The UK government are now focussed on treating people with swine flu. This means they can no longer contain the virus, and have accepted it will reach most of us. They also tell us it is a “mild” illness, but is this true?
Hypothesis Now (HN) is in the position to shed some light on the effects of swine flu. Recently, I talked to Bekey, a recovered swine flu patient, music teacher for several local schools and regular HN reader, about her experience of swine flu.
We began with how Bekey found out she had swine flu.
HN: So what happened?
Bekey: A few weeks ago, on the Sunday, I was sneezing. But given I have hay fever and at the time was mowing the lawn this did not strike me as being unusual. So I went to work on Monday.
Over the next few days Bekey started feeling worse, and on the Wednesday she contacted her doctor:
Bekey: He became convinced there was a chance it was swine flu, and asked if I wanted to be swabbed. […] I said I wasn’t bothered either way. I asked if it would it make a difference to how I would be treated or how I should act? The doctor said no, whatever kind of flu it is, you stay at home; you take it easy; you drink plenty of fluids.
HN: The swabbing isn’t standard procedure if you have the flu at the moment?
Bekey: No. I’ve actually gathered from one of my schools since that they’ve had a lot of kids off sick with flu-like symptoms but the local doctor was refusing to swab them. There’s no point. They probably have [swine flu] but they just have the week off and stay in bed to get over it.
This means the swine flu virus is probably much more widespread than government statistics suggest. It also means the death rate (e.g. number of deaths per 1000 patients) is almost certainly much lower than suggested by news reports. As I chatted to Bekey, the reason for this seeming lack of concern amongst health officials soon became obvious:
Bekey: I’ve had normal flu and felt far worse. [Swine flu] really is very mild. I had aches and pains in my knees and hips and I had a temperature on Wednesday morning. By Friday evening I didn’t have a temperature.
At the end of the interview I asked if Bekey had anything else to add; any final swine flu advice for Hypothesis Now readers?
Bekey: People do not need to panic! It is quite a mild form of flu.
So there you have it, a patient’s perspective on swine flu, and as illnesses go it isn’t that bad! Like any other case of flu, it takes about a week to run its course. Doctors are happy for schools to remain open, obviously not judging it to be a major public health threat at the moment.
I therefore have one question: why is it still headline news?
Hypothesis Now 