Influenza A
Was notified yesterday that one of our teachers succumbed from complications of Influenza A.?ÿ Technically, she was employed by the special education cooperative that serves our district and seven other districts.?ÿ But, she shared a classroom with our Pre-K teacher, so worked with all of our littlest ones.?ÿ I am certain those little tykes loved her dearly and will miss her terribly.
She grew up in our district and is related to a ton of local people.?ÿ She was only 32.?ÿ When I chatted with her a few weeks ago she appeared to be in perfect health. I talked with her mother briefly last week in her office at the Courthouse and she made no mention of this illness.?ÿ Influenza A must be very dangerous.
I'm reminded that we are all in the great 'herd' of humanity.?ÿ And, among other things, pathogens and disease are the predators that keep the herd's number thinned to the healthy and strong...no matter how inhumane that may sound, it's a reality of our time here on this planet.
We all start in the center of the herd I guess.?ÿ And as we age and are subject to the ravages of our mortal existence we ebb closer to the edge of the herd where the predators are waiting.?ÿ I'm of the mind set of always keeping someone else in between me and the wolves, for sure.
Yikes. That's terrible to hear. Wash them hands folks.?ÿ
That's terrible that a lady so young should die.?ÿ The "rate" of flu case is actually down now.?ÿ People washing hands, avoiding contact and staying in is serving some already.
Andy
Just wrapped up a case of the flu. The secondary pneumonia is beginning to clear. Covid 19 would really suck about now....
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A young fellow asked me today about prior times when major health issues like this have truly impacted everyday life.?ÿ He could remember the swine flu epidemic about 10 years ago.?ÿ The example I offered was a bit before my time but one where there was nationwide caution.?ÿ Polio.?ÿ That one scared the bejeebers out of nearly everyone.?ÿ Swimming pools and beaches were shut down.?ÿ Large gatherings were discouraged.?ÿ I recall school kids getting shots to provide inoculation.
Spot on.
Mother Nature's solution to culling the homo sapien herd has commenced, now it's the survival of the fittest.
We were driving from CO to OK in '64 or '65 during a Rubella outbreak.?ÿ It was either Liberal or Garden City...whichever..the police had the town blocked off (it was night time) and we needed gas.?ÿ All you could do was drive through town and back up on the highway.?ÿ Pops nursed his Chevy another 25 miles and we found an open station.?ÿ It was packed and we had to wait a while to get to the pumps.
PS - I remember polio. I had a few friends that didn't escape from that one.?ÿ I still see one classmate every now and again.?ÿ He still limps.
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I remember the Rubella outbreak.?ÿ I was one of the few kids in school that did not get it.?ÿ Apparently, I had what my mother called the hard, red, German measles fairly early in life.
In 1966 or 1967 our school was hit with the mumps.?ÿ Similar to the earlier Rubella situation.?ÿ All sorts of kids out of school around the same time.?ÿ Again, I dodged that bullet despite not having them previously.?ÿ Not sure why I was so lucky.
Polio was the biggie.?ÿ It hit a wide range of ages within young people.?ÿ I can think of people I have known from about 16 years older than me down to two years younger than me who were affected by polio.?ÿ Most developed the limp but other nerve-related damage occurred in some.?ÿ One woman a couple years younger than me mainly had the inability to turn her head sideways as much as most people could, then when she was in her 50's she began to develop other issues.?ÿ She now lives with her sister who must provide care for her daily.
I must have been the lucky one. I had measles, German measles, mumps, whooping cough, chicken pox and strep throat (numerous times in my life). I do remember taking the sugar cube polio vaccine.
Andy
In about 1968, I can??t remember if I was in 1st or 2nd grade, a classmate- Tommy Armstrong got sick and died of diphtheria. In WSS MT. Less than 1000 people total population. The school was overrun with nurses and doctors. We all had to be examined- they took nose swabs from everyone- a few kids in the school got sick. About that time we were also all getting lined up and given a barrage of shots and the sugar cube for polio.
This might be a good time to remind everyone the man that developed the polio vaccine, Dr. Jonas Salk, never attempted to monetarily capitalized on his work.?ÿ He considered it a gift to humanity.
Must have been back before doctors had student loans.
@holy-cow A modern oddity is that the oral vaccine, which was phased out in developed countries decades ago but is still used in third world countries because of cost and ease of administration issues, where wild polio is still present, actually resulted in more polio cases than the wild strain worldwide last year.
The concern with this one is 1) ease of spread (similar to common cold virus) and 2) it's killing about 3 or 4% of victims confirmed by testing, the optimistic view is the kill rate will turn out to be around 1% which is huge if it infects 100,000,000 people.?ÿ A faster peak will cause a higher kill rate because many older victims will be triaged out of more advanced medical intervention.
For my age group the COVID-19 kill rate is running about 10 times that of influenza.
That was reinforced at the press conference today. Dr, Deborah Birx reported that about 11% of Covid 19 tests come back positive, so 89% of the people tested have something else. That may not be exactly true because we know that a fair number of asymptomatic people, including the president and most of the Utah Jazz, have been tested, but it does highlight the fact that other dangerous diseases are still lurking around.
I went to the grocery store this afternoon. No paper products and no supplements like zinc, but plenty of produce, The butchers were stocking prepared meats and they said that stocking is a full-time job.
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There may have been a second Influenza A victim in our county.?ÿ Only about 22 years old.?ÿ She has a child that attends the same Pre-K classroom as mentioned above for the 32 year-old victim.?ÿ ?ÿ Two deaths in less than a week.?ÿ People are getting scared.?ÿ They immediately want to assume it is COVID-19.
Plan to be a participant in an odd funeral ritual today.?ÿ This is for the first Inlluenza A death mentioned above, but affected by the COVID-19 policies.
The close family members will surpass the maximum number of 50 allowed at the funeral service.?ÿ The overflow and everyone else who might want to honor this wonderful young lady will be standing along the first several blocks of the path the hearse will take following the service.?ÿ Some may appear at the cemetery but remain at a distance from the family.?ÿ The normal handshaking, hugging and direct comments of sympathy will be absent.
Just wrapped up a case of the flu. The secondary pneumonia is beginning to clear.
The post-flu pneumonia that I got in 1999 is the closest I've ever come to wanting to die, and it wasn't even a very serious case.?ÿ I'll never forget that experience.
