I'm surprised to learn that some students at A&M tested positive for H1N1 in February. I didn't know this was still going around. After feeling bad and then going to the doctor and being diagnosed, they just stayed in bed and rode it out like you would a flu or other bug.

I'm curious with a few questions.

Is there a potential connection to coronavirus and students returning from China for the Spring semester? I guess that question actually is did they actually test them for H1N1 or just make the diagnosis based on process of elimination?

Why didn't these cases lead to an bigger outbreak of H1N1? It doesn't seem like the public was made aware and no one went back to trace the contacts of the people with H1N1. Just curious.

Thanks for the info. Would they have tested to confirm H1N1 or done it through process of elimination?

John Francis Donaghy said:

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Flu shots include H1N1 strains now. We have partial herd immunity due to annual flu vaccinations, so it's not the threat to our citizens and healthcare systems that it was when it was new in 2009.

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Dr. Deborah Birx, the White House coronavirus response coordinator, and Vice President Mike Pence have also told reporters that COVID-19 appears to be about 3 times more contagious than H1N1 was and possibly 10 times more deadly (in terms of death rate percentage). This thing apparently is nastier and spreads more easily than the 2009 Swine Flu did.

H1N1 is now part of the yearly flu and, as mentioned already, is part of the vaccine. In most non-hospital settings we can only identify it as influenza A.

I don't have the citation handy right now but there was a study about a month ago showing a remarkably low rate of viral co-infection with COVID so if you test + for flu (or HMV, or rhino, or RSV, etc) it can be safely assumed you do not have COVID.

No idea. I am not a doctor and do not know the intricacies of flu testing. I just know that H1N1 is just another seasonal flu strain that pops up during flu season now. I think it was one of the most common strains making the rounds in the later half if this past flu too.

If you want to track the numbers, check out the CDC's weekly flu surveillance report. They break down flu activity nationwide week-by-week during flu season each year. Which strains are circulating, how many people are testing positive, which states have the most flu activity, how many people require hsopitalization, etc.. It's a pretty cool report to follow.

KidDoc said:

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H1N1 is now part of the yearly flu and, as mentioned already, is part of the vaccine. In most non-hospital settings we can only identify it as influenza A.

I don't have the citation handy right now but there was a study about a month ago showing a remarkably low rate of viral co-infection with COVID so if you test + for flu (or HMV, or rhino, or RSV, etc) it can be safely assumed you do not have COVID.

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So is getting the flu a way to temporarily prevent getting Chinese plague?

ham98 said:

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KidDoc said:

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H1N1 is now part of the yearly flu and, as mentioned already, is part of the vaccine. In most non-hospital settings we can only identify it as influenza A.

I don't have the citation handy right now but there was a study about a month ago showing a remarkably low rate of viral co-infection with COVID so if you test + for flu (or HMV, or rhino, or RSV, etc) it can be safely assumed you do not have COVID.

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So is getting the flu a way to temporarily prevent getting Chinese plague?

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Hmm maybe for a few days haha.