was sent home. (This may or may not be swine flu; the test for H1N1 takes some weeks, and the local health authorities didn’t bother with the test, as treatment for swine flu is the same as for any other flu.) There are cases of Flu A at at least one other location of CTY (the one at which my kid is currently, yee-haw), too.</p>
<p>It will be important for our college kids to understand that getting the flu shot as soon as it is available is more important this fall than usual. Colleges usually offer flu shots, but a lot of kids don’t bother getting them. This year is special.</p>
<p>Looks like everyone will need two flu shots this fall instead of one (I believe the H1N1 vaccine they are developing cannot be combined with the other flu shot).</p>
<p>Many sleep a way camps in my region (the south) have been heavily impacted by the Flu. It seems to be very contagious and spreads like wildfire. (In one example, 21 boys out of 24 in a boy scout troop attending a scout camp became ill.)</p>
<p>Around here, they are no longer doing much testing since 90 percent of Influenza A cases have turned out to be of the Swine Variety.</p>
<p>I think it is reasonable to ask your child’s college what their plan is. </p>
<p>The flu itself seems to be effecting people like other flus and sometimes is even milder. The trick is that to keep it from spreading, around here anyway, they ask infected patients to stay home for a week. Colleges are going to need a plan so that kids don’t force themselves to go to class even if they are sick.</p>
<p>I didn’t want my kids to get Swine Flu, but now that the milder variety was here this spring, perhaps getting the mild version would give some immunity to the stronger version later.</p>
<p>DD had the regular flu in Feb 08, and was sick as a dog. Flat on her back for a week, and not fully recovered for nearly 2 months. We are definitely getting her a flu shot/mist as soon as they’re available.</p>
<p>anyone know when the vaccine will be available? D2 is leaving for London mid-September for a semester and it’d be nice if she could get it here. Don’t know if she can get it there.</p>
<p>HHS Secretary Sebelius said a vaccine could be available by mid-October. So, unless it comes out earlier than predicted, unfortunately your daughter will already be gone. :-(</p>
<p>This Vaccine is courtesy of our Government, Deficit Spending, and Socialism. There will still be millions of US citizens who still cannot afford the small service fee for this vaccine thus increasing the usage to our emergency hospital service, hospital beds, lost work-time, and constant re-exposure to the virus.</p>
<p>The H1N1 flu shot will likely be available worldwide and should be able to be gotten by kids who are out of country on travel. They may have to pony up $, but it’s still most likely available for them, at least if they’re in “developed” areas.</p>
<p>You know, I didn’t even think about dorms, duh (I don’t have a college aged child yet), but I attended a meeting last week where school administrators are struggling with how to handle so many absences should it hit schools as hard as it seems to be hitting some sleep away camps in the area.</p>
<p>I would be interested in how schools plan to deal with the possible onslaught of absences. Are any schools considering offering flu shots onsite?</p>
<p>Most colleges offer flu shots onsite every year – at the student health center and often at mass flu shot events offered at different places on the campus on different dates. </p>
<p>This year, this will probably happen twice, once for the swine flu shot and once for the regular seasonal flu shot.</p>
<p>Some rather interesting stuff in the news on the mortality aspect - it appears that mortality is related to the level of obesity in the patient.</p>
<p>Other health conditions–pregnancy, diabetes, COPD, etc. also seem to make patients at higher risk of worse outcomes, like regular flu. If it were just level of obesity, that would be reassuring to those uf us lighter folk.</p>