The Enid Blyton Society

There was an interesting piece on Radio 2 today about the 2009 swine flu outbreak. At the time some experts estimated that 120 million people would die but in reality in was only a few hundred. Most who contracted it had mild flu like symptoms but some people are still suffering today. Fatigue, muscle cramps and breathing problems aren't uncommon.

Did you contract swine flu? Any lasting symptoms?

I was in Houston at the height of the outbreak visiting friends and whilst checking in at the airport to return home I coughed a few times. I was removed from the queue, asked about my symptoms and promptly upgraded to business class in an effort to keep me away from the masses. I was given a number to call when I returned home, which I did, a nurse promptly visited the house, put me in isolation, took some swabs and left me some Tamiflu. About a week later I got a call from the GP and I had a cold!

Gosh, I'd forgotten about the swine flu scare. I'd hadn't realised some people were still suffering all these years later - I wonder though, how many of those problems would have arisen from normal flu?

My son was just over 2 when he caught flu, he was pretty poorly for several days, in fact at one point I was worried he might have suffered some sort of brain damage, as he really was 'out of it'. However like many children, he bounced back quite quickly. However just under a year later he caught a cold and ended up in hospital with breathing problems - the diagnosis was asthma. Up until that point he'd always been rather chesty whenever he had a cold, but had never been that bad before. For years afterwards, a cold usually meant the inhaler being brought into use for a few days. I read later that if a child catches flu before they age of 2, they are at a very high risk of developing asthma - he was 2 years and 6 weeks when he caught the, and I'm pretty certain that bugs don't just stop being as dangerous at midnight on someone's 2nd birthday!

Of course I'll never know if he would have developed asthma anyway or not, but that was 'normal' flu and he's probably had to live with the legacy ever since.

I got immunised against swine flu as I was a student nurse on a children's ward at the time. My arm hurt for days afterwards but that's a lot easier to deal with than having the illness itself. I don't think I saw any swine flu cases on that placement though we had everything set up ready for it and had a few sick kids who were suspected as swine flu at first.

I have had a swinish cold but not swine flu!

Well I do remember around the time of the Swine Flu scare, a colleague of mine - who wasn't the healthiest person to start with - having a terrible cold. He didn't actually seem all that bothered, but I was terrified that he might be infecting us all with the disease all over the news, and kept dropping huge hints to both him and management that he really should be at home. I do feel a bit guilty about ostracising a friend, but such was the tabloid panic back then.

I've had my fair share of colds, flu and even two bouts of bronchitis over the years. Generally, I find that wearing thick jumpers to bed and "sweating it out" helps, although I don't know if this is medically sound.

India had a loooot of cases of Swine Flu, everyone was wearing masks and going about looking scared. Quite a few people from my school got it, one of my brothers got it, and I think the first person to die in India because of Swine Flue was from Pune. Pune was VERY hardly hit, with almost 15 of the first 24 deaths being from Pune. I was 7 years old and scared to death.

Spain also had a lot of cases of swine flu. I remember everyone was scared they would get sick.
Sunskriti, you were lucky not to get it! I remember I had a horrible time with it, I don't even want to remember. My sister got sick, and then it was me, my mother and my father. My mother suffered the most because she got pneumonia as well. Many of my classmates got it too. In the end, my grandmother had to come to take care of us.
It was a very scary time, because we also heard of some people who died from the side effects of swine flu, like pneumonia, so we were all very worried. Hope nothing like that happens again.

OMG that's scary. I'm so glad everything turned out ok!