So that’s the little bugger causing all the flu fuss? The H1N1 virus, revealed in images released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention over the weekend, looks almost benign, sort of like a bunch of grapes.
But don’t be fooled. The CDC’s flu tally showed 30 states with confirmed cases —226 people, all told as of Sunday at noon.
One guy who thought he might have come down with swine flu last week was the Wall Street Journal’s United Nations correspondent, Joe Lauria. In a first-person story, Lauria writes about his frustration over being unable to find out for sure if the H1N1 virus was to blame for his illness.
Lauria got sick after being stuck for hours at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport. Within two days he was running a 102-degree fever and feeling achy. He eventually went to an emergency room and wound up spending four days in isolation at a New York hospital before recovering and being released.
AHCJ resources for covering flu, pandemics and preparednessAt the moment, only the CDC can test for H1N1, Lauria learned. And New York officials told him they only seek the definitive test when identifying and containing potential outbreaks. After all, one official told him, 10,000 New Yorkers probably are sick with some kind of flu.
“Did I have swine flu?” he asked. “It’s something I’ll never know unless I want to wait for a test to see if I developed the antibodies for it.”
