Children with the flu

This week my youngest (23 month old) came down with the flu. This little guy, who is normally a bundle of energy and excitement, woke up early one morning running a fever and just wanting to be held. At "doctor" mom's prompting, we scheduled an appointment with our physician after this scenario didn't subside after 24 hours. After ruling out common childhood illnesses such as ear infections, upper respiratory infection, etc we conducted the flu swab test and confirmed that this was the cause for the little one's problems. We apparently were the first "confirmed" case of the flu of the year for this office. Mind you, by days end, several other cases were identified by our doctor.

What I find curious is how the health care industry is currently focusing on the flu. When I was a child, the flu was just the common reference to the winter time illness where you run a fever and generally feel achy all over. There wasn't a flu vaccine, there was necessarily a "test" you could take to determine you had the flu, and the most common remedy was Tylenol and a couple days of rest. Today there are flu vaccines (at least most years), there is a swab test that doctors can do to confirm cases as the flu, and now there are specific medication that can be given to combat the sickness. Part of me marvels at the extent we've applied science to battle the flu. According to the Center for Disease Control, the seasonal flu impacts between 5 to 20% of the US population each year. The CDC also indicates that a person with the flu are considered contagious a day prior to the presence of symptoms and up to 5 days after becoming sick. Then there's the flu vaccine that takes two weeks before it takes affect.

With the advancements we've made in health care, there still exists much uncertainty related to flu prevention. Although we have flu vaccines, these are only effective when the vaccine is a close "match" to the strain of flu that one is exposed to. So even if a person gets vaccinated, there still exists the potential that they can come down with the flu. So the reality is that the vaccine doesn't necessarily prevent the flu, rather it increases the odds that you will not get the flu.

It's been four days since we've visited the doctor, and my little guy feels better. So far none of my other children have presented flu symptoms, thankfully. However, for myself, I think I've got a mild case. Thankfully I sound worse than I feel. Honestly, I'd prefer to be sick than have my 23 month old sick.