Fear of pandemic as killer flu strain spreads!!

I just have to write this

I was right smack in the middle of the SARS crisis back in 2004 and also when the Avian flu scare appeared in the SE Asia region. It was not the nicest time of the years.

I think people ought to worry about it and not just shrug it off saying it's another type of flu. It CAN be dangerous. It CAN mutate and spin out of control. Why would you take any risks?

I would definitely recommend checking out the FAQs at WHO.int to see what preventive measure can be done. Again, it's might not be just a simple flu.

 

I totally agree, and I am hoping people don't misunderstand what I'm trying to say. The point is, don't panic. Good hygiene and precautionary measures are always recommended, regardless of the severity of a given virus.

Forget 'can'. It is dangerous. It already has mutated, which is the whole point. Each strain is a mutation, and this particular strain is a totally new variant. This is definately something to be watched closely and studied, but no reaction is really warranted now beyond good hygienic practices. Stay clean, wash often, and avoid infectious situations.

Here's some good basic info: Swine Flu

Note: Despite the scale of the alert, the WHO stated on April 29 that the majority of people infected with the virus have made a full recovery without need of medical attention or antiviral drugs.

 

It really us scaring people. Fort Worth ISD just sclosed down school for a whole week, and my SAT has been delayed too. Everythings getting a little mixed up down here. =/

 

same

it left me a little numb

 

If 1 person on my campus gets it, we have to move home immediately. Maybe possibly an overreaction, but it's better to be safe than sorry.

 

technically te toddler was from mexico visiting texas. but tragic nonetheless, and yes it happens all the time, enfluenza has already killed like 3000 people since january.

 

they )the CDC) which is far more reliable in my view than the WHO, has pulled cryogenically frozen blood vials from the seventies (the last time there was swine flu, thats right it has happened before.) and they are testing to see if this :new virus" reacts the same way and whether the old stalk pile of antibodies are effective, and they probably will be, so if thats the case they will have a vaccine with in 8 weeks for mass production probably sooner, and if not and it is a new strain with crazy virulance, than it will be six month maximum for new antibody and vaccine production, either way to panic is stupid, and just wahs your hands and stay clean, keep the same precautions as regular flu, bc they are pretty much both deadly, the only difference is that you if you go untreated for swine flu you may and i mean MAY die quicker, but it will be the hugh fever that kills you, so if you have good medical attention you will be fine, unless of course you are 2 years old or 80 years old,

 

My cousin got sick yesterday. She thinks she has it. ._.

I hate paranoia. :/

 

Hella people in Livermore /might/ have it, including seven people at my old high school.

To be honest, I think we should be cautious, we should be careful of symptoms, we should wash our hands often and cover our mouths if and when we cough. But we shouldn't freak out. Wearing masks in an area like mine is not overreacting, but the media constantly talking about it and schools thinking of closing temporarily is.

I'm just going to stay inside when I normally stay inside and go out when I normally go out. There's no point in never leaving the house when the only people I talk to are bus drivers and the lady who sells tickets at the cinema.

 

warm drinks keep cuddled up in blankets stay out of wind

you can always go to doctors and het checked but dont worry fear and stress can make you far more ill

take care

 

Yay. Someone who agrees. -_- I'm tired already of hearing about the Swine Flu like its the Bubonic Plague or something. Good lord, people get sick, get the flu, it's natural. It's a new strain, so what? That happens all the time. This one just happens to be a bit more effective then others. Mutation occurs within viruses. xD It's nothing new. I overheard people at school saying something to this effect:

"Omg. Im so scared. The news says its probably in OR already and people keep getting sick one after another."

"I know! I think my son has Swine Flu actually. I wish they had a vaccine."

"You know, my friend says his counsin or someone got it or knew someone who did."

Hysteria is FAR more contagious than any virus.
Nuff said.

:bang::bang::bang:

 

I don't think the media is attempting to scare people at this point, it's been stated over and over again that this virus has the "potential" to become a deadly pandemic.

People always say that prevention is better then cure, that's what all this fuss is about; preventing the pandemic.

The flu going around is said to be weakening as it passes from person to person but that's only a stage of a viral evolution, it only takes a few weak people with little immunity to be defeated by the virus for it to become a lot worse and spread from there.

Here's a bit of a time line to explain a bit how its been developing.

Pig ---> Spread to first victim (generally fatal) ---> Spread to further victims from the original contaminate (less fatal (weakening))

What's beginning to happen is that the jump where the flu weakens is occurring later and after more victims.

There is little media coverage on this because it is more evident in the areas of mexico where it originated and the media is fixated on the western nations as of late.

Some of the reasons the media and people are freaking out about it all:

- The common seasonal flu is a type B strain, which has(although a fast evolving strain) a vaccine which can be updated and maintained to match the rate in which the flu evolves. The Swine flu is a type A strain which although not significantly deadly at this stage, if it were to evolve further it would be much more difficult to control and contain.

- The Swine Flu is the first significant type A influenza strain experienced since the Spanish Flu (which killed more people then the combined death toll of every war recorded in modern history) This just enhances fear, due to the media hyperbolizing the situation.

- The flu's potential to evolve into something much more dangerous, being more contagious and far more fatal.

- A typical human trait; mans fear of the unknown. The inability to understand the flu at a civilian level has people running around screaming Swine Flu at every cough in the street.

- Fear that the global economic status will hamper attempts to control the flu.


Peace out hommos ^^

 

It's a general rule in public health/epidemiology that when you start reporting a certain disease in terms of the media, reports of it shoot up. It's inevitable. People become clued up about the symptoms, so more of them report it at hospitals etc. Of course, the number of false cases tends to rise higher than the number of true ones.

It doesn't help that for most people, the flu like symptoms will be ambiguous, at best. I mean, sore thoat, headache, stomach complaints? Those symptoms together could be the result of any number of micro-organisms. It could even be any strain of flu virus (nothing stops the others from emerging). Until they've taken some blood and run it under a test normally called ELISA (Enzymed Linked Immuno-Sorbant Assay), they can't really be sure it's swine flu (H1N1).

It's something that could be dangerous to the young, old and immunosupressed so it's only natural that cases want to be kept down. After all, if you control the spread to a small group that don't feel (much) ill effects of the virus, you're less likely to infect someone who is at risk.

 

Well I think it's good that there's an overreaction in the media because it causes people to be far more cautious and probably leads to less spread as would have been caused if the attitude were more relaxed and careless due to less media coverage.

Somebody in my county has been sent to get tested for the flu. She's come back from Mexico recently. Other than that a girl in the next county has been found to have it as well. So it's getting closer to home for sure...

 

I heard something that was interesting this morning on the news...

The reason this flu is different is because some people's immune systems are actually over-reacting to the virus. That's why healthy people who would normally not become terribly sick with a flu are dying. And that is what is different, and more than a little scary, about this.

So while it's important not to panic, it IS important to know that the result of just 'riding it out' if you get infected aren't likely going to be the same as with a standard influenza, and could result in death in people that you wouldn't ordinarily expect.

 

Swine Flu prevention tip. Don't do this!

 

And that was the pattern of the 1918-1920 H1N1 flu that people refer to as the Spanish flu. Because it was a strain that had not been common in human history, the immune reactions were so severe that most of the people who died actually died of a form of auto-immune pneumonia. And the deaths were across all age groups, whereas the usual types of seasonal influenzas tend to affect the elderly and the very young.

What has scientists worried about this particular flu is:

1. the H1N1 categorization which has a bad history in prior pandemics
2. the fact that this flu has occurred outside the normal October-February northern hemisphere flu season (research shows that the flu virus is normally more transmissible in cold weather)
3. the fact that there is no available immunization and it will take 3-4 months to prepare a "flu shot" for this strain

The truth of the media hype is somewhere in the middle. This will be a nasty flu if you get it. You're going to be really sick and feel really crappy- like most flu.

But the media is misrepresenting the public health response to this flu. What public health officials are trying to do is slow the spread until there's an immunization available- which hopefully will be ready before we get into the next flu season.

 

lol XD
and to think I've been at risk all these years XDDD

our school are using antibacterial wikes on all tables after every lesson XD
and they use SOAP in the bathroom now
first time we've had soap before XDDDDDDD
I still think our headmaster is a completely clueless bigot due to a previous outing :/


slightly OT, every time I hear about swine flue, for some reason, I think of someone playing that pandemic game XDD

 

when was the spanish flu?

 

1918