Swine Flu and Sports

EF, that hit me when the Smid story moved tonight. I was working it up and actually was like "HOLY SHIT he played 19:47 tonight with swine flu? Aren't they supposed to be locked away and stuff?"

I don't know anything about it, but that doesn't seem like the best idea.

 

We're seeing it in high schools all over the place. Schools are shutting down left and right. But Tebow forbid that any games get canceled. The Friday night lights burn while the virus passes from fan to fan and player to player.

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2009/oct/27/bolton-blackburn-swine-flu

As far as playing with swine flu, I believe Landon Donovan played a World Cup qualifier in Mexico despite being diagnosed with it.

 

He wasn't diagnosed until after the fact. He knew he wasn't 100 percent, but he (and the team) didn't know it was the swine until two days later.

I suspect this will really become an issue as we move from football to the indoor winter sports. I envision holiday basketball tournaments being festering breeding grounds for dozens of cases.

 

I don't have a hard time believing that someone could physically play with H1N1, after seeing my 4-year-old daughter, who has it. Once she gets a shot of Motrin, she runs around like her usual high-energy self. I know we all think we're gonna die of H1N1, but in most cases it's no worse than the seasonal flu. The hockey players who had it probably felt a lot better than Michael Jordan did that game where he went crazy despite being barely able to stand because of the flu. The hiney flu (as my grandmother calls it) has a long way to go to match the death rate of the seasonal flu.

That's not to say there's no reason to be careful. What's got people freaking out is that the high-risk group for H1N1 is kids, not older people. I believe the schools that have canceled games or classes are those where a bunch of students have contracted it at once. What my doctor told me was that merely getting H1N1 isn't the problem. If you have an underlying condition, or you see that as recovery is taking place that you take a sudden turn for the worse, then you worry. For what it's worth, the 11-year-old girl next door to me, who is asthmatic (high-risk group), recovered from H1N1 without hospitalization.

 

I just found out a kid on the hockey team I coach has the H1N1, fortunately we haven't had any ice time since Saturday, but I'm not sure when he was diagnosed.

His mother emailed me asking if it was ok for her son to miss last nights practice!!?? Of course....keep him out until December if it's warranted.

 

It's not even flu season.

We haven't had a good pandemic in 90 years. We're due. I'm pretty sure I had this thing a few months ago and had mistaken it for a summer cold. It's a funky bitch of a bug, with bone-deep achiness and a cough that produces no lung butter.

 

If you need information on H1N1, here's the best source: flu.gov (http://www.flu.gov)

It should answer just about all the questions you have. You can search around for other sites that will ask you questions to determine whether you're symptomatic of the piggie flu, though it'll stop short of diagnosing you. One of the most important points is that antivirals (Tamiflu) is effective only if it's administered in the first 48 hours after symptoms appear. In a lot of cases, it's not worth bothering to go to the doctor to get it unless you're severe or have underlying health conditions that put you at higher risk.

My daughter was in the 46th hour, at the time she visited the doctor, and she didn't get Tamiflu. She doesn't need it because ibuprofen is doing the work quite well. If my other kids show symptoms, I don't think we're even going to bother with the doctor, and the whole circus there. They've had to bring in extra staff, everyone is wearing masks, and the most severe cases (the ones with cough and anyone blowing droplets into the air) is made to wait in their car instead of the waiting room.

By the way, a lot of places (especially Canada) have reported shortages of Tamiflu for children, but pharmacists have been instructed to make a compound by griding up the adult capsule and mixing it with liquid, so that should leave enough for everybody.

 

The New York City Marathon is distributing hand sanitizer in its goodie bags for the runners. The New York Road Runners, who put on the marathon, are also encouraging people who might be sick to drop out, rather than potentially spread the virus throughout the five boroughs.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/usnews/20091026/ts_usnews/insignofthetimesnewyorkcitymarathontakesh1n1precautions

I'm still amazed that anyone who is that ill would even attempt a marathon... but after all that training, I imagine it must be very difficult to quit beforehand.

 

This was front page news yesterday up here. A thirteen year old Toronto hockey player died on Monday from the flu just after playing in a tournament in London, ON.

http://www.healthzone.ca/health/newsfeatures/swineflu/article/717239--son-feared-getting-flu-father-says

As a parent, this is unimaginable.

 

May not have been. I went from fine to a complete mess replete with the above symptoms (add high-ass fever and freezing cold despite almost never being chilled) in about two hours but the dry cough didn't come for a couple days. Hit on Thursday late afternoon, felt OK most of Friday before being belted back down in a big way Friday afternoon/evening, was done for on Saturday/Sunday. Went to the doc on Monday morning, she tested me for the piggie flu but came up zero. I did, however, find out I had pneumonia.