I hear you.

Like I said, I have never experienced anything like that first "flu"...if it even was the flu. It was very strange and frightening.

EDIT:

And for what it's worth, there is this story...

N.J. Officer Back From Iraq Found Dead

Jersey City police on Tuesday night were investigating the death of one of their own, a 42-year-old Iraq War veteran whose body was found inside his Glenwood Avenue apartment.

The officer, whose name was not disclosed pending family notification, had been complaining for at least five days of not feeling well, according to police Sgt. Edgar Martinez.

The officer's girlfriend was worried about his well-being and called police to check up on him, Martinez said. Officers found the body of their colleague, a five-year veteran of the department, at about 7:30 p.m.

Because he had only returned from Iraq in November and his illness appeared to be a viral infection, a hazardous materials unit was sent in for further investigation and the officers who found the body were put through a decontamination process, Martinez said.

But Martinez said there was no danger to public health.

Originally posted by loam
I hear you.

Like I said, I have never experienced anything like that first "flu"...if it even was the flu. It was very strange and frightening.

EDIT:

An for what it's worth, there is this story...

N.J. Officer Back From Iraq Found Dead

Jersey City police on Tuesday night were investigating the death of one of their own, a 42-year-old Iraq War veteran whose body was found inside his Glenwood Avenue apartment.

The officer, whose name was not disclosed pending family notification, had been complaining for at least five days of not feeling well, according to police Sgt. Edgar Martinez.

The officer's girlfriend was worried about his well-being and called police to check up on him, Martinez said. Officers found the body of their colleague, a five-year veteran of the department, at about 7:30 p.m.

Because he had only returned from Iraq in November and his illness appeared to be a viral infection, a hazardous materials unit was sent in for further investigation and the officers who found the body were put through a decontamination process, Martinez said.

But Martinez said there was no danger to public health.

Sorry for the large quote, but small stories like this one tend to disappear...

Anyway, I think its disturbing when they acknowledge a viral cause, send a hazmat team, and then say there is no cause for concern...

[edit on 2-3-2006 by loam]

Gastrointestinal manifestations, raised liver enzymes, renal failure unrelated to rhabdomyolysis, and pancytopenia were unusually prominent.

Clinical features and rapid viral diagnosis of human disease associated with avian influenza A H5N1 virus. Lancet. 1998 Feb 14;351(9101):467-71. PMID: 9482437

***

A/Hong Kong/483/97 virus was isolated from a fatal case and was highly pathogenic in the BALB/c mouse model, whereas A/Hong Kong/486/97 virus was isolated from a case with mild illness and exhibited a low-pathogenicity phenotype in mice. Ferrets infected intranasally with 10(7) 50% egg infectious doses (EID(50)) of either H5N1 virus exhibited severe lethargy, fever, weight loss, transient lymphopenia, and replication in the upper and lower respiratory tract, as well as multiple systemic organs, including the brain. Gastrointestinal symptoms were seen in some animals.

Pathogenesis of avian influenza A (H5N1) viruses in ferrets. J Virol. 2002 May;76(9):4420-9. PMID: 11932409

***

We report the first case of avian influenza in a patient with fever and diarrhea but no respiratory symptoms. Avian influenza should be included in the differential diagnosis for patients with predominantly gastrointestinal symptoms, particularly if they have a history of exposure to poultry.

Atypical avian influenza (H5N1). Emerg Infect Dis. 2004 Jul;10(7):1321-4. PMID: 15324560

Preabsorptive satiety may consist of multiple factors which probably include signals from osmoreceptors and possibly other chemoreceptors in the upper small intestine. The signals from these receptors are neural while other products of digestion stimulate the release of humoral agents, such as cholecystokinin, which may act locally, in the liver, or on the central nervous system.

Gastrointesti nal factors in hunger and satiety. Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 1982 Summer;6(2):145-64. PMID: 6285233

***

The hunger-satiety cycle involves preabsorptive and postabsorptive humoral and neuronal mechanisms. ...environmental factors, nutrients and metabolical processes and gastric contractions originate hunger signals. ...long-term satiety is then activated by the chemoreception of nutrients and peptides by the gastrointestinal system (including the liver), the CNS and by intrinsic CNS mechanisms.

Regulation of hunger and satiety in man. Dig Dis. 1991;9(5):253-68. PMID: 1752065

The severity of lung lesions caused by the viruses was essentially similar, whereas HK483 caused more extensive lesions in the brain than did HK156. This was supported by the results of virus titration of organ homogenates, which showed that the virus titres in brains of HK483-infected mice were more than 100-fold higher than those of HK156-infected mice, while those in lungs were almost equivalent. Both viruses were detected in homogenates of the heart, liver, spleen and kidney and blood of the infected mice. Virus antigen was detected by immunohistology in the heart and liver, albeit sporadically, but caused no degenerative change in these organs. The antigen was not detected in the thymus, spleen, pancreas, kidney or gastrointestinal tract. In contrast, virus antigen was found frequently in adipose tissues attached to those organs. The adipose tissues showed severe degenerative change and the virus titres in the tissues were high and comparable to those in lungs. Thus, infection of HK156 and HK483 in our mouse model was pneumo-, neuro- and adipotropic, but not pantropic. Furthermore, HK483 showed higher neurotropism than HK156, which may account for its higher lethality.

Characterization of human influenza A (H5N1) virus infection in mice: neuro-, pneumo- and adipotropic infection. J Gen Virol. 2000 Oct;81(Pt 10):2503-10. PMID: 10993940

pneumo- A combining form from Gr, a lung; as, pneumogastric, pneumology.
neuro- relating to nerves or the nervous system.
adipo- fat, fatty; adipocyte [< Latin adip-, stem of adeps "fat"]
tropic 1. uffix> A turning toward, having an affinity for.