In the last few days, two of my friends who’ve had swine flu have been talking about a “swine flu rebound”. To make a long story short, it seems that a good number of people who have had swine flu experience a reappearance of symptoms a couple of weeks after they thought they were better.
One friend thought it might be linked to folks over-exerting themselves. I can understand that — when I’m sick, I suddenly get the urge to go out and do things and be social… specifically because I know I can’t or shouldn’t be doing those things. And once I’m feeling better, there’s an urge to finally go do Things, or catch up on chores, or what have you. So if you’ve been down for the count with the flu, you may jump back into normal activities as soon as you’re starting to feel better… even if your body may need more rest.
A discussion forum I visited suggested that the “two week rebound” of swine flu might actually be secondary infections popping up — not a resurgence of the flu. That seems like a valid theory to me, too. Being sick can be hard on your immune system, and leave you susceptible to catching something else when you’re still on the mend.
I’m seeing a lot of anecdotal evidence of the two week rebound — people popping up on message boards and blogs all over the place, talking about a two week rebound — but couldn’t find any official statement from the NIH or any other major health authority. I’ll keep my eyes out for official information on the two week rebound phenomenon.
In the meantime, the Mayo Clinic website has an interesting piece about how you can’t catch the swine flu (or any flu) twice. After you have a case of the flu, your body develops antibodies — it acquires immunity to that particular strain of the disease. However, the flu virus is always changing. (That’s why experts formulate a new flu vaccine each year!) So while you can’t catch H1N1 twice, you could catch a different flu virus.
And if you did have the swine flu? You may be contagious for longer than you think. The average person stops being contagious (known as shedding the virus) 24 hours after they are free of fever without the use of fever-reducing medications like aspirin or Tylenol. However, some tests have determined that some people shed the virus for up to TEN DAYS after they have been feverish.
So even if you’re feeling better, continue to take precautions like covering your mouth when you cough or sneeze and washing your hands frequently to help prevent spreading the virus.