(Mobile, Ala.) August 18th—“"It’s not unusual what we’re seeing, we see flu year round, but when you see an epidemic you tend to see more. But, yes we definitely see flu year round,” said Dr. Donald O. Bedsole, a senior practicing physician at American Family Care located on Montlimar Drive in Mobile.
Doctors are used to seeing flu year round, but never quite like this. As kids head to back to school, local doctors and nurses are now taking on the role of counselor. They’re consoling and even teaching concerned parents the A, B, C’s and 1, 2, 3’s of swine flu. “Flu A" and Flu "B" are two variations of the flu. Of that individual stain that could be B or A, swine flu comes from the "A”, explained Dr. Bedsole.
At Just Kidz Medical on Old Shell Road in West Mobile, Dr. Farida Awan says she's treated two confirmed cases of swine flu, one she sent to a local emergency room.
In Daphne at The Eastern Shore Urgent Care Clinic Dr. Mark Siegel says he's seeing 2-to 3 cases of flu a day. Two of those cases he said turned out to be swine flu last week.
But doctors say "don't panic"! “Even if it is swine flu, it's treatable,” Dr. Bedsole said. If you catch it in the first four days we can give them Tamiflu or something like that.
Also, while local doctors are working overtime to try and calm the fears about swine flu, Dr. Bedsole says bronchitis is something else that has doctor's offices filled to capacity this week. ”Two days ago, I think it was out of my first 8 patients, 6 had Mycoplasma” and that causes bronchitis and pneumonia and sometimes it’s hard to knock out,” warned Bedsole.
Mycoplasma is a contagious bacteria that can cause sore throat, bronchitis and pneumonia. It is usually spread from person-to person through the air and by direct contact. Symptoms start from 6 to 32 days after exposure. The illness can last from a few days to a month or more. Health care providers say yet another illness that's going around putting a damper on local students heading back to class.
