Swine Flu and Inflammatory Arthritis
The panic surrounding the Swine Flu pandemic shows no sign of abating. To date I have received two letters from my daughters school informing me of confirmed swine flu cases (will I be getting one a day soon?). I can barely leave the house without running the risk of being sneezed, coughed or otherwise spluttered on.
As an RA sufferer, what is to be made of all this? Like many people with inflammatory arthritis I take DMARDs, and like many I am concerned about the effect of Swine Flu on my compromised immune system. It’s unclear at the moment whether all RA patients will be eligible for the Swine Flu jab, but so far no gilt-edged invitation has arrived in my letterbox!
What happens if one of my family goes down with Swine Flu - I can hardly avoid them for seven days. Should I continue with treatment? Will I need Tamiflu? There are so many questions yet so little real information, which is why I was so pleased to receive a tweet from Arthritis Ireland telling me about a great Swine Flu downloadable factsheet put together by the Irish Society for Rheumatology. It’s full of really useful information and well worth a look.
Tags: arthritis, DMARDs, inflammatory arthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, swine flu