Hunting and Equine flu

I've never had flu and I hope to god I don't ever get it! I've had lingering colds but never flu and I think I am getting another cold now. My jaw is really sore and isn't opening as wide as it should without pain. In a way that's a good thing! Lol! My new diet for the week consists only of things that I can fit through a 1cm gap and chew :p
 
bonny said:
Ok then, I’ll put it a different way, how many of you are vaccinated against flu and how many alter your lives in case you come into contact with it ?
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1) Yes for over 20 years.
2) Yes for over 20 years
Now my health is compromised do you think I would knowingly risk it ?
 
bonny said:
Ok then, I’ll put it a different way, how many of you are vaccinated against flu and how many alter your lives in case you come into contact with it ?
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Me. I have another condition which means I am highly likely to be hospitalised with flu. I try hard to stay away from anyone who I know has bugs but I don't lock myself away during flu season.
 
bonny said:
Ok then, I’ll put it a different way, how many of you are vaccinated against flu and how many alter your lives in case you come into contact with it ?
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I don't know why any of us bother answering your posts, but here goes:

Yes, I am vaccinated for flu, my OH is vaccinated (over 65) and my elderly father is vaccinated (nearly 90). I actively try to avoid people and places where flu is present. I have several friends who work in hospitals; they are all vaccinated.
 
Several years ago, there were 5 of us, all adults, living here. We all got flu but fortunately consecutively, rather than concurrently. I was the last one to get it, went back to school for the first day of the Spring term and then had 2 weeks off work. I can remember, when I was well enough to help with the horses, I was only able to carry one slice of a small hay bale across the yard to the stables, rather than carrying the whole bale as would have been normal practice. That was after spending 3 or 4 days doing nothing, I was still very tired after a day at work for months. No, I don't have a flu vaccine but that is because of a previous bad experience.
 
Yes I am vaccinated for flu through work. As is my OH, and my parents are vaccinated through NHS (age).
So that's all the people I habitually come in contact with, no I don't actively avoid others, but neither do I pop round for tea with someone who is ill
 
I had flu about 40 years ago. I remember being out on Saturday evening and feeling bad and having to ring my dad to take me home. I went to bed when I got home and the next thing I remember it was Tuesday. I was off work for 3 weeks but it was far longer than that before I was back to anything like normal. I have a vaccination every year and avoid as best I can going anywhere near ill people though the problem with flu is that you are infectious in the period just before you get really ill.
 
bonny said:
Ok, I think a lot of people who are ill with a virus think they have flu, without testing it’s impossible to know, without being in someone’s shoes you don’t know how bad they feel anyway. No, I don’t believe healthy horses die from flu, I’m not saying they never have but I think it’s very unlikely. And no, I don’t think cancelling hunting, shows and racing for a few days will achieve anything, I’m hardly alone in thinking that !
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Bonny, the fact you are worried about missing Cheltenham is colouring your entire view of this outbreak. As someone who cares for several elderly family members I can tell you they all have thier flu jabs. So do younger immune compromised people. some pay, some get it on the NHS. All avoid people with flue or colds or norovirus.
 
Tiddlypom said:
Yes, absolutely, at least whilst the whole situation re the current efficacy (or lack of) of different makes of vaccines is established.

The Cheshire Hunt, in whose country McCains racing yard is situated, have already, quite rightly, cancelled tomorrow's and Tuesday's meets.
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I spoke too soon. They are hunting tomorrow, 12 miles from McCains yard.
 
bonny said:
Ok then, I’ll put it a different way, how many of you are vaccinated against flu
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I pay for vaccination.

and how many alter your lives in case you come into contact with it ?
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This is a pointless question in the context of this discussion. It is difficult to change your life to avoid exposure to flu. It is simple to do the same for your horse.
 
bonny said:
Personal accounts are just that ! I could just as easily say I had flu last year, felt rough for a couple of days and then was fine. Apparently 20% of people who would test positive for flu have no symptoms at all......non of this proves anything. How do you know when what feels like bad cold is actually flu ?
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Well the snakes writhing out the ceiling and my inability to raise my head from the pillow where clues .
You know when you have flu .
 
bonny said:
I’m not asking for personal statements, I said they were pointless. I was comparing people’s attitudes to flu and vaccinations in themselves and their horses. Human flu is everywhere and yet I don’t see everyone getting vaccinated or cancelling their plans ......the numbers even in over 65s where the vaccination is promoted and free ar dropping every year so why are so many people convinced their horses need extra boosters and that they are in real danger if they venture out ?
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Human flu is not everywhere, that would be an epidemic.

And as Ester pointed out you quite clearly asked a question and when people responded they don’t count as they’re not one of the 27% who don’t get symptoms, supposedly.

Already told you I vaccinate myself and avoid people who have the flu which would be considered “altering my life”. But of course that part has been ignored :D
 
mule said:
Just injected the beasts. The first one didn't notice:rolleyes: the second one did, but was more interested in eating.

I bribed the dramatic one with a mollasses lick. He gave a bit of a leap in the air and glared at the mollasses lick (apparently it was to blame), looked conflicted and then started licking it again.
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This did make me chuckle!
 
bonny said:
Ok then, I’ll put it a different way, how many of you are vaccinated against flu and how many alter your lives in case you come into contact with it ?
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my husband is because he's asthmatic, both his kids are because they are immunocompromised, his father and my mother are because they are elderly. I paid for my jag as did my work colleagues. Another work colleague who came back from Australia when they had their horrid outbreak tail end of 2017 waited a couple of weeks before going to see her new granddaughter because it was a really nasty strain.
The farmer that lives next door to me went down with Aussie flu xmas eve 2017, was in hospital by Boxing Day and didn't come out until February-she then paid for a private nurse and walked with a frame for a couple of months and (by her own admission) wasn't completely over it until about October-she's a generally very healthy, strong woman in her 40s.

so yes, some people take it seriously-at some point you will have to admit that not everyone else can be wrong.
 
This is pretty horrifying that the efficacy of the vaccines is in total question. What a scary situation!!

I remember whe EI struck Australia in 2007. I was at a large 2DE in Victoria and there had been rumours flying around that horses in Centennial Park, Sydney were undergoing testing for EI. I remember trotting down the centre line to start my test, when the announcement came over that there were confirmed out breaks of EI, and at that point, the competition venue was in complete lock down.
We were locked down for the remainder of the day, and at 9pm that night we were given the option to go home, straight home, to private properties and quarantine there. Otherwise, stay and complete the competition, but potentially be locked down for an indefinite amount of time if an outbreak was detected. We went home :)
It was rather incredible to watch the extent of the nation wide shut down of equestrian movement. Some poor competitors at a QLD competition were in lock down for weeks at the venue while EI ran its course.
 
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I've had flu as a teenager which turned into pneumonia. And again in my 20's. I have never had the vaccine. I doubt I ever will. The US CDC government website states that it reduces your risk of catching flu by only 40 to 60%, and that is only in the years when they match the circulating viruses well. In those years that don't, it says there 'is little to no benefit'. A Rice University study last year estimated that the efficacy of this year's vaccine will be only 19%. I am not entirely convinced of the long term safety of vaccinating year after year for possibly decades. I try to eat very healthily, little to no processed foods, make green juice almost daily, cook from fresh etc. I rarely catch a cold. Twice in 9 years. Although I did have a mild one this year already, but I was on the mend in 3 days. I don't vaccinate my horses for flu. But they live at home in the countryside and never come into contact with other horses.
 
Sandstone1 said:
With strict checks in place according to Bbc news
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bonny said:
Just seen that racing is set to resume on Wednesday ......
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good news indeed I guess it’s because the recent outbreak has no connection to racing in Newcastle, and no horse in Newcastle seems to have caught the virus from that day.
So the 6 month vaccination looks like it certainly helps.

Makes vaccination even more important though, for the rest of us.
 
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