I don't know what to make of the "pneumonic plague" that is supposedly evolving in Ukraine--I suspect it's just H1N1, but then, I don't know what the hell I'm talking about, so all I have is a sort of folk belief that three different viruses probably didn't just happen to somehow glom themselves together into one superbug.
On the other hand, having just survived what looks like a case of swine flu, well, H1N1 is really bad enough. I have been sicker with the flu, a couple of times--during a memorable infection in college, my temp spiked briefly to 106, hallucination territory, before my nursing student roommate brought it down with baths and tylenol. But I've rarely had an infection with such staying power. If you've been wondering why blogging has been so desultory, it's because since last Saturday night, I've been pinned to my couch, alternately coughing, sniffling, and sleeping. Even now that the respiratory symptoms have abated somewhat, I'm having trouble standing up for longer than it takes to do a few of the backlogged dishes and make a sandwich. Whatever it was also delightfully comes with persistent nightmares that wake me up a 4:30 am. I'm back to a full workload today, but I confess I'm spending a lot of time looking forward to 7 pm, when I can go back to sleep.
H1N1 hasn't yet turned out to be the New Spanish Flu, but it's certainly created a memorable flu season. Thankfully, I already got a seasonal flu shot, so at least I don't have to go through this twice.
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That long? Ugh. I got hit Thursday morning. Friday was the worst. I was hoping to be back in work today, but nope. Tomorrow is looking like a no go too.
Please people, get your vaccinated if you can!
I started getting it 8 days ago. It really hit me Thursday, but by now I'm just exhausted, mostly symptom free otherwise (and back at work). Swine sucks -- but it wasn't near the regular flu for me, thankfully.
As of week before last, WHO sent a team to Ukraine to do field work. There have been charges that they have not been forthcoming with viral sequence data.
"I'm spending a lot of time looking forward to 7 pm, when I can go back to sleep."
Much as I do every day, sick or not...
Sorry to hear you're still unwell, glad to hear that recovery appears nigh.
Hope your fever dreams abate. The longest month of my life was a night I spent in fevered nightmares while visiting London. I don't hold the British fully responsible.
I'm not sure you need three viruses getting together to form a mutant superbug in the Ukraine.
Some years ago, Jerry Pournelle mentioned how Russian prisons were being managed. Sick prisoners were not segregated from the rest of the population. And because of the expense of antibiotics, the administrators would, every now and then, obtain enough antibiotics to give about half the prisoners half a course of antibiotics.
If someone set out to design a program to breed antibiotic resistant diseases, he could not have come up with a better program.
I'm flu-free myself (I got both shots - one of those times it pays to be asthmatic), but I've been on intermittent chicken-soup brigade for a friend and agree with the staying power comment. He's not a sickly person, but he's had 2 bouts of fever/nausea separated by a diagnosed case of bronchitis. He missed at least 7 or 8 work days over a 3 week period and is certainly in bed by 7 every night now.
Glad I dodged that bullet and hope you make a full recovery, Megan!