Sarasota Health News editor and reporter David Gulliver talked to experts and listened to press conferences to produce a primer on H1N1 influenza, finding that in severity and contagiousness, it’s not really all that different from the seasonal flus that sweep the nation annually.
A few highlights from Gulliver’s report, which can serve as a model for H1N1 primers in other local markets as well:
- H1N1 is only unusual in that it hits young adults harder than most flu strains and is most severe in middle-aged adults.
- If you have the flu this season, it’s highly likely that you have H1N1.
- Autumn and winter should bring a surge in H1N1, but experts say there should be no reason to panic, as that common sense should get folks through flu season safely.
