Influenza 2025: Successive Outbreaks from Second Son to Eldest Son
The other day, my second son and eldest son both came down with influenza, one week apart, and it was a nightmare. I've rebranded this blog as a travel blog, but I'm returning to my old parenting blog style to post about how it all went down.
I remember my sons catching the flu back before they started elementary school, but I think we've been fine for over 10 years. Could this recent infection in their late teens be caused by the latest circulating strain, A/H3N2/subclade K?
◆ Progress of the Second Son
The high school he attends was closed due to the flu from Monday to Wednesday that week. He went to school on Thursday and Friday, and there were no particular issues on Saturday.
□ 11/23 (Sun)
When Dad woke up early in the morning, the second son was already up, which was unusual. He said, "My cough was so bad I couldn't sleep."
He went out to hang out with friends in the afternoon, but when he came home in the evening, he said he felt terrible, and his temperature was 39°C. Thinking it might be the flu, we immediately had him sleep in his room and isolated the eldest son in another room.
By late at night, his fever had risen to 40°C, and he started vomiting.
□ 11/24 (Mon)
It was a substitute holiday, but since a nearby clinic was on rotation, we called and were able to get an appointment.
Mom took him, and she said a nurse came out to the car to perform the test. The response in this area has really improved since COVID.
The result was as shown in the photo above: positive for Influenza A. Well, that was expected.
Mom was annoyed because the doctor seemed to be acting like, "Do you want a test?" and "It's Type A, do you want medicine?"
He also asked, "Should we go with Tamiflu or Inavir?" When Mom asked, "Which one do you recommend?" he replied, "If it were me, I'd choose Inavir," so that's what was prescribed:
・Inavir inhalation powder 20mg
・Calonal tablets 500mg
After the Inavir inhalation, since his fever was still near 40°C in the morning, we gave him a dose of Calonal and let him sleep.
When I measured it in the afternoon, it was 37.1°C; I thought Calonal worked really well. He hadn't eaten anything, so I gave him an apple, but he said it was "mushy" and only ate a quarter of it. Maybe it was a mistake that it was an "Ourin" apple instead of the "Fuji" that the eldest son likes. He was sweating a lot, so I had him wipe his body with a warm, damp towel.
Dad had to go to Tokyo, where he is living away from home, so I left with a heavy heart, but I heard his fever went back up to 40°C around 6:00 PM and he took more Calonal.
At night, it dropped to 38.5°C, and he ate two pudding cups, but he had diarrhea and vomiting late at night, so it seemed to have affected his gastrointestinal tract as well.
□ 11/25 (Tue)
Early in the morning, when the fever reducer wore off, it was 37.0°C, which was a slight relief, but by 9:00 AM it was 38.3°C. He ate some rice porridge.
At night, he ate some pork shabu-shabu and a little rice, looked energetic, and even took a bath.
□ 11/26 (Wed)
Morning temperature was 37.1°C. Mom went to work, and he spent the day sleeping alone at home.
Dad worked from home on Thursday and Friday and returned home that night. He was much better and asked for Genovese spaghetti, so I made it, but he only ate half.
□ 11/27 (Thu)
Morning temperature was 36.8°C, so the fever seemed fine. However, his cough was severe and he had no appetite.
□ 11/28 (Fri)
His cough was even worse than the day before, and he said he couldn't eat anything. I was working in the next room, but I could hear him coughing and couldn't focus on work. We only had an old humidifier, so I rushed to buy one during my lunch break. I bought a cheap heating-type one, but it might have been good because it also warmed up the room a little. This humidifier would later be moved to the eldest son's room.
Dad panicked when the eldest son also came down with it in the evening, but he ate a good amount of omurice at night.
□ 11/29 (Sat)
The cough was much better. When I asked if there was anything he could eat, he said "fruit sandwich," so I went to the convenience store to buy one.
By night, the cough had largely subsided, and I think he ate about 80% of his usual portion of ginger pork and rice. He still coughed occasionally, so he wasn't 100% yet.
□ 12/30 (Sun)
He slept soundly until nearly noon, looked clearly energetic, and I felt relieved that he could go to school the next day.
After that, he wasn't very energetic, perhaps tired from going to school for the first time in a while, but he is spending his time almost as usual.
◆ Progress of the Eldest Son
I thought I had taken perfect measures by isolating the rooms upstairs and downstairs from the second son. The eldest son's onset was five days after the second son's, which was a bit late in terms of timing, so he might have caught it at school; the route of infection is unknown.
□ 11/28 (Fri)
Dad was working from home, but around 3:00 PM, he showed me a thermometer reading 37.6°C and said, "I think I have a fever." Dad, who was already worried because the second son still had a lingering cough and seemed unwell despite his fever going down, was in despair.
By just before 6:00 PM, it had risen to exactly 39°C, and he said, "I want a fever reducer..." Although I thought it might not be ideal, I gave him the Calonal 500mg prescribed for the second son. When I called our regular ENT clinic, they asked, "Can you come right away?" However, since the fever had just risen and there might not be a reaction yet, they told me I could be seen immediately after they opened the next morning. It was very kind of them, especially since they usually prioritize appointments.
He couldn't eat anything, but by late at night, it had dropped to the 38°C range, so he ate some rice porridge.
□ 11/29 (Sat)
6:00 AM, 38.7°C. He took Calonal again.
At 8:30 AM, he was tested at the ENT clinic. Again, the doctor came out to the car in full protective gear to perform the test. Later, I got a call on my smartphone saying that since it was negative for COVID, I could come into the examination room. Is that okay? I wonder if COVID is still treated as more important than the flu in this day and age? Maybe because the Calonal was working, his temperature was 37.5°C during the exam. The test was indeed positive for Influenza A, and I received the following prescription. This doctor prescribed Tamiflu without hesitation.
・Oseltamivir tablets 75mg (generic Tamiflu)
・Calonal tablets 200mg
・Ambroxol hydrochloride tablets 15mg (expectorant)
・Dextromethorphan hydrobromide tablets 15mg (cough suppressant)
Was the Calonal 200mg because his fever was on the lower side during the exam?
After returning home, he slept well, and when I measured it in the afternoon, it was 38.5°C. After that, it hovered near 39°C.
He didn't have much of an appetite, but at night he ate the edamame and ochazuke he said he wanted with good energy. Maybe because he was thirsty, he emptied about three 1.5L bottles of Pocari Sweat and went to the bathroom frequently.
□ 11/30 (Sun)
He couldn't sleep well because his fever was up, and he took Calonal on his own judgment around 3:00 AM. His throat hurt and he didn't want to talk much, and a fever of 40°C was normal for him.
He was listless the whole time and didn't seem to have the energy to look at his smartphone. Near noon, 8 hours after his last dose, I gave him some jelly and Calonal, but his response to my questions was weak, and he didn't drink much Pocari, so I was very worried about dehydration.
Around 5:00 PM, it dropped to the 38°C range, and he ate half a serving of udon and some edamame. He seemed to have enough energy to look at his smartphone, which was a relief. From around this time, he started coughing, and I thought it was the same progression as the second son.
Dad was planning to go to Tokyo that day, but Mom was working late that day, and I couldn't leave the eldest son in that state, so I worked from home on Monday as well. It was a Friday, and I had already told my supervisor, so it was fine.
□ 12/1 (Mon)
Morning temperature was 38.4°C; he said he couldn't sleep because of the severe cough. He vomited slightly in the middle of the night. Although he had a headache and a mild sore throat, it seemed he was on the mend.
Dad worked in the next room in the morning, but he slept well and didn't cough that much. At noon, it was 37.4°C.
It seemed okay to leave him alone at home, so Dad went to Tokyo in the evening.
After that, although a cough remained, the isolation period ended on Wednesday, and he became much more energetic.
◆ Appendix
I was grateful that I was able to see a doctor smoothly without having to wait, even though the second son's visit was on a substitute holiday and the eldest son's was on a Saturday. With both of them having fevers near 40°C for a long time, and especially with the eldest son being listless for so long, I think this year's circulating flu strain, H3N2/subclade K, might cause quite severe symptoms.
I thought it would be fine as long as they were getting fluids, so I was most worried when the eldest son couldn't even drink Pocari and was listless. When my children were small and got sick, I felt worried and gloomy, but I never thought I'd experience that same feeling for the first time in 5 years since they caught COVID...
Honestly, it's really tough when both children get sick while I'm living away from home. Mom is also very busy with work, and I think it was a mistake to go to Tokyo while the second son still had a high fever.
From the Friday the eldest son came down with it, Mom was out early and back late on Saturday and Sunday for a work event, so Dad was nursing them alone, which was quite exhausting. I lost about 1.5kg because I lost my appetite... That said, I'm lucky I haven't caught it yet, perhaps because I got vaccinated at work.
I'm not sure how effective Tamiflu and Inavir were, but I thought Calonal was very effective. When the fever hits 40°C, they can't eat anything and become listless, which is a situation I can't bear to watch, so I think it helped.
Dad was nursing them while working from home, but I was concerned, so my productivity was low. Especially on the evening the eldest son came down with it, I couldn't work at all and finished work before 5:00 PM, but I was really helped by the spread of remote work.
Reading it back, it's a terrible mess of writing, but I posted it because I wanted to convey the situation of this year's influenza as soon as possible (an excuse).