I had cold like symptoms about 3 weeks ago, and now I'm left with grouchy me, constant body pain and incredible chest congestion thats greenish.

H1N1 is not the stomach flu. It is a strain of influenza aka the flu that is mostly respiratory symptoms, body aches, fever. for example….fever, aching, harsh cough, headache

Rapid differentiation of mixed influenza A/H1N1/infections with seasonal and pandemic variants by multi-temperature single-stranded conformational polymorphism.

J Clin Microbiol. 2011 Apr 6;

Authors: Pajak B, Stefanska I, Lepek K, Donevski S, Romanowska M, Szeliga M, Brydak LB, Szewczyk B, Kucharczyk K

Mixed infections of a single host with different variants of influenza a virus are the main source of reassortants which may have unpredictable properties when they establish themselves in the human population. In this report we describe a method for rapid detection of mixed influenza infections with seasonal A/H1N1/human strain and the pandemic A/H1N1/v strain which emerged in 2009 in Mexico and the United States. The influenza A/H1N1/variants were characterized by the multi-temperature single-stranded conformational polymorphism (MSSCP) method. The MSSCP gel patterns of hemagglutinin gene fragments of pandemic A/H1N1/v and different seasonal A/H1N1/strains were easily distinguishable two hours after completion of RT-PCR. Using the MSSCP based genotyping approach co-infections with seasonal and pandemic variants of the A/H1N1/subtype were identified in four out of 23 primary samples obtained from patients that were presented with influenza-like symptoms to hospitals across Poland during the epidemic season 2009/10. Pandemic influenza strain presence was confirmed in all these primary samples by real-time RT-PCR. The sensitivity level of the MSSCP based minor genetic variant detection was 0.1 % as determined on a mixture of DNA fragments obtained from amplification of the hemagglutinin gene of seasonal and pandemic strains. The high sensitivity of the method suggests its applicability for characterization of new viral variants long before they become dominant.

PMID: 21471335 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Tags: avian flu, h1n1, h1n5, porcine flu, pork flu, swine flu

this entry was posted on Friday, April 8th, 2011 at 7:23 pm and is filed under H1N1, H1N5. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

Flu season is kicking into high gear here a little later than inpast years, say those who track school absences and patients’laboratory results.

Coconino County had 333 confirmed cases as of late February,making this a moderate flu season.

There are at least three different kinds of flu circulatinghere, lab results indicate.

Only a small fraction of those who have flu-like symptomstypically visit a medical professional, making it likely that morethan 6,660 in Coconino County have had a flu or similar illnessthis winter, said Mike Callahan, an epidemiologist at CoconinoCounty Health.

He thinks the peak of flu season is still to come.

“We haven’t hit it yet, and the indicators are still increasingfor the most part,” he said.

Typically, there is a waxing and waning of interest in fluvaccines year-to-year, depending on the severity of that year’sstrain.

Last year, when a feared pandemic like H1N1 was in the news,demand was high and there were restrictions on who received thevaccinations first.

This year, there are no limitations on the vaccine for any whowant a shot.

For comparison, the 2009-10 flu season last year hit in Octoberand led to 253 with confirmed illnesses.

The winters of 2007-08 and 2008-09 were worse, with almost twiceas many confirmed flu cases.

It’s difficult to predict whether this will become a record-badflu season, or just an average one, Callahan said.

“It really depends on how much longer we go,” he said of fluseason.

This year’s vaccines cover H1N1 and seasonal flu, and cost $25for adults or $15 for children (though fees are waived for thosewho cannot pay).

The county’s number for flu vaccines and information is679-7300.

Cyndy Cole can be reached at ccole@azdailysun.com or913-8607.

My brother (who lives with me), came down with H1N1 a few days ago, and over the last couple of days, I've came down slight cough and some slight body aches, but otherwise I feel fine and am not running a fever. could I have caught H1N1 with just these slight symptoms, and if so, do I need to go ahead and go to the doctor to get tested or should I just wait 1st to see if it gets worse?

Australia dials down its pandemic alert statusIn the wake of an influenza season that was milder than last year’s, Australian health officials today announced a downgrade in the country’s pandemic phase from "protect" to "alert." Australia had been in "protect" status since Jun 17, 2009. the "protect" phase focuses on identifying and protecting people at risk for serious illness, while the "alert" phase involves increased vigilance for a new flu virus or a change in a circulating virus, the Department of Health Ageing said. "This is consistent with the WHO’s [World Health Organization's] recommendation to continue ongoing vigilance in the early post-pandemic period," the agency said. the WHO declared the world to be in the post-pandemic period on Aug 10, while cautioning that localized outbreaks were likely to continue. the Australian officials said they maintained the "protect" status at that time because their flu season was still under way and a late surge in 2009 H1N1 cases was still possible. the statement said the pandemic H1N1 vaccine would remain freely available until Dec 31, when all doses will reach expiration.Dec 1 Australian announcement

Pneumonia more severe in pandemic than in seasonal fluSpanish and Chilean researchers who compared pneumonia cases associated with 2009 H1N1 flu and seasonal flu found that H1N1 patients were younger and had more severe disease than seasonal flu patients, according to a report in the European Respiratory Journal. the authors gathered data on 75 consecutive patients treated at a hospital in Chile for pneumonia and H1N1 flu from May through July of 2009, and compared these cases with those of 52 patients treated for pneumonia and seasonal flu between 2003 and 2008, most of them consecutive patients at a hospital in Barcelona. the H1N1 patients were younger than the seasonal flu patients (mean age, 39.7 versus 69.6 years) and had fewer preexisting illnesses and a lower rate of alcoholism. the H1N1 patients had a 28% rate of respiratory failure, versus 12% for the seasonal flu patients, and the death rate in the H1N1 group was about twice that in the seasonal flu patients, although this difference was not statistically significant.Nov 25 Eur Resp J abstract

Poll finds risk groups underestimate flu threatNearly two thirds of Canadians who have chronic medical conditions don’t believe they are at greater risk for flu complications, according to survey findings released yesterday by the Ontario Lung Association. the results also revealed that 80% say they forego seeing their doctors, because they believe their symptoms are manageable and 70% don’t consult their physicians, because they assume that the only treatments are over-the-counter products. Dr Anthony D’Urzo, a family medicine professor at the University of Toronto, said in a statement that people with chronic conditions and flu-like symptoms should seek medical care quickly, because measures such as antiviral drugs can reduce complications and hospitalizations. the findings are based on an online survey of more than 1,000 people with chronic medical conditions that was conducted in October by Leger Marketing, according to Postmedia Network, a Canadian news service.Nov 30 Ontario Lung Association press releaseNov 30 Postmedia story

Study tracks H1N1 vaccine protection from moms to newbornsExpectant mothers who are were immunized against the 2009 H1N1 virus passed protective antibodies to their babies that lasted at least 5 months, according to Italian researchers who reported their findings today in a letter to the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). the study includes 75 consecutive women from Milan in their third pregnancy trimester who received an intramuscular dose of MR59-adjuvanted 2009 H1N1 vaccine in October and November of 2009. Women’s blood samples were obtained at delivery, 2 months, and 5 months, and babies’ blood samples were drawn within 2 days of birth and at 2 and 5 months. Sixty-nine mother-baby pairs completed the study. All mothers had hemagglutination-inhibition (HI) titers that were considered protective during delivery and follow-up. Infants’ mean antibody titers at birth decreased progressively during the 5-month follow up. Transplacental antibody transfer was calculated to be 0.55, and the estimated half-life of passively acquired maternal 2009 H1N1 antibodies was estimated to be 83.4 days. the authors said that flu was circulating in Milan during the study period and that some of the participants could have been naturally exposed to the virus, but they said the chances were unlikely.Dec 1 JAMA extract

Russia reports good flu vaccination progressRussia’s top public health official today said 31.5 million people, just over 22% of the population, have received flu immunization so far, RIA Novosti, the country’s news service, reported. Gennady Onishchenko, chief sanitary doctor, said the vaccine campaign started in early October and has already been completed in 71 of Russia’s 83 regions. the federal government has paid for vaccines for 27.8 million (16.6 million adults and 11.2 million children) of those immunized so far, while employers have paid for the rest.Dec 1 RIA Novosti story