Kaboutjie SA Mommy Blogs by Lynne Huysamen
Is Swine Flu in South Africa and are our children at risk?
On Monday I took my 17 month old son to our GP, Dr Louis Muller, as he had a temperature and was flushed. He had a runny nose and a cough. I assumed it would be either tonsilitis or bronchialitis as usual.
Imagine my shock when I was told it could be Swine Flu! I took my son to Pathcare and collected my daughter from school.
I know nothing about Swine Flu. I heard about outbreaks in India recently but to be honest I really hadn’t paid much attention. I didn’t know of any recent cases of Swine Flu in South Africa.
I kept my kids home on Tuesday as instructed by my doctor (hubby also had to stay home) and wait for the results. Of course I also did some Googling and what I found was scary. In India over 30 000 people got Swine Flu towards the end of 2014 and beginning of 2015, and over 1 800 people died from it.
It was a long wait until the results came in late on Tuesday afternoon, thankfully he got the all clear. I never thought I would be pleased to hear my son has bronchialitis but I am so grateful and happy.
According to News24 there is not an outbreak of Swine Flu in South Africa, just a few isolated cases. Click here to read the article. There are 2 strains of Swine Flu, Type A and Type B. Type B is the very contagious and dangerous one.
However the fact remains that there have been a few reported cases, although it is unclear to me whether it is Type A or B cases.
High risk groups include children under 4 years old, pregnant women, people with lung conditions, people with haematological and metabolic disorders and the elderly (over 65 years old).
Click here to read Dr Louis Muller’s description of Swine Flu.
I have heard that swine flu is in SA, people have died from it. Why does the dept health deny it?
No idea Sandi, but it is scary! The Weslander (our community newspaper) addressed the issue on Thursday last week, confirming that Swine Flu is in our area.
In 2009, we got a really bad outbreak of Swine Flu (otherwise known as H1N1 here) and it killed so many people. Millions died, many more got sick. It was especially hard on pregnant women, who often have compromised immunity. We are very lucky not to have lost more people.
Our Centers for Disease Control were completely unprepared but acted very fast to get a vaccine available on the market. I wish you all the best. If swine flu does come to your area, it could be very bad. Though thankfully there are vaccines available.
Very scary Beverly! Where are you?
There was a report about a school in amanzimtoti where a student and teacher had ththis flu however the doctordoctors would not pass confirmation. This was about 1-1-2 weeks ago.
I’m very happy to hear your relief as any mother would be thankful to their child having bronchitis and not this swine flu xxx
Yes I heard about that Nicol! I can’t understand why we don’t get the correct information. It’s not like I want a nation-wide panic but I do want to be informed.
Yeah definitely being informed and taking the correct measures and procedures is a lot better than everything being hidden
It seems there is a caution to be taken with 3 kids and a teacher confirmed over last week in Durban Clifton School with the virus
hope everyone takes their shots and vit
Having a read and look at this so scary ill be worried havent heard anything recently about this wonder if its still popular in some areas as no one talk about it or got it that i know of like in the last year or 2.