swine flu ?
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Feltran
Well-known member
There have been at least three flu pandemics in the past, one of which killed approximately 40 million people, but that's still a long way from apocalyptic.
Is it a real problem? Really, too soon to tell. The interesting (and unexplained) thing about the swine flu is while cases have now shown up all around the world, it has only been fatal in Mexico.
No, the masks don't help much. Minimizing contact with people who appear sick, washing your hands frequently and not touching your face with dirty hands are more effective.
Not all flu medicines are effective against swine flu, but right now there are at least two that are, and the US government has enough of those medicines to treat 50 million people. In addition, within 6 months a vaccine could be produced.
With all that said, there is still a lot that's not known about this particular bug, and the flu virus is notoriously difficult to predict, because of how frequently it mutates over time.
Is it a real problem? Really, too soon to tell. The interesting (and unexplained) thing about the swine flu is while cases have now shown up all around the world, it has only been fatal in Mexico.
No, the masks don't help much. Minimizing contact with people who appear sick, washing your hands frequently and not touching your face with dirty hands are more effective.
Not all flu medicines are effective against swine flu, but right now there are at least two that are, and the US government has enough of those medicines to treat 50 million people. In addition, within 6 months a vaccine could be produced.
With all that said, there is still a lot that's not known about this particular bug, and the flu virus is notoriously difficult to predict, because of how frequently it mutates over time.
here is a link to a post by a freind that works for the CDC
http://www.slkworld.com/off-topic/9942-fyi-swine-flu.html
There are 2 members of my forum that work for the CDC.
sorry for the link to my forum, I go by bill T on that forum
http://www.slkworld.com/off-topic/9942-fyi-swine-flu.html
There are 2 members of my forum that work for the CDC.
sorry for the link to my forum, I go by bill T on that forum
Dreamer
Classified Forum Moderator
Depends on how you define apocalyptic. If you are one of those 40 million, or one of their immediate family, I'd think it would be a pretty apocalyptic event...
When you consider that 40 million is about 6% the entire population of the US, it's a pretty big number.
The Flu Epidemic of 1918 killed more people in its first year than the Black Plague of the middle ages killed in 4 years. That's twice as many people than were killed in WW-I. Then again, the Black plague was primarily isolated to Europe and parts of the Asian Steppes, whereas the 1918 Flu was truly world-wide, thanks to the US Army shipping infected soldiers out of Fort Riley by the shipload in the final stages of the Great War.
An interesting fact about the 1918 Flu Epidemic--It was popularly referred to as the "Spanish Flu", even though it originated in the US and vectored out from here. Naming of these epidemics used to be pretty arbitrary, but what is particularly interesting about this is that Spain was neutral during WW-I. Perhaps the popular name for that Flu was more informed by political sentiment than any sort of infection vector research at the time. I mean if we were being truthful, the 1918 Flu would be called the "Ft. Riley Flu"...
It will be interesting to see how this one plays out...
Of course, in the US, about 40,000 people are killed each year in alcohol-related motor vehicle crashes, and you don't see the media getting all hot and bothered about that.
Statistics are like poodles--if you treat them right, you can make them jump backwards through flaming hoops. It's all part of "the act"...
--Richard
DTB300
Well-known member
Instead of just guessing and speculating on a forum do some research at the critical sites... Here is an easy to find site with info
http://www.cdc.gov/swineflu/
Until today.
For a fascinating read on the 1918 pandemic, try The Great Influenza, by John M. Barry.
Feltran
Well-known member
As that article points out, the common flu kills thousands of people every year (according to that article, about 36,000), which is elderly people and young children. The first, and only US swine flu death so far as a young child... The swine flu is no more problematic than any other flu until a number of otherwise healthy adults start dying from it (which has happened in Mexico, but nowhere else).
One of the reasons there haven't been a number of deaths in other countries has been the low number of cases of Swine Influenza A(H1N1) reported. Statistically and epidemiologically we haven't had enough cases to see any trend in the number of deaths in the US. One of the reasons the CDC is concerned is that just as in the 1918 pandemic, the deaths from this virus have been predominantly in the "healthy young adult group" and not in the typical groups of the very young and the very old.
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Tube60
Well-known member
Hilarious ROFLMAO:ROFL:
Pcar928fan
Well-known member
As noted the flu in 1918 is what ACTUALLY ended the war... There were no more people to fight... While that is not 100% true, it is pretty close. To many young people who would be warriors were dying from the flu. As noted 40 million...though I think you meant .6% of the population (though I am not sure what the pop. was in 1918, certainly not the 6.5 billion of today). If there were 4 billion people, 10% death would be 400 million, 1% would be 40 million...or the percent dead from the flu...
Influenza virus kills 36,000 people a year, yet we still can't get everyone to vaccinate (me included on that one) and drunk driving kills about the same number yet we don't ban the production and consumption of alcohol. Is this a bad deal...sure, it sucks being sick or dead, I guess...I have not been dead yet so I don't know for sure... Is it a Pandemic? I guess based on the fact that it is all over the world then yea, it is a pandemic. Is it a killer? Not in a broad basis it does not seem to be.
The one death so far in the US is a young Mexican child who was not getting treatment in Mexico (hey, I thought Mexico had universal healthcare...you mean you can't get care there??? You can get care in any hospital ER in the US...how can this be that socialized medicine has failed? I thought it was going to be the savior of the US granted to us by the great Obama...)
Sorry, jumped up on my soap box for a minute there. Will this become a deadly pandemic? To early to tell, but I kind of doubt it. Just my gut feeling, but you just never know what might happen. Sometimes these viruses will mutate mid stream and you could end up with a much more virulent strain before you know it.
Stay well all of my ML friends!
Influenza virus kills 36,000 people a year, yet we still can't get everyone to vaccinate (me included on that one) and drunk driving kills about the same number yet we don't ban the production and consumption of alcohol. Is this a bad deal...sure, it sucks being sick or dead, I guess...I have not been dead yet so I don't know for sure... Is it a Pandemic? I guess based on the fact that it is all over the world then yea, it is a pandemic. Is it a killer? Not in a broad basis it does not seem to be.
The one death so far in the US is a young Mexican child who was not getting treatment in Mexico (hey, I thought Mexico had universal healthcare...you mean you can't get care there??? You can get care in any hospital ER in the US...how can this be that socialized medicine has failed? I thought it was going to be the savior of the US granted to us by the great Obama...)
Sorry, jumped up on my soap box for a minute there. Will this become a deadly pandemic? To early to tell, but I kind of doubt it. Just my gut feeling, but you just never know what might happen. Sometimes these viruses will mutate mid stream and you could end up with a much more virulent strain before you know it.
Stay well all of my ML friends!
It's a good idea to get a flu shot every season. However, I'm pretty sure the flu shots were not developed for this current strain. It will take months just to develop a new vaccine plus time for them to incubate them in chicken eggs.
Feltran
Well-known member
There are a lot of different strains of the flu, and there are new strains on a regular basis, and they also mutate on a regular basis. Each year the flu shot is reformulated to target the strains that they expect to be most common that year.
Getting a seasonal flu shot does absolutely nothing to protect against an entirely new strain like the swine flu.
Well, before you get on your soapbox James, you might want to get your facts straight. According to this AP News article, the boy was first diagnosed in Brownsville, Texas, which means it was OUR supposedly excellent health care system that let him down. Which makes you look just a little silly standing up there on your soapbox.
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amey01
Well-known member
Some people have said it makes them feel really bad - basically just like getting the flu. On those grounds, I've always been too scared - especially considering I haven't had the flu for over 10 years!
Now if someone says it'll be effective against Swine then I'll be right there, but until that time I don't really see the point in standing in a line of sick people at a doctor's surgery waiting to get the disease.
Bernard
Well-known member
I once turned down a flu shot at my doctor's office, explaining to his nurse that even though I got a shot every year, I still got the flu. Her response was, "Do you get laid up in bed for 6 weeks every time?". To my "No" response she then said, "All you get is a bad cold, not the flu". I took the shot, with no ill effects.
I think the idea behind the shot is that your body will gain strength without the damaging effects of the flu.
Bernard, she was totally pulling one over on you. Flu symptoms rarely persist for more than two weeks.
I never get the flu shot, and I haven't had the flu since I was a young child. Last year, they gave everyone a flu shot at the nursing home except for my wife's grandmother, who refused it. The next couple of days, she was the only resident in the home that wasn't sick as a dog.
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