28 May 2009 - Influenza A

Jerlene has been having flu, running nose and cough recently. Not sure where she caught the virus from, probably from the school. As my two nephew were also having running nose, my sister brought all of them to the PD (Dr Tan). After they did the mucus test, all were tested positive for Influenza A.
Influenza A virus causes influenza in birds and some mammals. Just for your info, There are several subtypes, labeled according to an H number (for the type of hemagglutinin) and an N number (for the type of neuraminidase). There are 16 different H antigens (H1 to H16) and nine different N antigens (N1 to N9). The recent outbreak of H1N1 virus is a subtype of Influenza A virus.

Variants are sometimes named according to the species (host) the strain is endemic in or adapted to. The main variants named using this convention are: Bird Flu, Human Flu, Swine Flu, Horse Flu, Dog Flu and Cat Flu

One of my nephew seems more serious so he had to take anti-biotics. Btw, Tamiflu tablets are really in a shortage now. As for Jerlene, Dr Tan said that it was not too serious and decided to let her body fight the virus without medication. My sister actually asked the possibility of H1N1. but Dr Tan said it's unlikely. It will cost about $300+ just to do the H1N1 test. When Dr Tan realized that I had a baby at home, he started to become quite worried because there is no medication for infant. If Javier caught it, he will most likely need to be hospitalized. So his advice is to separate Jerlene and Javier.

The next review with Dr Tan is next Mon. So from now till then (about 3 days), Jerlene will be staying at my parent's place. I'm going to miss her so much.........