H1N1

So it seems we are in the throes of a new viral pandemic, it seems to be one after another doesn't it? The Sarawak cocksackie incident, nipah, SARS and now this H1N1. There's a lot of sites out there providing information on this current problem we are facing. It'ld be well advised to take a look.

http://h1n1.moh.gov.my/ Ministry of Health H1N1 page

http://www.who.int/en/ World Health Organisation page

I am led to understand that the hospitals have stopped admitting 'suspected' H1N1 cases and are only admitting cases that are serious ( respiratory distress, those with complications of influenza ) and those with co-morbidities ( asthma, COPD, pregnant women, morbid obesity, chronic cardiac disease, Diabetes, chronic diseases; renal failure, etc )
Testing to see whether you have the H1N1 virus does not seem to be important now except for statistical purposes.

So probably as a patient what you probably need to know is
1. If you are sick and you have the following symptoms : shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, discolouration of lips, rapid breathing, coughing out blood, chest pains, persistent diarhoea and vomiting, fever not going off after 3 days or recurrent fevers, abnormal behaviour, dizziness while standing or decreased passing urine. But probably if you really feel unwell, you should be seen by someone.

what you can do to minimise your risk of getting this infection is to keep on washing your hands - wash them like an obsessive compulsive would! And a 3 ply mask is probably a good idea if you are coughing or you are going to places with a lot of people.