When H1N1 Hits Home - Day 3

Wednesday, Day 3. Fun flies when you're doing time. I should be taking pictures of sunsets. How much more for a six-year old boy who's confined in his own room for three days now?

Well, except for his coughs, Matthin appears to be fine. But his mother seems to have developed the same unpleasant sounding cough. Everyone else in the house remains asymptomatic.

The Cisco staff came twice during the day to check on Matthin. They never go in. They just let Matthin come to them near the door and they examine him visually from there. My uncle hypothesizes that they're merely making sure that Matthin is not getting out of the house and the real intention is not to check if he's doing fine, because they're not doctors anyway. Whatever the motivation, I'm glad they're checking. The phone calls come in too.

My uncle actually called them to ask for more Tamiflu, as suggested by the doctor, so everybody else —aside from Matthin and his Mom— could take it as a preventive measure. Over lunch I made a comment about possibly not taking it before the symptoms start showing up. I realize of course the point of not having to go through unnecessary suffering, which is why one would want to take it while being asymptomatic. It's just that I remember hearing in CNN that it might not have the desired effect if it's taken too early and that it's best taken within two days after the symptoms appear. I think I also remember hearing that if you don't have the virus and you take Tamiflu, it might no longer be effective once you really get hit by the virus. I don't trust what I think I remember, so don't you too — I don't want to be the source of misinformation.

I decided to do a bit of research on the Web to learn more about this. Below are what I found.

• From http://www.tamiflu.com/treat.aspx:
  
  For flu prevention: When you have been exposed to someone with the flu, taking TAMIFLU can help keep the virus from making you sick


• From http://www.dancewithshadows.com/pillscribe/swine-flu-india-on-high-alert-plans-to-stockpile-15-billion-oseltamivir-pills/:
  
  Oseltamivir may be given as a preventive measure either during a community outbreak or following close contact with an infected individual. Standard prophylactic dosage is 75 mg once daily for patients aged 13 and older, which has been shown to be safe and effective for up to six weeks.


• From http://www.drugs.com/pdr/tamiflu.html:
  To prevent the flu, take it once a day for at least 7 days. Protection lasts as long as you take the drug.

Based on these, Tamiflu does help prevent someone from getting the flu. That is, as long as it's being taken. I didn't find anything saying that it won't be effective in the future when the flu hits if it's previously been taken for preventive measures.

It occurred to me while I was doing the research that Matthin wasn't able to take Tamiflu within 48 hours after he had high fever, his first symptom. If the Cisco guys weren't late and came a day earlier —day 1 instead of day 2— they would've made it on time. Still, he has showed some great improvement after taking the medicine so we're all glad about that.

With closed windows and an open door that leads to the living room and everywhere else, the ventilation might be a cause for concern. Or maybe not. Remains to be seen in the next few days.

This is the end of day 3.

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