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Any of our European correspondants have a sense of what's going on with
the illnesses? It's been variously described as a cold, a flu-like cold and the flu. Any sense of which it is. Obviously, traveling, training regimens and close quarters make athletes especially suceptible to illness, but I am curious, since a flu vaccine has been available this year and in the U.S., at least, cases are not running high yet. Gene |
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In article ,
Gene Goldenfeld wrote: Any of our European correspondants have a sense of what's going on with the illnesses? It's been variously described as a cold, a flu-like cold and the flu. Any sense of which it is. Obviously, traveling, training regimens and close quarters make athletes especially suceptible to illness, but I am curious, since a flu vaccine has been available this year and in the U.S., at least, cases are not running high yet. Gene That depends upon where you are -- it has been locally very bad in some places. E.g., in east Tennessee, where I have family, many city and county school systems have been closed, some for a week or so, because of the flu epidemic; this includes Blount, Anderson, Sevier, Loudon, and Knox counties, as well as several city school systems in the area. Before closure, absenteeism at some of the worst affected schools was around 30%, and in some of the systems, so many faculty were sick that it would have been virtually impossible to find enough substitutes to staff the schools even if the absentee rate among the students had been under control. Area hospitals have also cancelled visiting hours for patients, many area businesses with high employee absentee rates have been scrambling to handle the work load, etc. Given that ski racers' immune systems are probably "on the edge" much of the time due to the demands of racing, training, and travel, as you noted, I can easily imagine that a similar localized "mini-epidemic" might affect a good many potential competitors at the championships. |
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I was thinking, don't the athletes get flu shots? That's not aboslute,
but does cut down the chances enormously. However, I don't know that it's really the flue. Gene "David L. Webb" wrote: In article , Gene Goldenfeld wrote: Any of our European correspondants have a sense of what's going on with the illnesses? It's been variously described as a cold, a flu-like cold and the flu. Any sense of which it is. Obviously, traveling, training regimens and close quarters make athletes especially suceptible to illness, but I am curious, since a flu vaccine has been available this year and in the U.S., at least, cases are not running high yet. Gene That depends upon where you are -- it has been locally very bad in some places. E.g., in east Tennessee, where I have family, many city and county school systems have been closed, some for a week or so, because of the flu epidemic; this includes Blount, Anderson, Sevier, Loudon, and Knox counties, as well as several city school systems in the area. Before closure, absenteeism at some of the worst affected schools was around 30%, and in some of the systems, so many faculty were sick that it would have been virtually impossible to find enough substitutes to staff the schools even if the absentee rate among the students had been under control. Area hospitals have also cancelled visiting hours for patients, many area businesses with high employee absentee rates have been scrambling to handle the work load, etc. Given that ski racers' immune systems are probably "on the edge" much of the time due to the demands of racing, training, and travel, as you noted, I can easily imagine that a similar localized "mini-epidemic" might affect a good many potential competitors at the championships. |
#4
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![]() "Gene Goldenfeld" wrote in message ... I was thinking, don't the athletes get flu shots? That's not aboslute, but does cut down the chances enormously. However, I don't know that it's really the flue. If you've ever had flu you'll remember how your body was completely debilitated. There was no chance you'd be able to race for several weeks. Since these racers seem to recover reasonably quickly the chances are that its not a flu virus thats hit them. In the UK flujabs become publicly available around the first week in October. I believe the World Health Organisation plot which flu epidemics are currently traversing the Earth and the vaccine provides protection against the three most likely to hit your area within a given period. Airline pilots and World Cup athletes move from one part of the globe to another so buying flu shots for these guys must be difficult. |
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