Hi, Belleruth and Sara - I am a practicing board-certified emergency physician who is sorry to hear that Sara's physician diagnosed her with H1N1 influenza without doing the testing. This has done a disservice to Sara, your readers and the agencies who are attempting to document and track this virus. The American public may not realize that over 200,000 people contract the "regular" influenza virus, Type A or B, each year and over 36,000 people die from it. Yet, H1N1, a sub-type of Type A has not been described as more dangerous or virulent, and has been described at being at pandemic level only because of the number of countries across the world where it has appeared. Sara may very well have been suffering from Influenza A NON H1N1 or Influenza B, both of which would have the same clinical presentation. Unfortunately, there is media hype that has caused a frenzy of panic across the world, this panic reaching my emergency department and presenting as people who, without any symptoms consistent with influenza, demand testing and treatment. I suspect that this panic has caused huge unnecessary demands on the government, on medical facilities, on pharmaceutical companies and others. This is not to minimize the potential serious illness (including death) that any influenza virus can inflict, and this is not to say that H1N1 could not in the future infect many people, yet I hope your readers will resist the dramatic effect of the media and take an opportunity to go to the CDC website (www.cdc.gov) to get an educated objective view of Influenza.

(Sara, I hope you are recovered and back on your feet!)

Hello to both of you!

I agree with the comments from above in all respects and want to add that there are a number of other preventive and treatment supplements that can often prevent the flu that were not mentioned in this post. The implication here seems to be that because the ones employed didn't work the only alternative was to give into the allopathic medication, Tamiflu. But it only helps decrease the symptoms by a day or so, and does come with possible side effects. Why not stay the course, or alter the natural treatment, or seek an alternative practitioner's assistance?

Hi, All,

Best wishes to Sara and her husband for a quick recovery. I really appreciate Sara's openness about her experience.

I am also grateful that her physician treated her as he did. Data from a number of cases suggest that there are many "false negatives" on the rapid test often used for H1N1, and that many physicians are unaware that a patient testing negative for both influenza A and B is likely positive for novel H1N1. While many people recover from this virus as well as from others, accounts from around the country also include a disturbing number of rapid onset/multiple organ failure cases. While most people affected are under the age of 20, most fatalities are among people between the ages of 20 and 60, and only half of those seem to have "underlying conditions." My concern is the mirror of Samara's---that people are not taking this pandemic seriously enough, and that we're not taking more assertive measures to limit its spread. The CDC seems to be behind in statistics, and physicians following its guidelines may be missing cases. Below is a statement from the family of a healthy 47-year old woman who died after being refused treatment because her initial two tests for flu were negative, even though she was symptomatic and someone else in her household was positive and being treated with Tamiflu:

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http://www.fox13now.com/news/s...2489.story

Flu Victim Family's Statement

Staff Writer

7:40 PM MDT, June 14, 2009
Our family would like to express thanks to the Shock and Trauma unit at IMCH. And to those who have prayed and supported our family over the past 2 weeks.

Francine and her mother became ill with the flu two weeks ago today. Her mother tested positive and was treated for the flu and has since recovered. Francine tested negative and was sent home. Her health continued to decline, and three days later she was taken to Jordan Valley Hospital. For the second time she tested negative, was sent home, and told to increase fluids and rest.

We begged the doctors to treat her with Tama flu because it had helped her mother, but they refused because her test had come back negative. After another three days she became incapacitated, and was again taken to Jordan Valley where she was admitted and found to have pneumonia, plus all of the symptoms associated with the flu, but once again tested negative. At this point she had had the flu for approximately eight days, untreated. Her condition continued to decline, and on Tuesday was transferred to IMC Hospital. By this time her body was so ravaged from the virus that her kidneys and lungs started to fail and brain activity had diminished. On Wednesday, June 10 we received a positive Type-A flu test, and on Thursday we received, from the CDC, a positive test for H1N1, Swine Flu.

After fighting a valiant battle she succumbed to this illness. It has been reported that she had underlying illnesses that contributed to her death, but according to her doctors she died from lung damage, kidney failure, and brain damage which were all strong and healthy prior to contracting the virus.

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We all need to be thinking critically and with an eye toward the community good around this. I have found various threads at flutrackers.com to be helpful both re: the epidemiology of the disease and intervention/prevention/preparedness strategies. I wish the CDC and local and state health departments were more forthcoming about cases---I think this, more than the vague age ranges and talk of "underlying conditions" would help people to not flood ER's when the don't need to go, and to seek appropriate help when they need it--allowing Samara to focus on the sick.

Thanks, Belleruth, Sara, and Samara for keeping this in front of people.

Amber