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#FluStory: this doctor started a Twitter thread to show the real impact of influenza

When Dr Jennifer Gunter took to Twitter to share her stories on the influenza, she had no idea it would go viral’

Dr Gunter, a gynaecologist, is no stranger to social media. A prolific blogger and social media commentator, she has a stunning 148,000 Twitter followers – putting her in the top 0.1% of the Twitter elite.

But even by her own stellar standards, Dr Gunter’s latest viral thread on influenza is a smash hit. Tired of hearing how flu isn’t a big deal, she called on her enormous band of followers to share their real-life #FluStory. The responses were inspiring, shocking and deeply sad.

Jennifer Gunter

✔@DrJenGunter

I am so tired of hearing how influenza isn’t a “big deal” from anti vaccine forces. Personal stories can sway opinion. If facts did, we wouldn’t have falling vaccination rates. So if you have a #flustory to share please add it. Maybe it will change some minds. I’ll go 1st

3,900

9:11 PM - Mar 24, 2019

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She kicked things off by describing her own son’s experience.

Jennifer Gunter

✔@DrJenGunter

· Mar 24, 2019

I am so tired of hearing how influenza isn’t a “big deal” from anti vaccine forces. Personal stories can sway opinion. If facts did, we wouldn’t have falling vaccination rates. So if you have a #flustory to share please add it. Maybe it will change some minds. I’ll go 1st

Jennifer Gunter

✔@DrJenGunter

When my son Oliver, who was born at 26 weeks weighing 1 lb 11 oz. who also had serious congenital heart disease, was 2 years old despite being vaccinated he caught the flu and was in the ICU for a week. He is 15 and still has sequelae. #flustory

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9:11 PM - Mar 24, 2019

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Dr Gunter also recalled her own bout of H1N1 during the early phases of the pandemic.

Jennifer Gunter

✔@DrJenGunter

· Mar 24, 2019

Replying to @DrJenGunter

When my son Oliver, who was born at 26 weeks weighing 1 lb 11 oz. who also had serious congenital heart disease, was 2 years old despite being vaccinated he caught the flu and was in the ICU for a week. He is 15 and still has sequelae. #flustory

Jennifer Gunter

✔@DrJenGunter

I had H1N1 the spring it first hit before a vaccine was available. I thought I was going to die. For 2 days I crawled 10 feet to the bathroom and back. Took a week before I could work. My son had to take Tamiflu and I was TERRIFIED he was going to get it. #flustory

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9:14 PM - Mar 24, 2019

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Some parents bravely shared stories of otherwise healthy children who had died from influenza, including a father who lost their three-year-old girl.

Jennifer Gunter

✔@DrJenGunter

· Mar 24, 2019

I am so tired of hearing how influenza isn’t a “big deal” from anti vaccine forces. Personal stories can sway opinion. If facts did, we wouldn’t have falling vaccination rates. So if you have a #flustory to share please add it. Maybe it will change some minds. I’ll go 1st

JWLastinger@JWLastinger

My daughter Emily died from Influenza at age 3. This was in 2004 when vaccination was not recommended for her age group. She was healthy. Her death occurred suddenly on the 5th day of her illness, at home, and changed our lives forever.

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7:42 PM - Mar 26, 2019

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A mother described how her young son had developed a minor fever that quickly developed into a fatal illness. She has since become a vocal flu vaccine advocate and set up a website dedicated to Jude.

Jennifer Gunter

✔@DrJenGunter

· Mar 24, 2019

I am so tired of hearing how influenza isn’t a “big deal” from anti vaccine forces. Personal stories can sway opinion. If facts did, we wouldn’t have falling vaccination rates. So if you have a #flustory to share please add it. Maybe it will change some minds. I’ll go 1st

Jill Promoli@jillpromoli

My perfectly healthy two-year-old woke up with a low-grade fever and died hours later. Influenza B stopped his heart. I knew the flu was serious. I didn't know it could cause organ failure. I didn't know it killed ~3500 Canadians every year. #flustory #forjudeforeveryone pic.twitter.com/NoXzOoL2hL

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1:53 AM - Mar 25, 2019

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Others shared stories of adults who had died from flu.

Jennifer Gunter

✔@DrJenGunter

· 24 mars 2019

I am so tired of hearing how influenza isn’t a “big deal” from anti vaccine forces. Personal stories can sway opinion. If facts did, we wouldn’t have falling vaccination rates. So if you have a #flustory to share please add it. Maybe it will change some minds. I’ll go 1st

Dr Steffanie Strathdee, Superbug Slayer @chngin_the_wrld

When I sat with my husband Tom in the #ICU where he fought his deadly #superbug infection I watched a man in Bed fighting the #flu, visited by his wife & two girls. I wished Tom was as healthy as Bed 9 was, a middle aged previously healthy guy. Until he died. #ThePerfectPredator

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01:10 - 25 mars 2019

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Several posters spoke about influenza during pregnancy. The flu vaccine is recommended by the WHO for pregnant women.

Jennifer Gunter

✔@DrJenGunter

· Mar 24, 2019

I am so tired of hearing how influenza isn’t a “big deal” from anti vaccine forces. Personal stories can sway opinion. If facts did, we wouldn’t have falling vaccination rates. So if you have a #flustory to share please add it. Maybe it will change some minds. I’ll go 1st

Mary Beth Miotto MD@MAhealthforkids

Flu shots weren’t recommended during my 1st pregnancy.I’d gotten one annually before that.Caught the flu from a patient,broke 2 ribs from pneumonia 6 months into the pregnancy and the rest was even tougher.Had been on steroids for my chronic disease. Delivered early.#flustory

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5:58 AM - Mar 25, 2019

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Jennifer Gunter

✔@DrJenGunter

· 24 mars 2019

I am so tired of hearing how influenza isn’t a “big deal” from anti vaccine forces. Personal stories can sway opinion. If facts did, we wouldn’t have falling vaccination rates. So if you have a #flustory to share please add it. Maybe it will change some minds. I’ll go 1st

Kyla Boyse@boysek

Here's my #flustory. I had influenza when I was in my early 30's, about 14 weeks into a pregnancy. I coughed so hard, I fractured a rib. My temp was up to 105. I couldn't breathe. I spent some time in the ED getting stabilized with breathing treatments and IV fluids. 1/

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05:44 - 25 mars 2019

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This mother spoke of her fear of losing a baby after she was struck down by the virus.

Jennifer Gunter

✔@DrJenGunter

· Mar 24, 2019

I am so tired of hearing how influenza isn’t a “big deal” from anti vaccine forces. Personal stories can sway opinion. If facts did, we wouldn’t have falling vaccination rates. So if you have a #flustory to share please add it. Maybe it will change some minds. I’ll go 1st

EJ Willingham

✔@ejwillingham

8 weeks pregnant w second child. Fever spiked to intractable 105+, husband on phone w OB, was told (unusually) to give me both acetaminophen& IB. Completely immobile for 3 days seriously ill for 2 weeks, terrified I would lose the pregnancy or that infx/fever had harmed fetus.

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11:03 PM - Mar 24, 2019

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Several posts focused from people who had survived the flu spoke of the disruptive effect it had had on their lives. A student in Scotland recalled how they had missed school due to influenza, fallen behind on their studies, and failed a maths exam.

Jennifer Gunter

✔@DrJenGunter

· Mar 24, 2019

I am so tired of hearing how influenza isn’t a “big deal” from anti vaccine forces. Personal stories can sway opinion. If facts did, we wouldn’t have falling vaccination rates. So if you have a #flustory to share please add it. Maybe it will change some minds. I’ll go 1st

SomeCallMeLaz (BSc)@SomeCallMeLaz

Got flu March final year HS. Had to sleep upright as choking on phlegm. Missed 7/8 days of school, another wk of half days. Fell behind enough I had to drop a subject & undoubtedly dropped grades in final exams, including failing Higher Maths by just a couple of marks. #flustory

3:43 AM - Mar 25, 2019

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Health professionals were also quick to weigh in with their stories.

Jennifer Gunter

✔@DrJenGunter

· Mar 24, 2019

I am so tired of hearing how influenza isn’t a “big deal” from anti vaccine forces. Personal stories can sway opinion. If facts did, we wouldn’t have falling vaccination rates. So if you have a #flustory to share please add it. Maybe it will change some minds. I’ll go 1st

ANE International@aneinternationa

Where should I start - with the mother I spoke with today who lost her dancing 5 year old last week. The teenage triathlete whose death devastated a whole community. The 11 mth old still in a coma at this moment. My own daughter unvaccinated for flu who now has a brain injury.

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12:17 PM - Mar 25, 2019

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This intensive care nurse described some of the horrors she has witnessed.

Jennifer Gunter

✔@DrJenGunter

· Mar 24, 2019

I am so tired of hearing how influenza isn’t a “big deal” from anti vaccine forces. Personal stories can sway opinion. If facts did, we wouldn’t have falling vaccination rates. So if you have a #flustory to share please add it. Maybe it will change some minds. I’ll go 1st

Leigh@nursemommyleigh

I work in an ICU, and watching parents of an otherwise healthy, strong 17 year old boy say goodbye because the nitric, proning, and VV ECMO couldn’t get him through the flu is heartbreaking. #flustory

467

9:22 PM - Mar 24, 2019

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Jennifer Gunter

✔@DrJenGunter

· Mar 24, 2019

I am so tired of hearing how influenza isn’t a “big deal” from anti vaccine forces. Personal stories can sway opinion. If facts did, we wouldn’t have falling vaccination rates. So if you have a #flustory to share please add it. Maybe it will change some minds. I’ll go 1st

Gloria K. Aggrey, MD@GAggreyMD

Humbled by #flustory tweets. As an infectious disease doc I see what flu does to perfectly healthy people. As they struggle on life support, pronation, ECMO, dialysis, etc. family/docs look to us to find something else to explain what's going on. But no, it's all INFLUENZA.

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