FLU tracker for the 2010-2011 season

EDIT TO ADD DISCLAIMER: It is NOT my intent to use this thread as an alarmist/fear spreading panic thread. Influenza is unfortunately a common, yearly viral illness that kills around 30,000/yr in the US alone. Rather, I want to us ATS as a resource for us to track the flu and what type/symptoms/severity are common for this year. Let's try and keep the tone as non-dramatic and realistic as possible please!

There have been some members requesting a flu tracking thread, but were unable to manage a thread themselves. Since I had a thread going last year for the H1N1 and am just now getting over an illness myself, I thought it was a good time to begin!

SO. Here we go. Let's try and keep this short/scientific and first-hand with locations. I will start us off:


Location: NW Washington State/USA. My 15 yr old son was hit hard with flu-like symptoms. Started as an upper-respiratory illness with severe sore throat and sinuses. Brief low-grade temp. It lasted for almost a week and he seemed to get better. A few days later it hit him harder with a high temp (103), body aches, upset stomach and a cough. The other symptoms got better but his cough worsened. He was daignosed with pneumonia after being ill for almost three weeks. He went on a Z-pack for 5 days and has now almost fully recovered after a month of illness.

I became ill about a week ago. Sore throat, low-grade fever (I never get high temps) fatigue and cough. I almost went into doc for the cough but took 30,000 vit D3 for several days and I seem to have turned the corner.

This illness swept through about ten friends of my sons between youth group/football and school. A couple ended up with pneumonia. It seems to last 2-3 weeks at least with a high fever/aches/resp. symptoms. Secondary bacterial infections such as ear infection/sinus infection and bacterial pneumonia seem common.

I have heard that at both our elementary and high school there is a high illness absentee rate. At our local ER (where I work) there is an increase of visits for similar symptoms.

I recomend high doses of vitamin C, Vitamin D and B vitamins, as well as lots of fluids and rest. Hand washing is KEY. See a doc if you develop a deep cough that is productive with a high fever....or always if you ever have difficulty breathing.

I will us this reply post as an area to update with new locations.


As of 11/18/2010 (illness with similar flu-like symptoms):


PNW Washington State/USA
Middle of MO
Possibly Indiana

Middle of Mo.

10 yo started vomiting and had diarrhea last Saturday.

Sunday 15 yo gets projectile vomiting, now both down, 15 only vomited a couple times 10 yo for hours.

Monday 11 yo gets it and has VIOLENT vomit and diarrhea, low grade temp. School called me to come pick him up as he was puking in class... they said over 1/4 of the school was out at that point, this was 9am... everyone we know here has had it that came into contact with sick kids.

Late tuesday night I get it, diarrhea bigtime... weakness and was down...

I am checking cdc website flutracker, they said low to nothing happening... those #s went up finally today.

Other symptoms:
Light sore throat, dizziness, dehydration, weakness, body aches, slight cough, minor headache, low grade temp that comes and goes.

Thankyou once again for helping to bring information on the flu to the public, I have no real questions for you at this time but appreciate your help and concern. This is an important thread which can save lives and give a heads up to what is out there or headed your way.

Thank you.

reply to post by antar


Interesting. At first, I was going to say that it sounded more like a stomach bug, but then I read your list of other symptoms at the bottom of your post. My 11 yr old daughter also had a brush with it, but it only lasted a few days for her and she never developed the cough (thank god, she has asthma). Interesting note though, my daughter got sick last year, so perhaps she built up a bit of an immunity to this.

One thing we all had was the dizziness, upper resp. sympt, ache/fatigue and light fever. It seems to come in two stages. If you make it past the first without moving into the second, your chances of developing the secondary infections are much lighter. I'll be curious to see if this all pans out with other members here.

Thanks for the info and the idea to start the thread in the first place!!!

In the book "The Stand" by Stephen King, the flu virus that does the world in came in two stages. The first is you feel sick etc etc. Then you seem to feel better, then BAM ! you get really really sick.


BTW. If you want to have a good chance of avoiding it. When someone coughs, don't inhale, turn around and walk away. Better to be rude than sick. Don't touch your eyes, mouth, or nose. Don't eat or drink after people. Be careful who you kiss.

This is a good idea OP - I have not heard of an outbreak here in Indiana but it is going thru my family in Kentucky. Sore throats, fever, vomiting, sinus infections. I will try to contribute to the thread and come here for updates.

reply to post by westcoast


The slight cough is from my son with upper respiratory stuff since a baby. He is doing ok and it did not seem to take him over to the point of needing a breathing treatment. All the other symptoms just seemed to come and go, like the slight sore throat is better with warm seasalt gargles.

You know these are the change of weather type symptoms, but this flu which I am still weakened from felt like a chemical poisoning. Even our eyes are kind of dilated...

But, were doing pretty good and getting over it.

What I am just so curious to discover is how many people got this that took the flu shot?

As for us we did not nor the people I know that got this. I will try to get the kids to ask their classmates if they took the vaccine when they go back. Both the kids who got sick and the ones who did not get sick.

reply to post by crazydaisy


Ah sinus, Iforgot, I heard some crackling in m y sinus the night I was down for the count with it. did your family require antibiotics to heal the sinus infection?

I sensed bigtime prior to getting it as I ran my ass off washing, scrubbing and doing laundry, keeping everyone hydrated, clean and comfy, that we needed to do saltwater rinses in our noses!!! Hindsight is 2020, I would recommend everyone do this until you get past this terrible flu.

One more thing. Flu viruses are weaklings outside the host body. So protect yourselves by washing your hands, and staying at least two to three feet away from people with colds and runny noses. If you don't inhale them in or digest them in, they can't hurt you.

reply to post by Fromabove


Yup...read the book. The potential is always there, which is why Influenza is always watched so closely. I think the H1N1 was a sham....it was a much weaker virus than the normal influenza but it at least brought to the publics attention how quickly even a weak virus spreads.

Crazydaisy- Thanks! I have to give Antar the credit though, it was their idea!!! I will add your info to the 'tracker'. It is often hard to tell if you are experiencing just a normal cold virus or if it is actually the flu. I think the key here is how it starts and progresses. It seems to begin inocent enough with an upper resp. infection. It then turns a bit nasty with the fever, aches, stomach and other 'fluish' symptoms. It then can proceed to the the secondary infections if given the right opportunity. For my son, I think it was his inability to stay down. He is a good student and couldn't stand to stay away from classes...and kept going to football practice and playing in two games a week. By the time we realized it wasn't really gone, it was too late.

I think the fact that I was giving him mega doses of C helped....but it wasn't until he got the mega doses of D (kinda after the fact....bad MOM), that he began to improve. The lung infection had set in by then though...so even though he had CLEAR lung sounds, he needed the antibiotics to kick it.

Good luck, and let us know how you all do. PUSH those vitamins/fluids and rest. I can't emphasize it enough. Antibiotics will do you NO good for the influenza virus itself. If you develop symptoms of secondary infections though, the sooner you take them the better!!

reply to post by westcoast


There is a site called globalincidentmap.com you can see all over the world what outbreaks are occurring. There is also rose edis which is pretty good. When you click on the page an alert map pops up and you have to scroll down to see the listings. cdc.gov I think is a link you can click on and it will email you updates as well. Good post S&F for you....

reply to post by antar


Good points and questions. My son originally took an antibiotic for the sinus infection but then he got the pneumonia and had to do the Z-pack. (we rarely ever take antibiotics) I hear a lot about young healthy football players getting extremely ill or dying from secondary pneumonia infections after the flu. My own personal opinion is that this is due to their close physical contact with each other and the environment they are in (locker room, helmets, etc.)

People need to understand that it is rarely the flu virus itself that kills people. It is the secondary infections that take hold due to the weakened immune system. This is why it is VITAL to take the mega doses of Vitamin D. There are a lot of theories that it works better than any vaccines.

As to your other question about the flu vaccine. NO. Neither myself or my kids have had a recent flu vaccine. I strongly believe that building a natural immunity to the viruses out there is extremely important. I think my daugher is a good example of that. Would my son have gotten ill if had his shot? I really don't know. Maybe, maybe not. There are literally thousands of different strains out there...it's a gamble. I think building a natural immunity is much more important. (So long as we aren't talking about a plague or something, obviously). He is fine, and now will have a good immunity to whatever he had AND most likely any variation of it, which is very important too.

reply to post by westcoast


Now THats what I like to hear, I agree my son as well is better off fighting it and building immunity to any coming mutations of this terrible strain.

Question, how long after we have had the flu are we safe, really safe to go be around my frail elderly Grandparents?

reply to post by piercebitchone


I was checking all those sites and they did not have my area registered, they said it was almost non existent. Now after everyone is getting better it has gone up some.

H5N1 found in Hong Kong
www.abovetopsecret.com...
by MimiG
started on 11/18/2010 @ 07:50 PM
healthland.time.com...

My ex sis inlaw just called and said that everyone in Springfield has had the flu, at 12 people she is close to have had it and another possible.

This might help.
www.cdc.gov...
Flu map updated weekly by CDC.

Nothing to panic about so far.

reply to post by antar


Another good question. There is some debate as to how long you are contagious. Some say if you don't have a fever. But my son was fever free for several days before the second wave hit him, which is why he went back to school and played football. I ALWAYS keep my kids home if they have a fever or have vomited whithin 24 hrs to try and help stop spreading stuff. He was obviously still infectious though...and several of his friends got it. (might have been from someone else, but still) SO...I would say that if you think you may have the flu or are recovering from it, don't go around anyone frail until you are symptom free. Especially the cough, since droplets are the best way to spread it!!

I want to stress again that the biggest risk from the flu is from secondary bacterial infections. The very young, elderly or already immunosupressed are at the greatest risk from this.

Edit to add: Excuse my ignorance, but what state is Springfield in??

Originally posted by badgerprints
This might help.
www.cdc.gov...
Flu map updated weekly by CDC.

Nothing to panic about so far.

Thanks for putting in the link, I should have thought to do that. I always check the 'official' tracker. In fact, until last year that was my only source. I found that I actually gained a lot more insight into the the reality of the infection through my thread last year.

As most people never visit the doc when they have the flu, the actual infection rate is much greater than what gets reported. Then, you have to take into consideration how many people that go to the doc even get tested for it??? A VERY small percentage. I think one of the reasons that the CDC reports the greatest numbers in the young and elderly are becuase generally, they are the only ones that get tested! I work in an ER and I can tell you first hand that they normally do NOT test for influenza unless you are considered in the high-risk group. There is no reason to otherwise. Then, ofcourse last year at one point the CDC ordered us to STOP testing all together because the labs were overwhelmed. I just don't think the map is acurrate, but it is still interesting.