Roehl_JC
Moderator
CROSS LANES, W.Va.--A Cross Lanes pediatrician says she came down with swine flu twice in two months, and she's among the medical professionals who are puzzled by the occurrence.
Dr. Debra Parsons, a pediatrician at Kid Care West in Cross Lanes, said both she and her son came down with identical flu-like symptoms in August.
Figuring they had the same disease, Parsons swabbed herself and sent the specimen off to a lab. She tested positive for Influenza A, which includes several strains of the flu.
Health officials say that in this region more than 99 percent of people who have been testing positive for Influenza A are later confirmed to have swine flu.
Parsons said that was the case with her family; a more specific follow-up "sub-typing" test at the state lab confirmed she had H1N1.
Parsons and her son recovered from the symptoms but in October they struck again and were much worse, she said. Both had body aches, fever, chills, wheezing, and shortness of breath.
This time Parsons swabbed both herself and her son, and both tests came back positive for Influenza A. She said she pushed for further testing to determine the strain, and the lab ran an immunofluorescence test on the specimens. They again tested positive for H1N1, she said.
Parsons' second swab was sent to the state lab Wednesday for even further testing and results should be returned in a couple of days or sent to the Centers for Disease Control for follow-up tests, she said.
When the initial test came back positive again, Parsons said she also contacted the CDC to see if it's possible for someone to contact the swine flu twice.
She said officials at the CDC told her Saturday that it is possible
But in public statements issued in late October the CDC said people who have had H1N1 don't need to get the vaccine because they can't contract the virus again.
Parsons said she's struggling to make sense of her diagnoses and reconcile them with other information she has heard.
"I don't want to mislead anybody," Parsons said. "I've been a doctor here 13 years, and I have a ton of patients, and I want to know what to tell them."
She said her office is doing 10 to 20 flu tests every day as more and more patients come in with symptoms.
http://www.dailymail.com/News/200911041062
Dr. Debra Parsons, a pediatrician at Kid Care West in Cross Lanes, said both she and her son came down with identical flu-like symptoms in August.
Figuring they had the same disease, Parsons swabbed herself and sent the specimen off to a lab. She tested positive for Influenza A, which includes several strains of the flu.
Health officials say that in this region more than 99 percent of people who have been testing positive for Influenza A are later confirmed to have swine flu.
Parsons said that was the case with her family; a more specific follow-up "sub-typing" test at the state lab confirmed she had H1N1.
Parsons and her son recovered from the symptoms but in October they struck again and were much worse, she said. Both had body aches, fever, chills, wheezing, and shortness of breath.
This time Parsons swabbed both herself and her son, and both tests came back positive for Influenza A. She said she pushed for further testing to determine the strain, and the lab ran an immunofluorescence test on the specimens. They again tested positive for H1N1, she said.
Parsons' second swab was sent to the state lab Wednesday for even further testing and results should be returned in a couple of days or sent to the Centers for Disease Control for follow-up tests, she said.
When the initial test came back positive again, Parsons said she also contacted the CDC to see if it's possible for someone to contact the swine flu twice.
She said officials at the CDC told her Saturday that it is possible
But in public statements issued in late October the CDC said people who have had H1N1 don't need to get the vaccine because they can't contract the virus again.
Parsons said she's struggling to make sense of her diagnoses and reconcile them with other information she has heard.
"I don't want to mislead anybody," Parsons said. "I've been a doctor here 13 years, and I have a ton of patients, and I want to know what to tell them."
She said her office is doing 10 to 20 flu tests every day as more and more patients come in with symptoms.
http://www.dailymail.com/News/200911041062