Widespread Disease is Here!

My Own Perspective.........


At some point, one has to sit back and consider the uniqueness of the situation that we are now witnessing know as the H1N1 Pandemic. Never have we faced such a formidable foe in medicine with the multitude of options from a medical perspective that we have available to us now. History tells us what worse case scenario can be with previous pandemics but so much has changed in every aspect of society as well as our abilities in medicine. Obviously the changes in medicine are well documented such as advances in critical care, anti-viral medications, the ability to share information through a multitude of outlets to aid in the prevention of spread just to name a few. The changes in society present unique challenges as well. We have never before been such a mobile society. The ability to have a disease spread from it's origins in Mexico in April to summer camps in North Carolina in July to 26 states primarily on the southern tier that now report widespread Influenza (In September no less!!)due to H1N1 is nothing short of incredible. The fact is these multitude of changes creates a whole new unique set of unknown variables when it comes to trying to predict how the rest of this pandemic will play out. We can speculate all we want but truly it will be a wait and see series of events with tons of unknowns which leaves us now with but a single known strategy and that is prevention (CONTAIN THE DISEASE AND THEN VACCINATE). It is true that the disease has by and large SO FAR been mild relative to the usual seasonal flu but that does not mean that we have not seen some children that have experienced significant symptoms with their illnesses. It has, beyond a shadow of a doubt, spread rapidly through our patient population. We have experienced large percentages of children becoming ill with flu in the past but I am sure this spread equals any of our previous experiences. We continue to focus on those at risk and minimizing risk of transmission and look forward to the day that we begin to vaccinate. We are still waiting on definitive dates of arrival as well as who gets how many doses. Stay tuned.


The Vaccine


As the date gets closer, I am certain that the opponents of vaccination will make their voices heard. Those same outlets that we have been successful in spreading the word of prevention will be filled with information that might make you want to think again about vaccinating yourselves and your children. We are happy to investigate any and all concerns to help you become comfortable with your decision. Remember this is a voluntary program and not mandatory. Everyone has to make an informed decision. We attempt to stay current on all the information regarding this vaccine program and continue to support the cause without hesitation. We believe in the vaccine as the best decison based on current science. A popular concern voiced in the media as well as by parents in the office has been the risk of Guillian Barre Syndrome which is a rare auto immune disease that can follow any infection and causes a temporary paralysis. There was an attempt to link the 1976 Flu vaccine to that disease and multiple studies have failed to show a link and just two that showed possible cause with the risk being at most one in a million. As we always do when considering vaccination, we look at the risk vs benefit. The CDC's goal is to vaccinate up to half the US population. That is roughly 150 million people. Take worse case scenario and 150 get Guillian Barre. The most recent reporting interval from the CDC was from 8/30 to 9/19 and there were 936 Flu related deaths in the US with the majority due to H1N1 in that 19 day period. It won't take long to see the benefit from vaccination. Another concern is regarding additives to the vaccine called adjuvants which are chemicals added to some vaccines to boost the immune response. There are none in the H1N1 vaccine. If you would like more information on vaccine safety and the program that will monitor it's safety after the release , please check out the following link:

www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/vaccination/vaccine_safety_qa.htm


The Disease


Of course, with the prevalence of disease, there are lots of questions and concerns on how to treat, prevent, and when to worry. The following is a link to the CDC web site in reference to those concerns:

http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/guidance_homecare.htm