H1N1 swine flu testing guidelines, symptoms to watch for and adult immunisation need explained

I also want to ask you, when should one test? You know, how does one then think that this is not just regular sardine zookum, but maybe H1N1, maybe it's swine flu? How do things move forward then? So if you have, especially in the high risk group, if you have fever, sore throat, cough, and it's not settling, and you find that other members are also having it, and you are feeling that it's also causing a little bit of chest tightness and breathlessness, you should get yourself tested as early as possible. The advantage of testing is not only to be able to say that you have swine flu or to say that you're positive. The advantage is also that if you are positive, there are antiviral drugs available which we give to you. We can give to you a drug known as oseltamivir which also goes by the name of Tamiflu. That can be given but it has to be given early because it decreases viral replication. Giving Tamiflu later in the course of illness is of not much use because the virus has already multiplied and then the efficacy of the drug is not much. So it helps in early diagnosis and being able to start treatment especially in the vulnerable population. You know, but doctor, the reality on the ground really is that if you do an RT-PCR test, the results comes approximately after two to three days. That window is closed, isn't it? By then, given that you did say that the medicine has to be started, you know, pretty early for the maximum, you know, results in that sense. Doctors have to wait for the results also of the RT-PCR test to then, you know, give these medicines, prescribe these medicines. So I think there are two ways in this. One is yes, definitely you should, ideally you should wait for it. But if you have a sick patient, and especially if you have a history of family members having a similar illness and during this time of the year, when you are having increasing number of cases, sometime it may be worthwhile, especially in the high risk group, to empirically start treatment while waiting for the results to come and then see what the results tell you. You know also, what are the signs and symptoms of this? because regular fever also has, you know, you have sardine zookam, you have high fever. In this case, apart from very high fever, what else is the indicator that perhaps this could be H1N1? So high fever, severe body aches, sore throat, headache, and along with that, if the fever persists for more than four to five days, if you start, and there are certain warning signs that you should be aware of. If you have, say, breathlessness, chest tightness, lot of vomiting, feeling of dehydration or dizziness, or the person is becoming drowsy, it means that you're having a more severe illness. In children, if they are not taking a feed, if they are, again, not becoming less responsive or having vomiting, or you see that their respiratory rate has gone up, they're breathing more rapidly, again, this could be a sign of more serious illness. You know, I also want to ask you, doctor, that you did say that these infections seem to be turning more infectious. You know, the government, of course, we've been having these conversations about the flu vaccine that should be taken, but there's one thing, you know, that there is advice on one hand, but there is no culture really in this country. Interestingly, it's a country that takes just so many vaccines, but there's no culture in that sense, I see, to take the flu vaccine. How can that change and should that change now? Yes, I think there is a need for us to look at a whole adult immunization program. As a matter of fact, I would say we should need, we need to look at what we call a life course immunization. Immunization during an individual's life cycle. It's not only children, it's pregnant women, it's people who are traveling and going for, let's say Haj or for Kumbh and things like that, where there are crowds and you are more likely to get an infection. And then for the high risk group and the elderly. And there are vaccinations which are available, which give you protection against not only pneumonia and respiratory infection, but other illnesses also. So I think we should develop an adult immunization life course immunization program and push for that and increase awareness so that people are able to take their regular vaccination and are able to stay protected from vaccine preventable diseases. You know doctor how is swine flu also talk to us about this very different from COVID-19. So both are viruses both are respiratory viruses COVID-19 is from a different families H1N1 is from a different family swine flu or H1N1 which is part of the influenza A has been there for a very, very long time. We have had a pandemic in 1918, multiple outbreaks, and another pandemic in 2009, as the virus changes. The virus does tend to change. And we have a vaccine which covers for different strains. And it is an effective vaccine. COVID-19 usually was not something that was that much of a concern, until the virus mutated, leading on to the SARS-CoV-2. We had one minor outbreak of SARS, which happened in Southeast Asia and went on to Canada, but that didn't last long. So the viruses are different. The symptoms can be very similar, and that's why testing helps. Because if you have COVID, then the treatment is totally different. If you have influenza, the treatment is totally different. Right. Doctor, you know, is this country prepared? Because we've seen the kind of mayhem during COVID-19 and that's the reason why everybody is so cautious, isn't it? Are we more prepared today than we were a few years ago when the outbreak, when the COVID-19 pandemic broke out? Oh, yes, definitely. I think we have now a lot of things in place, both in terms of management, in terms of awareness among people, in terms of healthcare infrastructure and in terms of plan in place of what to if there is an increase in the number of cases of a surge in number of cases. I don't think there's any need to worry. Currently, we are not seeing anything close to suggesting that this could turn out to be a serious pandemic or an epidemic. This is something we see every year. There is occasionally you will see increase in number of cases during monsoon months, which will subside over a period of time. And we have outbreaks like this in the past also.