Dear folks,
Well…what a winter this has been so far. As you are aware,
the number of people ill with some version of viral/bacterial infection is
high, much higher than usual. After reading the different reports from around
the country and abroad from colleagues, as well as from medical authorities, I
thought I would share some details from my experiences over
these past months, in the hopes of capturing that information. I hope you’ll
find it useful.
Over the past few months, Amy and I have taken care of
numerous patients who were acutely ill. The first thing that seemed striking is
that, there have been several different viruses, and shifting sets of symptoms,
in a way culminating with the current influenza epidemic. However, regarding
this current epidemic, I have noted some observations. Many people who become
ill are ill for a short period of time, days or a week, and then recover
partially, only to ‘become’ ill once more, in a sort of ebb and flow manner for
weeks or even months. This is extremely atypical
for the flu virus, which has a typical duration of one week or so. Most of
these people were not properly
characterized with a lab test to confirm an influenza diagnosis. Many of the
people who are ill at this time, while indeed suffering from some virus or
bacterial infection, are not actually
suffering from the flu.
