H1n1 - Washington,MO

I think once we become parents we become a little more immune to stuff like this that our kids get, etc. My son had H1N1 (he is 11 yrs) and he NEVER gets sick. He was very sick for 4 days and then was much better day 5 and 6, etc. I have two other children and my husband was out of town for most of my son's illness. I never got it and neither did my husband. So I hope that will be the case for you as well. I just made sure the other children stayed away and that we did lots of hand washing, etc. I also changed ALL of our tooth brushes - they hold a lot of germs and bacteria.

Anyway - just take your usual precautions and you should be fine. I really don't know about reoccurances with H1N1, but I would hope that once you have it, you build up an immunity to it. Good luck and stay healthy!

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I think there is talk that the swine flu could mutate and then people who've had it could get it again, but at this point I think it's speculation.

Once you get it you'll be immune from this particular strain. Now you don't have to wait for the immunization shot. Are you sure it's H1N1 and not just the normal flu?

If it is the h1n1 that you contracted then you should not get it again. Your body has built immunity to it.

Hi. I just went through this with my daughter. My first question for you is are you certain that it is h1n1? I ask this because labs are no longer sub-testing for h1n1 (stopped last month). They are doing the influenza rapid test and can determine if it is Influenza A (to which h1n1 is a subtype) - so you know that your kids had the flu, but can't be 100% certain it is h1n1. Based on symptoms doctors and clinicians are assuming it is h1n1 because the likelihood is high. That was our situation.

If your kids actually did get h1n1, they should not get it again. Although I believe medically there is a small probability that you can contract the same virus twice; it is unlikely - that's the whole concept of vaccinations. The likelihood is something you can confirm with your doctor's office via a phone call.

In reality, the h1n1 virus is not very different symptomatically from other seasonal flu viruses. So, unless you had a positive sub-type test, you won't know which flu they had with certainty. You and they are likely to get another flu given the expectations that this will be a whopper of a flu season. On the bright side, as long as your kids don't have underlying conditions or have high risk factors (check out www.flu.gov) they will likely weather the illness in mild to moderate form.

Lastly, I would suggest getting the seasonal flu vaccine (just do flumist), but you could consider not getting the h1n1 flumist if you don't have any specific risk factors (e.g., if you are not pregnant, etc). As for me and my daughter, because we are not 100% certain she had h1n1 vs. just a seasonal flu, and because I am pregnant, both she and I are getting vaccinated for h1n1 as well as seasonal.

I hope this helps!

No they can't!! Its like the chicken pox, u get it once and can never get it again!! They can how ever get the regular flu this season

I had "the flu" at the beginning of the month and I just done some traveling. My Dr. said its possible that I had swine flu, but that the treatment woudl be the same for the regular flu as it was for h1n1 so he just put the entire family on tamilu and sent me home to nurse myself back to health, which took a few days. But he did say if I had swine it was possible for me to catch it again, just like the normal flu.

Most likely not. It varies by your immune system and if you suddenly become immunosuppressed. Might check with an infectious disease doctor to ensure you built enough antibodies.
I do have two questions for you...how long did it last? What were your initial symptoms?
Did you get a blood test to verify? Although doctors aren't offering it openly, you can request it. They can send a sample to your state health department...they will check titer level.
FYI, I had chickenpox twice. It varied on the severity and titer levels.