Why is my son better just after two days if he was tested positive for type A influenza?
Wendi asked:
My son had fever of 102.5, body aches, chills, no appetite and vomiting. Took him to the doctor and tested positive for type A influenza. What’s puzzling is that after two days, his appetite was back, he felt great and even wanted to go outside to play, as if he was never sick. Was it really Type A? I thought it would last longer. He has no respiratory symptoms either.
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He may feel better, but that doesn’t mean that he’s completely well. It just means that whatever medication he’s taking is working. I’d continue to make him take it easy for the next few days if not another week. He needs to continue to finish any prescribed medication to ensure that all infections are demolished. If he doesn’t finish them, the virus could mutate into something stronger.
First of all, wait a whole 24 hrs before assuming he’s well. The flu can trick you sometimes! I had it 2 weeks ago, and it lasted 4 days for me. I thought I was well on the second day, but then my fever went back up to 102.5 that night. The third day I ran a low fever of 99.2 and felt pretty decent before having it go up one more night. The 4th day it went away entirely.
Also, he really could be better, even if it was influenza A, depending on how bad his infection was/how good is immune system is/how fast you treated it with antiviral drugs (which the Dr may or may not have prescribed). I didn’t take an antiviral.
The flu can cause sinus fluid build-up which can lead to sinus infections or ear infections, so just watch him for another week. Playing outside is probably not a good idea this early on in his recovery. If he gets better but then gets the flu symptoms back, it’s supposed to be even worse than the first time. So, let him have a lot of rest… movies and videogames would be a better activity for now!
good luck!!! oh and push those fluids!! juice and water!
type A influenza has many different species, obviously he did not have H1N1 type A. The rapid testing done in doctor’s offices are not all that accurate. To have a definitive diagnosis the lab has to culture the victim’s secretions for two weeks to see if the virus is present, so for now, most docs are treating any flu like symptoms as if they are H1N1 to be on the safe side. If your son goes 24 hours without a fever and nothing to reduce a fever, then you can consider him healthy, but not before. Especially in children there is a pattern of feeling better and then relapsing into serious illness. Keep him home, keep him quiet.
My 11 month old daughter tested positive for influenza A last week as well. They put her on Tamilflu and she was only sick for 2 days too. The doctor said that she does not need the H1N1 vaccine since she had a positive test. I am wondering the same as you and I am concerned that maybe she had a ‘false positive’ test? Her fever was 103.4 – I know she had some kind of virus to cause that kind of fever but should we be concerned that they had another strain and will need to be vaccinated?