Everything You Wanted To Know About The Flu and H1N1.
Why is this Flu season different than other flu seasons? We are all facing two very similar but distinct forms of the Influenza virus this year. First, we have the seasonal Flu or the regular flu. The symptoms of that are similar to any other influenza like virus and not generally indistinguishable from the H1N1 Influenza virus (previously known as the Swine Flu virus). While your physician prefers to be very precise in evaluating each patient for the specific type of illness and virus upon presentation, it is somewhat more complicated this year since the viruses have symptoms that have initial presentations similar to each other. Not to mention all the other winter illnesses that are traditional residents for this cold and flu season time of year. The H1N1 is more dangerous just by the nature of how easily and widely it will spread this year and the number of people who are expected to contract the virus. Even though it is not any more virulent or deadly than any other flu, it is this fear of a pandemic spread that is causing the heightened vigilance by all health care workers. Why are we so worried about the H1N1 influenza virus? Isn’t it basically the same virus as the seasonal virus? The significant concern right now by the health care community is based on the fact that H1N1 is a new ...
Posted in: The Flu
