To say that this virus only negatively affects those who were already unhealthy, or to suggest that it may not cause harm is absolutely irresponsible. People should know that there are healthy children being made gravely ill by this disease. Worse, healthcare workers can spread the disease without knowing it, because someone who is infected may shed the virus for up to 48 hours before they develop symptoms!

I am a healthcare worker, and, as yet, I have been unable to procure vaccination for either H1N1 or ‘seasonal influenza’ viruses due to shortages. I fear for my own health, as I have been constantly exposed, and feel that eventually my luck in self-protection (hand washing, masks, gowns, goggles, etc…) will run out. Furthermore, I fear for my nine year old son, who could be exposed to H1N1 through me.

If you can be vaccinated, and work in healthcare, please do it. We are ethically bound to protect our patients, and to ‘first cause no harm.’ I can only hope that the vaccine becomes available to me before I contract and further spread this virus. As for our children, if the vaccine becomes available, make the choice that works for your beliefs. I doubt there was a vaccine in 1918, so using a loose association between vaccination and encephalitis lethargica is nothing more than a scare tactic for the masses.

It seems more like it strikes the healthier worse than the immune difficiant.
Cytokine storms can explain this.