How many people have had pneumonia in the past 6 months that you know?

marilynrr

US2 wrote: »

It's amazing the country wasnt shur down in dec/jan seen as every single person in the country had "worst flu ever, couldn't move for 2 weeks" ect

Or a bad flu, or a strange flu!! :rolleyes:

People are so used to calling the common cold 'the flu', that if they caught the real flu of course it would seem extreme in comparison...must be covid-19 because it wasn't like any flu AKA. the common cold ..that they had had before!

I'm a healthy young woman and caught the real flu in early 2019. It wiped me out for weeks. I couldn't leave the house....but I know so many people saying they think they had covid-19 from as far back as November talking about how unbelievably sick they were so it must have been covid-19. They are definitely exaggerating because these families were generally at work/school/all the Christmas festivities and so on!

circadian

The French confirmed a case in late December.

https://www.rte.ie/news/coronavirus/2020/0505/1136477-covid19-coronavirus-europe/

It's entirely possible this has been circulating earlier, at least to some degree, and I wouldn't be surprised if the original outbreak in China was a few weeks earlier than reported.

The wife had an awful cold/chest infection over the winter and eventually shifted it by the end of January. She was on an inhaler and two rounds of antibiotics. She's convinced it was Covid-19 but I suspect a nasty cold/flu was in circulation this year. I had an awful flu back in 2005/2006 which coincides with a particularly bad flu season. These things come around every so often, could be total coincidence.

Hopefully an antibody test will start to confirm a better time line.

iamwhoiam

marilynrr wrote: »

Or a bad flu, or a strange flu!! :rolleyes:

People are so used to calling the common cold 'the flu', that if they caught the real flu of course it would seem extreme in comparison...must be covid-19 because it wasn't like any flu AKA. the common cold ..that they had had before!

I'm a healthy young woman and caught the real flu in early 2019. It wiped me out for weeks. I couldn't leave the house....but I know so many people saying they think they had covid-19 from as far back as November talking about how unbelievably sick they were so it must have been covid-19. They are definitely exaggerating because these families were generally at work/school/all the Christmas festivities and so on!

I am not exaggerating as we had to cancel Christmas dinner and my daughter crawled out of bed on Christmas eve to get Santa organised . I don’t genuinely think you are in a position to say people who felt really ill and were floored by what they had in December are exaggerating

I brought my granddaughter to a Panto the week before Christmas , she was so excited and so looking forward to it
15 mins in she got a temp and was so ill I had to leave . From then on we all got sick one by one .

LLMMLL

marilynrr wrote: »

Or a bad flu, or a strange flu!! :rolleyes:

People are so used to calling the common cold 'the flu', that if they caught the real flu of course it would seem extreme in comparison...must be covid-19 because it wasn't like any flu AKA. the common cold ..that they had had before!

I'm a healthy young woman and caught the real flu in early 2019. It wiped me out for weeks. I couldn't leave the house....but I know so many people saying they think they had covid-19 from as far back as November talking about how unbelievably sick they were so it must have been covid-19. They are definitely exaggerating because these families were generally at work/school/all the Christmas festivities and so on!

This is exactly it.

Most people who claim to have the flu have a bad cold. So people don't understand what the flu is actually like.

Wibbs

LLMMLL wrote: »

This is exactly it.

Most people who claim to have the flu have a bad cold. So people don't understand what the flu is actually like.

Why in god's name do people keep peddling this notion of "ohhh you'd know you had flu, you'd not be able to move from your bed"? Maybe you don't understand what the flu is actually like. Up to a quarter of people who test positive for influenza are asymptomatic. And remain so. Others may feel they have a "bad head cold". How do you think it spreads so easily in offices and the like? If it had so many writing out their last will and testaments at home in bed, it wouldn't nearly so much.

Even in my own immediate family I can see that. My dad never had "The Flu", though my mum did a few times and it felled the woman. A woman of the old stock who would "soldier on" if possible and remind you of her soldiering. Not when she came down with flu she couldn't(and to compound things we lived on poached eggs and baked spuds until she recovered as that's all he could muster up in the kitchen. He was born in 1916 to be fair). Clearly my dad was exposed, but nada. I've only had it the once, of the H1N1 Swine Variety(confirmed), and I cleared that over a weekend and never needed to take to the bed(I got the confirmation after I was clear of it). Felt like a bad head cold with extra aches, though was fairly tired for a fortnight afterwards. No thinking I was dying and then wishing I was. The one time I got food poisoning, now that left me in a heap alright. Even the speculation around the dose in Dec/Jan, if it was the flu and almost certainly was, I cleared that over a weekend too and no need for extra bedtime.

LLMMLL

Wibbs wrote: »

Why in god's name do people keep peddling this notion of "ohhh you'd know you had flu, you'd not be able to move from your bed"? Maybe you don't understand what the flu is actually like. Up to a quarter of people who test positive for influenza are asymptomatic. And remain so. Others may feel they have a "bad head cold". How do you think it spreads so easily in offices and the like? If it had so many writing out their last will and testaments at home in bed, it wouldn't nearly so much.

Even in my own immediate family I can see that. My dad never had "The Flu", though my mum did a few times and it felled the woman. A woman of the old stock who would "soldier on" if possible and remind you of her soldiering. Not when she came down with flu she couldn't(and to compound things we lived on poached eggs and baked spuds until she recovered as that's all he could muster up in the kitchen. He was born in 1916 to be fair). Clearly my dad was exposed, but nada. I've only had it the once, of the H1N1 Swine Variety(confirmed), and I cleared that over a weekend and never needed to take to the bed(I got the confirmation after I was clear of it). Felt like a bad head cold with extra aches, though was fairly tired for a fortnight afterwards. No thinking I was dying and then wishing I was. The one time I got food poisoning, now that left me in a heap alright. Even the speculation around the dose in Dec/Jan, if it was the flu and almost certainly was, I cleared that over a weekend too and no need for extra bedtime.

Never claimed you had to be bedridden to actually have the flu.

But one of the main differentiating symptoms between cold and flu is fever (there are others). The vast majority of people I encounter who claim to have the flu usually don't have fever. They have respiratory symptoms and fatigue. Entirely consistent with a cold.

All your anecdote shows is what I've been claiming all along. People should not diagnose themselves. Colds have a range of severity and symptoms. So do flus. And so does coronavirus. Just because someone's symptoms are particularly bad does not mean it's covid.

Wibbs

LLMMLL wrote: »

Never claimed you had to be bedridden to actually have the flu.

But one of the main differentiating symptoms between cold and flu is fever (there are others). The vast majority of people I encounter who claim to have the flu usually don't have fever. They have respiratory symptoms and fatigue. Entirely consistent with a cold.

Nope. Again. Read this. To save you the click: Approximately 33% of people with influenza are asymptomatic Given how often I've been exposed in my life, from family friends and living together girlfriends who came down with it, I've had "flu" without a fever. Or anything else.

Just because someone's symptoms are particularly bad does not mean it's covid.

I'd very much agree with this. Indeed compared to influenza covid19 appears to have far more mild and asymptomatic cases. If someone came on and said that they had a weird dose in March after meeting a mate who had been skiing in Italy, it was a fever and cough and feeling a bit low, but otherwise grand, I'd believe it more that it might have been the actual WooFlu.

Lolle06

LLMMLL wrote: »

Most people who claim to have the flu have a bad cold. So people don't understand what the flu is actually like.

So what is the „flu“ actually like then?

LLMMLL

Wibbs wrote: »

Nope. Again. Read this. To save you the click: Approximately 33% of people with influenza are asymptomatic Given how often I've been exposed in my life, from family friends and living together girlfriends who came down with it, I've had "flu" without a fever. Or anything else.

Nothing you are saying contradicts me. I said fever was one of the main differntiators between common cold and flu. I did not say all people with flu have a fever.

Your own wikipedia page supports what I am saying. It says sensitivity of fever as a symptom is. quite high. This means confirmed positive cases of influenza are likely to have fever as a symptom. This paper: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7185637/ points out multiple times that fever is rare in those with colds. (apart from children).

Combine this with the estimated number of cases (500 million colds per year in the US versus 30 million cases of flu) and it is completely obvious that most people are self diagnosing incorrectly.

I shouldn't have to spell this out but. it seems I do: I am not saying that every case of respiratory symptoms with absence of fever is not flu. But it is FAR more probable that its a cold.

LLMMLL

Lolle06 wrote: »

So what is the „flu“ actually like then?

A flu is more likely to have severe symptoms and more likely to have a dry cough instead of being phlegmy, and more likely to have a fever.

Again this is about probabilities. Individual cases of people with severe colds and asymptomatic flus has no impact on this argument.

Flickerfusion

J Mysterio wrote: »

Very interesting, thanks.

I didn't realise there was a viable antibody test.

There are a couple at this stage. The Government is reportedly in negotiations with a few companies, including Abbott for the HSE programme.

The antibody test Roche are producing is extremely accurate, but it requires a full blood draw, but there are others on the market too that are approved and reliable at this stage. The early ones that were doing the rounds in some places were pretty unreliable.

mandrake04

Flickerfusion wrote: »

There are a couple at this stage. The Government is reportedly in negotiations with a few companies, including Abbott for the HSE programme.

The antibody test Roche are producing is extremely accurate, but it requires a full blood draw, but there are others on the market too that are approved and reliable at this stage. The early ones that were doing the rounds in some places were pretty unreliable.

whats the difference between the Roche and Abbott test?

AngryHippie

I had Pneumonia after a trip to Ireland in February, tested for covid twice (nasal swab) both negative, round of antibiotics got it under control.
When the last of the bloods came back a week later, I also had Ross River Virus.

Not all Pneumonia is from Covid.
Not all Covid patients get Pneumonia.

We won't know for a few years until all of the data can be numerically analysed and all of the various different stuff-around ways everyone recorded their deaths can be adjusted.

Lolle06

LLMMLL wrote: »

A flu is more likely to have severe symptoms and more likely to have a dry cough instead of being phlegmy, and more likely to have a fever.

Again this is about probabilities. Individual cases of people with severe colds and asymptomatic flus has no impact on this argument.

Thanks.
Yes, dry cough and fever were some symptoms in Nov/ Dec.
Our GP diagnosed a virus.

marilynrr

iamwhoiam wrote: »

I am not exaggerating as we had to cancel Christmas dinner and my daughter crawled out of bed on Christmas eve to get Santa organised . I don’t genuinely think you are in a position to say people who felt really ill and were floored by what they had in December are exaggerating

I am genuinely in that position because I know those people that i'm talking about so I know that they were out and about and carrying on as normal. They certainly were not ill enough to need to stay at home. I socialised with some of them, saw some of them every day on the school run and so on.
They are 100% exaggerating and rewriting just how sick they were.

I'm not saying that everyone in the country who claims to be sick is exaggerating but I reckon a lot are. Also at least some of those who were genuinely sick a few months back would have had other viruses that go around that time of year.

Flickerfusion

mandrake04 wrote: »

whats the difference between the Roche and Abbott test?

Not entirely sure but there are several now available that comply with extremely strict EU regs.

There were far less well regulated self-test kits doing the rounds, with varying degrees of accuracy.

In this case a false positive could be as risky as a false negative as it would potentially have someone assuming they're immune when they're not. Although, as yet we don't know if there's strong immunity after being infect or if there is, if it last. So, having a positive test is not necessary a magic cloak either.

mandrake04

Flickerfusion wrote: »

Not entirely sure but there are several now available that comply with extremely strict EU regs.

There were far less well regulated self-test kits doing the rounds, with varying degrees of accuracy.

In this case a false positive could be as risky as a false negative as it would potentially have someone assuming they're immune when they're not. Although, as yet we don't know if there's strong immunity after being infect or if there is, if it last. So, having a positive test is not necessary a magic cloak either.

Ah ok, I was just wondering what your thoughts were as you mentioned that the Roche test needed a full blood draw was just wondering what you meant?

brendanwalsh

I had the worst pneumonia of my life in January.
I was coughing up blood at one point.
I’ve been sick once in my life, ten years ago with swine flu.