Swine Flu, Bird Flu, Who Cares?

[Tez3]

Experience I guess...

Anything that doesn't disfigure half the European population or covers them in boils, and then kills off most of the victims is not worth talking about. The general feeling here is best expressed as: 'Meh'.

Yep thats how it is round here!
We've had to deal with Foot and Mouth epidemic so it'll have to be far worse than that before we panicked lol!
I was stuck in a city when a child due to a typhoid epidemic, police blocked the roads out we weren't allowed to leave. No body panicked them either, as kids it was great, they closed the schools!

http://www.historyscotland.com/features/aberdeentyphoid.html

 

[Sukerkin]

Aye, it is true that despite the best efforts of the blanket media to scare everyone it's actually having very little effect on the ground. Indeed, if anything the mood is of humour e.g. a cough or sneeze is immediately followed by an impression of a pig grunting :lol:.

 

[Tez3]

Aye, it is true that despite the best efforts of the blanket media to scare everyone it's actually having very little effect on the ground. Indeed, if anything the mood is of humour e.g. a cough or sneeze is immediately followed by an impression of a pig grunting :lol:.

Lol! I can see a fair few people trying to get days off for this, if you report you've been to Mexico or been with people who have and you have flu like victims you get sent off to hospital for a few days. I wonder.....

 

[theletch1]

Yep thats how it is round here!
We've had to deal with Foot and Mouth epidemic so it'll have to be far worse than that before we panicked lol!
I was stuck in a city when a child due to a typhoid epidemic, police blocked the roads out we weren't allowed to leave. No body panicked them either, as kids it was great, they closed the schools!

http://www.historyscotland.com/features/aberdeentyphoid.html

I've seen enough footage of Brits during the German air campaign of WWII sitting calmly in bunkers with an almost "ho-hum" look on their faces as air sirens wailed to completely understand that something like the flu isn't likely to upset ya'll too much. Quite the plucky lot.

A big part of the problem, IMO, is that folks almost seem to need a crisis in this country to keep them happy. Sad, really. We've got it good here in the USA. So good, in fact, that we've had to create diseases. Road rage dis-order, cell phone addiction and any number of "dis-orders" that are custom made to give folks who have it very well a reason to put on the "victim mantle". Bah, let me know when Ebola gets loose and then I'll think about taking panic into consideration.

 

[crushing]

Flu is a deadly disease, we just don't think of it that way. [...] A 5% mortality pandemic today would kill around 300 million people - nearly the entire population of the US.

Grapevine time.

Given the state of the media, how long would it take for a perfectly legitimate quote like the one above from Empty Hands to turn in to something outrageous like, "The Swine Flu may be so deadly it could just about wipe out the entire population of US."

 

[Tez3]

Grapevine time.

Given the state of the media, how long would it take for a perfectly legitimate quote like the one above from Empty Hands to turn in to something outrageous like, "The Swine Flu may be so deadly it could just about wipe out the entire population of US."

I think people do underestimate the danger from many diseases we've come to think of as harmless. Measles still kills children in this country, and can leave children handicapped. Mumps can leave children deaf, both measles and mumps can lead onto meningitis, a killer in it's own right. Chickenpox in adults can be severe and lead to serious complications.
It's long been known that the flu virus can be fatal not just to the old, very young or those with lung complaints. We've just taken it for granted that the flu we get makes us feel miserable but not that it can be fatal. the Swine fever outbreak has just reminded us that's all.
The 1918 outbreak of flu killed between 20-40 million people so we are right to be concerned, we are also right to not to panic.
http://virus.stanford.edu/uda/

We should remain as informed as we can, underestimating any disease may be a mistake but flapping around at 40,00 feet isn't going to do anyone any good either.

The two patients diagnosed with Swine Fever in Scotland are being treated and are expected to make a complete recovery. As someone said once "We have the technology,..."

 

[Thesemindz]

I just recently read that the swine flu may be so deadly it could just about wipe out the entire population of the US.

Now I'm scared.


-Rob

 

[Archangel M]

World daily death rate...

 

[Gordon Nore]

Actually, having a healthy immune system can kill you. This is what made the 1918 flu special: it triggered a cytokine storm, which is basically your immune system attacking your body.

Just learned of this today. Shudder.

 

[Drachonius117]

So the healthier we are the more likely we are to die?!!?

*Ahem* Please excuse me while I go lick a toilet bowl and roll in some dirt.... lol

 

[CoryKS]

If I know my son's school, they've already signed a contract for some damn state-of-the-art, spare-no-expense, swine flu-specific air scrubbing system and are writing up the bond that our panic-stricken neighbors will pass unquestioningly. They'll probably spend a little more for the low-emission model so they can congratulate themselves for being "green" as well.

I'd rather proceed with caution than panic. But I'm sure we'll see at least one bright star in the next few weeks kill his family on accident by taping plastic over all the windows.

 

[Bruno@MT]

If there is going to be a killer pandemic, we'll die.
If there isn't then we won't (die of the flu, that is).

Either way, beyond the basic things that we already (should) do everyday (washing hands, not coughing in someone's face, etc) there is nothing we can do. No point in worrying.

The only difference between this and the idea of dying in a traffic incident (apart from the fact that the latter is much more likely) is that we've gotten used to the idea, and convinced that it won't happen to us. Everything gets old.

 

[Darksoul]

-Not looking to hijack the thread but wanted to throw something else in the pot. I suppose it could be another thread though not sure if its been discussed before.

-One thing I like watching on T.V. is end of the world shows, last days, mayan calendar and all that. Major natural disasters and such. And I think I like it because its distracting. Anyways, is it about time for the world to have another major pandemic wipe out millions? Not something I want to advocate, btw, just wonder if a pandemic is a natural thing.

-And if it is, maybe we should be concerned...?

"The center does not hold." S. King

 

[Bruno@MT]

There is no such thing as 'it is time' or 'we are overdue' with issues like this.
It is a matter of statistics. Throwing 'heads' 10 times in a row is improbable. But if you have thrown heads 9 times, the odds of throwing 'heads' at the 10th toss is still 50%.

The same applies to killer asteroids or pandemics.
Both are natural occurences, but they are not bound by regular intervals.

 

[Guardian]

I work out of our Public Health Department. What makes this Swine Flu or the fancy name they have for it now a worry for folks is that it's mutated from the Swine/Bird/Human Flu's, kind of a mixture and they have no shot for it and we have no immunity for it, so sick or healthly does not matter with this one.

The reason Mexico was hit so hard is their health care system is seriously lagging, by the time they figured out what this was, many had it and it had gone into the advance stages where treatment was worthless.

Those exposed and diagnosised in time, supposedly had no problems recovering. There are a couple of Anti-Viral meds out there that work wonders on it. Plus their sanitary conditions might not be as good as ours.

I agree, we can't worry ourselves to death over it, but taking pre-cautions is justa wise thing to do.

 

[Thems Fighting Words]

SO the World Health Comission has put it's alert up to Level-5, the second highest alert possible (Level-6 is a full blown Pandemic). Does anyone know what this Level-5 actually means? How does it affect travel, trade etc?

 

[Thesemindz]

The World Health Organization also puts the official number of Swine Flu deaths at...

Drum Roll?

8.

8.

Not 152.

8.

http://www.who.int/csr/don/2009_04_30_a/en/index.html

I'm not saying, I'm just saying.


-Rob

 

[blindsage]

If you're really concerned, this website can help.

http://doihaveswineflu.org/

 

[Thesemindz]

Well that settles it.


-Rob

 

[Archangel M]

When your job (and funding) depends on predicting pandemics I suppose you have to scare the populace every once and a while to keep your job secure.

Im more worried about a "cry wolf" situation than anything else. If these organizations start a "black death" hype each and every time some new pandemic is declared, Im worried people are going to brush off what turns out to be a real threat. They have to create some sort of balanced message. Of course, the media and its thirst for blood isnt helping matters.