Fighting the Flu May Hurt Those Around You 351
sciencehabit writes "When you've got the flu, it can't hurt to take an aspirin or an ibuprofen to control the fever and make you feel better, right? Wrong, some scientists say. Lowering your body temperature may make the virus replicate faster and increase the risk that you transmit it to others. A new study claims that there are at least 700 extra influenza deaths in the United States every year because people suppress their fever."
So... (Score:5, Informative)
You're fucked, but I feel better?
Dude, you are so fucked!
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No. You're fucked, because you took drugs to feel better.
You may be more contageous because of the bugs replicating, but the real problem is the huge number of them flooding and overwhelming your own system.
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dude, the drugs don't help you fight the disease. your body is already kicking the disease's ass. when you feel "bad" its a side effect of your body crushing it. drugs (OTC drugs) take the sting off of your body kicking butt. by supressing that sting you don't suppress the body ninja fighting.
so if your body is slicing heads and dicks anyway, why feel bad about it?
Re:So... (Score:5, Interesting)
Don't spread germs all over the workplace / auditorium / public mass transport.
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I realize this seems like sound advice, but it genuinely isn't, unless you're prepared for it in advance.
For example, do you have a week's worth of food on hand? Few do. And yes, full, non-contagious recovery from flu is at least four days. One for ramp up of symptoms, two of suffering, then one for a waiting period, typically. It's worse for H1N1, by about double.
Instead we need to look at infection control assuming there are contagious people in the population.
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do you have a week's worth of food on hand?
That's only a problem if you live alone. Even if you have a roommate instead of family, he's a real ass if he won't do a little grocery shopping for you when you're seriously sick. I've done it for people. There's also places like Peapod that will deliver groceries, or delivered takeout. Soup from your favorite Chinese restaurant is good when you're sick. Lastly, if you have a full-blown flu, how much work will you get done? Since going to work often means leaving the house anyway, you're better off using t
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Oh no! That roommate has been exposed to the same degree those at the grocery store would have been. He should be quarantined along with you and your sickness. That Peapod guy is going to spread your sickness to dozens of others. Better invite him inside for the week as well. Same with the Chinese delivery guy. Hope you have a pull out sofa or something.
Re:So... (Score:5, Interesting)
When you're sick enough to (feel you) need medication, stay at home. Don't spread germs all over the workplace / auditorium / public mass transport.
Nice idea, but almost useless....
The typical incubation period for influenza is 1—4 days (average: 2 days). Adults shed influenza virus from the day before symptoms begin through 5—10 days after illness onset. However, the amount of virus shed, and presumably infectivity, decreases rapidly by 3—5 days after onset in an experimental human infection model. Young children also might shed virus several days before illness onset, and children can be infectious for 10 or more days after onset of symptoms. [cdc.gov]
What this basically means is that you are infectious the day before you show symptoms.....therefore you will not be able to ever stop the flu, at least not without a better vaccine (no, don't go pulling that Jenny McCarthy shit [sciencebasedmedicine.org] or I'll have to slap you); we can just mitigate some of the spread. It is incumbent upon the uninfected to keep from getting infected, as those who are will not know they are until its too late.
The science is that fever is an adaptive response to an infection. Yes, fever is what makes you feel like crap, but it changes the kinetics of viral (and bacterial replication). Ever notice that microbiological (especially bacterial) incubators are set to 37 deg C? That's the sweet spot [textbookof...iology.net] for replication [asm.org]....change it and you put the invader at a disadvantage. Modern medicine unfortunately has taken on the dogma that: "If it ain't right, it needs to be fixed", a few (and growing) are starting to learn that not all that is wrong is bad....I continually rally against treating fevers less than 40 deg C (above that is concern for brain injury [nih.gov]), but I have an uphill fight against an entrenched culture.
My personal strategy? I take the anti-pyretics so i can sleep or function, but reintroduce the elevated temperature by bundling up and keeping my core above 37 deg C. This is not scientific, just what works for me, YMMV and I won't be held responsible if you up and die from the flu as this is not my official advice.
not useless at all... (Score:4, Informative)
so since you have spread the infection for one day, before you were showing symptoms, you might as well go ahead and spread it for several more days afterwards?
horsehockey. one day worth of germs 3 days worth of germs.
stay at home when you are sick.
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What this basically means is that you are infectious the day before you show symptoms.....therefore you will not be able to ever stop the flu,
You could have just stopped right there.
Flu vaccines have done exactly fuck-all to stop the flu, and that's all they will ever do. What works is supporting the immune system. Eat healthy, get some sun, etc. Flu sucks, it's miserable, but we live on.
Some die, a few here and there. Everyone dies sometime; no one gets out of here alive. People seem stuck in the notion that everyone somehow has a right to live to 100 and die peacefully in their sleep. It just isn't going to happen.
On the other hand, too m
Re:So... (Score:5, Funny)
When you're sick enough to (feel you) need medication, stay at home.
Don't spread germs all over the workplace / auditorium / public mass transport.
that's why I drive alone in my SUV to work and am hostile in my cubicle so nobody bothers me.
Re:So... (Score:5, Insightful)
When you're sick enough to (feel you) need medication, stay at home.
Don't spread germs all over the workplace / auditorium / public mass transport.
Sorry, but that's not how things work these days.
If you don't come in and work many hours every day then you are the obvious candidate for replacement by someone who will.
So suck down those anti-fever drugs and get to work!
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I've been diagnosed Type 1 Brugada's Syndrome (http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/163751-overview [medscape.com] , http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brugada_syndrome [wikipedia.org] ). In my case, the trigger is a high fever, which was brought on by the flu.
I don't have much sympathy for the rest of the world if I get sick and become feverish. I'll take my aspirin and avoid cardiac arrest, thank you very much. Selfish, maybe. I'm not quite ready to find out what's on the other side of that line.
Those poor folk that have the spontaneously t
human germs don't like higher body temp (Score:5, Interesting)
read about it in the last few years after one of my kids had an almost 105 fever one week
human pathogens like the 98.6 body temp and a fever is the body's natural way of fighting these pathogens
the flu virus also likes low humidity which is why people buy humidifiers in the winter time
unless my kid has some crazy high fever i try to avoid giving him tylenol or some other fever reducer as long as possible. usually until its almost time for bed
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Afaik whether raising the body temperature in humans is effective at fighting infection by killing temperature-sensitive bacteria still isn't well established, but there's an interesting example in bees that is pretty well established, at least if you treat the bee colony as a whole as a macroorganism capable of developing a "fever": pdf link [tufts.edu].
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Don't look at me! I'm just an anecdote!
As a child, I was sick all the time. My mother did all of the usual [conventional] things. I was highly sensitive to allergens and all sorts of things. Someone suggested I give up milk and make some other changes including reducing the reliance on common medications (aspirin, tylenol, etc) and some healthful dietary changes. Since then I get sick very rarely. Very rarely. It was some 15+ years ago when I last had the flu and I decided to sweat it out or die tryi
Re:human germs don't like higher body temp (Score:4, Interesting)
I try to avoid taking anything if I can and usually find that a 4-6 hour nap, with an extra blanket, a shower afterwards, and clean bedding will take care of whatever bug I happen to have in less than 24 hours.
My wife on the other hand has a pharmacy on her nightstand and when she gets a bug, which is much more often than I do, it also lasts longer.
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I do both. I use pharmaceuticals to make it easier to sleep, and then I'll spend up to 20 hours out of a 24 hour day asleep. I almost can't help it; now that I'm in my mid-30s, being sick means falling asleep almost at random if I've got a cold or the flu.
The times where I can get in a full day of sleeping are definitely the times where I recover best. Wake up, eat like it's going out of style, then back to bed when you can. It's the only way you can convince your body to devote its resources to healing its
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Afaik whether raising the body temperature in humans is effective at fighting infection by killing temperature-sensitive bacteria still isn't well established
Then you know wrong. It is well 'established' since a hundret years at least.
Re: human germs don't like higher body temp (Score:2)
Flu is caused by a virus, not by bacteria.
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"Germs" typically refers to living things. Influenza is a virus.
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"Germs" typically refers to living things. Influenza is a virus.
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/germ [thefreedictionary.com] http://www.thefreedictionary.c... [thefreedictionary.com]
germ (jurm)
A microscopic organism or agent, especially one that is pathogenic, such as a bacterium or virus.
Usage The terms germ and microbe have been used to refer to invisible agents of disease since the nineteenth century, when scientists introduced the germ theory of disease, the idea that infections and contagious diseases are caused by microorganisms. Mic
Re:human germs don't like higher body temp (Score:5, Funny)
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It's a matter of active debate whether or not a virus is alive or not. While generally we accept that they're not alive, it's not as black and white as that.
The common claim that viruses aren't alive because they can't reproduce on their own is true of literally all parasites--things that reproduce in my gut can't reproduce outside of my gut. They need me to reproduce. Without my environment and machinery, they die. Figs and wasps are so tightly intertwined that they literally can't exist without one anothe
Re:human germs don't like higher body temp (Score:5, Funny)
In Europe we call temperatures of more than 100 boiling, not fever. I'm surprised your kid lasted a week.
Re:human germs don't like higher body temp (Score:5, Funny)
In Europe we call temperatures of more than 100 boiling, not fever. I'm surprised your kid lasted a week.
Don't act like you're all scientific and stuff until you start using Kelvin. Normal body temperature is 310.2K.
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I expected this would be the case. Fevers are a way to fight the infection. So drugs to lower our fever would hinder our ability to fight the infection.
That said, if the body is fighting too hard, it might hurt itself more with a fever that is too high, so you are better off taking the drug and being contagious longer.
However there is also a tolerance to feeling bad, too. Is feeling slightly less crummy for longer, better than feeling really crummy for less time.
Re:human germs don't like higher body temp (Score:4, Funny)
The seven hundred deaths, annually, you mean?
It that's an unacceptable number of deaths by your standards, then I suggest you quit your job immediately:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/... [huffingtonpost.com]
"Work-Related Deaths Kill 150 Americans Per Day"
That's 54750 a year. Having a job is roughly 78 times more fatal than being around someone who took aspirin with the flu.
ACT NOW!
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the flu virus also likes low humidity
That is nonsense.
Low humidity makes your mucous membranes in your mouth, throat and nose easier to penetrate for viruses, thats all.
In fact low humidity "outside" is pretty bad for the virus, it dies pretty fast when the sneez it is in is dehydrating.
There is a reason why people in rainy wet cities are more ill than those in -20 degress rural areas.
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If your temp goes over 101 and you don't know EXACTLY why and are 100% sure you will be ok, go to the hospital immediately.
I hate to break it to you, but that emergency room nurse is not going to know 'EXACTLY why' either. And the doctor is going to pick the nearest-to-hand pharmaceutical that matches your symptoms and avoids your allergies.
If you genuinely believe doctors ever know 'EXACTLY why' then I'd like to discuss some real estate opportunities you may also be interested in...
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I've always wondered that about antihistamines too (Score:3)
The histamine response [wikipedia.org] has an actual infection-fighting purpose, so even though it also produces inconvenient/unpleasant side effects (runny nose, sneezing, etc.), it seems like it might not always be a good idea to suppress it.
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Re:I've always wondered that about antihistamines (Score:5, Interesting)
Yes, but sometimes it's over responsive. In this case, allergies. The only true long-term healthy solution to allergies is to physically move somewhere else; even if that means another city/state/country.
Or allergy tolerance shots. I get injected every week with a dose of what I am allergic to, in order to slowly build up my allergen tolerance and lower the amount of drugs I need to control my symptoms. It's to the point where I can now have pets!
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Exactly. For example, if you have a cold, the best medicine is Benadryl. Most of the symptoms of the cold are just an over reaction of your bodies imune system and you're basically having an allergic reaction to the virus. All the other over the counter cold medicines don't work very well and usually get you high as a kite. But the Benadryl almost always clears up my symptoms with nothing more than a little drowsiness.
Re:I've always wondered that about antihistamines (Score:4, Insightful)
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This article is brought to you by Benadryl, American's number one cold medication!
Seriously though it's not that brilliant, just the best that they trust you with.
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Nothing more than a little drowsiness? Benadryl impairs driving performance more than being drunk. Use a 2nd generation antihistamine like fexofenadine or loratidine.
There's little reason to use diphenhydramine for much of anything these days. Want an antihistamine? Use loratidine. Want to fall asleep? Use doxylamine. Want an anti-emetic? Smoke some pot.
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Most people can't afford to be out sick for a week or more.
Re:I've always wondered that about antihistamines (Score:5, Insightful)
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That's generally my approach also, but it's possible for the response to be worse than the illness in some cases. For example the response to a cold could develop into bronchitis if you get a lot of post-nasal drip into the lungs, which is probably worse than the cold lingering an extra day or two.
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With an intact cough reflex you can't get post nasal drip in your lungs. The primary reason you get a bronchitis is 1) you didn't have a bronchitis (inflammation of the bronchioles, the larger airways of the lungs, you had a cough because of the drainage 2) the inflammation was viral and the nasty little proteinacous particle managed to scoot past the upper airway defenses or 3) the viral infection compromised the already compromised lining of the bronchioles (smoke, smoke, smoke that cigarette) and allowe
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Things like coughing, runny nose, and sneezing, are also how your viral infection spreads to other people. Even if you are sick slightly longer, not infecting those around you is still a positive outcome.
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That's fine as long as you take care to avoid spreading your germs around. I see a lot of people who cough into their hands and then immediately touch things. If it gets really bad take some time off work and stay in bed, recover faster. I know it is hard in the US due to ridiculous rules on sickness, but it's better for everyone in the long run.
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"Things like fever and coughing are part of the body's immune response,"
But not necessarily effective ones. If your lungs are irritated, you cough, whether or not there is something that needs to be expelled. Worse, extensive coughing can cause irritation, which leads to even more coughing.
If you are coughing up mucus, take an expectorant to decrease the viscosity of said mucus (e.g. bromhexine, acetylcysteine) and make the coughing more effective.
If it's a nonproductive dry cough, you should don't hesitate
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I brought this up with my physician. Apparently these inconvenient side effects can actually be damaging if you have them long term, while allergens don't cause harm at all (that is the definition of an allergen). Of course, in the case of something that does cause harm, the immune response would be beneficial, but it's hard to tell the difference. In the case of someone with allergies, it's just the fact that in >95% of cases the problem is just allergy and it's beneficial to suppress the reaction.
Nonet
Hrrrrr... (Score:3, Informative)
Fever is one of your body's ways to fight infection. When you supress it, you "enable the virus."
But I will take antipyretics when I damn well feel like it. Tough shit if someone else gets sick.
DARWIN, BABY!
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Slave to the prisoner's dilemma are you?
Re:Hrrrrr... (Score:5, Interesting)
Ah yes, the pervasive "I GOT MINES" ... Baby Boomer?
Eschew drugs (Score:2)
As much as I like the occasional aspirin or paracetamol, when I have a cold or similar, I try to make a concious effort to raise my body temperature as much as possible to aid in the virus fighting efforts of my body. Seems to work well whenever I do it, even if it is uncomfortable at times. I try to use drugs only as a last resort.
On the other hand, if the weather gets hot, I've been known to pop an aspirin purely to lower my body temperature so I can be somewhat useful and cope.
That's a laughable risk... (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:That's a laughable risk... (Score:5, Insightful)
Considering the population of the USA the percentage of the population killed each year by this is 0.00022300095%. On the other hand deaths for the flu have been as low as 3000 yearly so that's 23.3% of deaths. Still, the number of deaths compared to the population makes it comparable to winning the lottery in any case.
As low as 3000 deaths? If people knew the flu killed 3000 people (in an off year!), we could justify interment camps for infected people and monitor all phone calls to find out who complains of symptoms. We could create a cabinet level government department with a multi-billion-dollar budget just for battling the flu.
Or not. Because the flu generally doesn't also commit spectacular acts of property destruction and it kills its victims quietly in homes and hospital beds with no one to watch or mourn except the victims' actual friends and family.
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That's many times the annual US death rate due to terrorism, isn't it?
Headline: "Aspirin: Terrorist Sleeper Attack?"
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Considering the population of the USA the percentage of the population killed each year by this is ...
Even though it probably won't kill you, most people like to get over the flu ASAP. If this helps quicken that, I'm all for it.
Aches & Pains (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Aches & Pains (Score:5, Informative)
There is. They're called opioids. But taking opioids makes you a dangerous drug addict, so you're not allowed to have them.
A deal for you! (Score:2)
I suppose it is then logical to assume increasing the infection rates of others you contact won't keep you up at night, either.
Stay Home (Score:5, Insightful)
Much better approach would be creating a culture in the USA where its OK to stay home when sick.
But of course we can't do that, because SOCIALISM.
Re:Stay Home (Score:5, Insightful)
Socialism doesn't keep you at work, when you're sick, that's capitalism, with its "performance at the expense of everything else" approach. Or were you being sarcastic? (I can't tell).
Also, socialism provides free medical care to sick people, so they don't just put things off and get worse and worse until eventually they eventually either need an emergency room (at a much higher cost), or spread communicable but treatable diseases like TB. It also makes medicine cheaper because of collective bargaining, rather than allowing each person to try to bargain for something that they can't do without.
Re:Stay Home (Score:5, Insightful)
You say that like it's not also true without socialized or universal heathcare. The only difference is that the costs are hidden in taxes, unpaid debt, and lost productivity instead of merely taxes. Or did you think all those unpaid medical bills just disappeared?
Re:Stay Home (Score:5, Interesting)
"Socialism" really is a synonym for "badness" in the US, isn't it?
Socialism is an economic system where the state collects taxes to fund things like social programs, that allow people to do things like not work when they're sick without fear of, for example, starving to death. Socialism is also usually associated with regulation, such as laws that say you need to give your employees ample sick days.
Capitalism is an economic system where the market (which is generally controlled by those who have capital) makes the decisions. Although it's possible in a labor-shortage situation that employers would insist on sick employees staying home to avoid a productivity hit, in current corporate capitalistic practice this doesn't seem to happen. Employees are generally granted the minimum sick time required by law.
For examples, see Europe (lots of sick and vacation days, more socialist) versus the USA (few sick and vacation days, more capitalist).
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They aren't necessarily unrelated. If you can't suppress symptoms enough to be functional, going to work while sick is a lot more difficult. I'd hope the study accounted for that effect.
Here's how to fix this... (Score:5, Insightful)
Here's an idea.. Get sick, stay home! If you wan to medicate at home, knock yourself out. Just don't come to work and avoid going out in public.
Employers should be *actively* looking though their employees and sending home those who are sick. Have a fever? Go home. Don't come back until at least 24 hours w/o a fever. Take your laptop, work from home. Day Care's should have the *same* policy for workers and children, don't come in if you had a fever in the last 24 hours.
I'm serious, this *should* be a matter of law. I know that it won't fix everything, but it sure will slow down a virus if folks would be careful. I live with a person who has a compromised immune system. Getting a virus is a *serious* deal for us and may someday kill them. We have to be extremely careful and I just hate it when I have to deal with people who are obviously ill in public.
Re:Here's how to fix this... (Score:5, Insightful)
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Simple. If you go to a restaurant and the waitress is sick, the restaurant owes you a weeks pay if you get sick. If any coworkers get sick, same rule.
Let the assholes who don't care who gets sick pay for the downtime.
Alternatively, knowingly going out and exposing people to a disease is an assault and should be treated accordingly. If you do so on orders from your employer (including if your employer will dock your pay if you don't), the employer is responsible.
Well with my last bout of Flu... (Score:2)
I got up to 103.1 at which point I figured enough is enough. My mental function was impaired. I brought it back down to 102.5 (with a bath and ibuprofen) where I could think again. But I think letting it get so high helped get rid of it faster instead of my friend (who gave it to me) was constantly medicated and I don't think he ever got above 102.0. He had it for the majority of the week, me, just 3 days.
Sure, letting your fever get up there, but at 103 you get cognitive impairment, 104 you begin to get b
Don't take medicine for generic sickness (Score:2)
What is fever ? (Score:3)
Re:What is fever ? (Score:5, Informative)
Is the fever a side result of the effect of the virus on the organism ? Or is it a way for the organism to fight the virus and eliminate it ? Because we get fevers in most cases of severe infections and I doubt most germs are sensitive to a 3C increase in body temperature... I can still brew beer from anything like 10C to 40C...
Most viruses and bacteria are more temperature sensitive than yeast is. Also, higher temperatures improve the function of white blood cells and reduces the effects of endotoxins.
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Wrong (Score:2)
They get infected because people suppress their fever and go out and act as if nothing happened.
That's like claiming that antivirus kits cause more infections because people get them, feel safe and then go and act as if nothing could happen to them anymore. These things, like medication, is supposed to be an aid, not a substitute.
Surely it's going to work sick that's the problem! (Score:3)
If someone takes medicine to lower a fever but stays at home until he/she is better then nobody else gets the flu. Yet people who get sick feel compelled to go to work because of work ethics or pressure from employers, and they expose everyone who is on the train/bus with them, or in the line at Starbucks. Surely the message should not be "if you take asprin you're killing people", but "stay home until you're better"!
I only deal with fevers over 101F (Score:3)
When sick, if I have a fever I only deal with it if it gets any higher than 101F. That way the fever does what it's supposed to and I avoid delerium and death. This was the advice my Doctor gave for my children and I figure if It's good enough for a toddler it's good enough for me.
not really true. (Score:2)
Fevers are good (Score:2)
Medical professionals have been saying for sometime now that you need to let a fever run it's course. To give an idea how much things have changed I once brought my child into the emergency room for a fever of 105.
I was then made to sign a piece of paper saying that I would not do so again for a temperature that low. Mind you this was the first time I had ever brought my child into the emergency room for a fever. Here's something from the Mayo clinic saying not to even take tyenol below a fever of 102
http:/ [mayoclinic.org]
700 extra deaths a year? (Score:3)
I wonder if congress is going to make a big campaign about this like they do banning guns.
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Re:Probably going out/to work (Score:5, Interesting)
This may surprise a lot of people here, but in Germany the general rule is, if you get sick on vacation days and have a medical attestation prooving it, your affected (infected?) vacation days go back in your unused vacation.
Re:Probably going out/to work (Score:5, Informative)
This may surprise a lot of people in Germany, but in the US the general rule is, you don't have any vacation days and can't afford to take time off of work to see a doctor.
And if you do take time off of work to get well and figure out how to pay a doctor and any treatment they might suggest, it's entirely possible that, upon attempting to return to work, you find yourself jobless.
Therefore, again generally, we tend to take as many over-the-counter drugs [amazon.com] as we can to begin feeling half-way human so we can keep working every day even if it kills us and those around us (which, according to TFA, it does).
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This may surprise a lot of people in Germany, but in the US the general rule is, you don't have any vacation days and can't afford to take time off of work to see a doctor.
And if you do take time off of work to get well and figure out how to pay a doctor and any treatment they might suggest, it's entirely possible that, upon attempting to return to work, you find yourself jobless.
Therefore, again generally, we tend to take as many over-the-counter drugs [amazon.com] as we can to begin feeling half-way human so we can keep working every day even if it kills us and those around us (which, according to TFA, it does).
I wish I had mod points for you. Too bad there is no +5 Insightful/Sad Truth.
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Re:Probably going out/to work (Score:4, Insightful)
> People think it's their duty to use up all their sick days
That is the effect of setting a quota. In civilised countries you get as many sick days as your health requires.
Re:Probably going out/to work (Score:5, Insightful)
The quota for sick days is low because there's not much respect for working people by people that are getting rich off of them. It gets better the higher up the payscale you go (particularly in an office environment, where they've finally figured out that one person coming in sick means having dozens of people sick and underperforming for weeks on end while the infection runs its course) but it's still a problem that needs to be managed.
People work better when they're healthy and well rested, and people that are healthy and well rested tend to stay that way.
I don't know many people that call in sick for vacation days; we don't actually have an allotment of days at my office. You're just expected to tell people that you're sick so the work can be taken care of, take care of yourself, and come back as soon as is reasonable. But I'm a Canadian in Canada. It's been like this more or less my entire professional life.
Re:Probably going out/to work (Score:4, Interesting)
This may surprise a lot of people here, but in Germany the general rule is, if you get sick on vacation days and have a medical attestation prooving it, your affected (infected?) vacation days go back in your unused vacation.
I like this part of Germany, but I don't like another part. You're required to go to the doctor if you're sick to get a slip of paper saying you're excused. For me, without a car, that means getting on a bus and / or train and spreading my germs and being out in the cold weather at the absolute worst time to be out in it. People get sicker when they are out in the weather. Been there. Done that.
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When you are sick, you are sick. There is no such thing as a sick day bank. Of course, you need medical attestation. In 2012, I had a pneumonia. The doctor wrote me sick 3 weeks. So I had 3 weeks to recover.
Of course, if you are sick too often, your boss might have a talk with you, to see if the working conditions are having a negative effect on your health.
Thats for big companies. In smaller companies with few employees its difficult and a bit tricky, but the general guidelines are the same.
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Just more evidence that HR drones are actually minions of the evil pathogenic overlords.
Fevers don't kill (Score:2, Interesting)
Fevers don't kill people. The immune system isn't that self-destructive. The fear of fevers is a holdover from pandemics like polio where diseases associated with high fevers could kill or cause brain damage. The fever wasn't what caused the problems, but people didn't know better.
Re:Fevers don't kill (Score:5, Interesting)
The immune system isn't usually that self-destructive.
Lupus FTFY. (I know, I know. "It's never lupus!")
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Thanks for fixing that for me. Yes, there are plenty of disorders and diseases that involve a misbehaving immune system to the point where it can kill you. A normal fever response, however, isn't one of those.
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No worries. I was just in it for the cheap House reference anyway. ;)
Re:Fevers don't kill (Score:4, Informative)
Fevers don't kill people.
That is nonsense.
Your fever can go up to roughly 44 celsius, around that temperature you die.
The fever wasn't what caused the problems
Yes, the fever can be the cause of the problem, I sugget to read at least the basics about medicine before writing such nonsense. Simple info: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What... [answers.com]
More complex: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F... [wikipedia.org]
(And I really wonder: it is something you learn in school in latest 4th grade, how can an adult not know the basis about fever?)
Re:Fevers don't kill (Score:4, Interesting)
Both of my boys have had febrile seizures and stopped breathing. This usually doesn't cause any problems, but is the scariest thing I've ever gone through. In the case of my youngest son, though, he turned grey, stopped breathing, and didn't start back on his own. Luckily, my mother-in-law was there and knew how to do rescue breaths on him until the paramedics arrived. He was hospitalized so they could figure out why he didn't start breathing again. He's had multiple febrile seizures since then and every time he gets a fever we give him medicine to get it under control quickly.
Did this kill him? No, but without the rescue breaths my mother-in-law administered this story could have had a much different ending.
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Ok, so it is between ME dying of fever, or someone else.
That's a pretty easy choice to make...no?
Or you could do the right thing, and be considerate of others. Stay home, if you're sick. Take care of yourself; plus don't share your germs/virii/whatever.
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Or you could do the right thing, and be considerate of others. Stay home, if you're sick. Take care of yourself; plus don't share your germs/virii/whatever.
Yes. This. STAY HOME. Only sneeze on people you don't like.
The other problem, not a part of this particular experiment is that for many viral infections (not sure about influenza specifically) you are most contagious just before the outbreak of major symptoms. You don't feel especially well, but you're not really 'sick' so you do go out and mingle with the rest of the world, dropping viral particles on every local surface and setting up a new chain of life for the microscopic annoyance.
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Younger generations now embrace the method of lowering the temperature by butting ice packs... one difference is the ice pack method instantly reduces the pain associated with fever/flu.
Fever/flu has never induced pain in that region for me.
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Re:No more asprin? (Score:4, Funny)
I guess Obamacare will make aspirin illegal now as a preventative action.
That's the least of it. It will destroy our civilization and lead to Stalinism. I know that's true because I've read it on right-wing web sites.