Swine Flu Pandemic - Preparation

Learning about and preparing for what now appears to be the "Great H1N1 Swine Flu Pandemic of 2009"
greghaught
Posts: 30
Joined: Sat Jun 13, 2009 1:41 pm
Location: sacramento

Re: Swine Flu Pandemic - Preparation

Post by greghaught »

Amon wrote:And you chose the wrong place to be defiant, my dear.
you dont tolerate disagreement, dear? not even factual?

Amon
Posts: 24
Joined: Sun Feb 22, 2009 3:30 pm

Re: Swine Flu Pandemic - Preparation

Post by Amon »

greghaught wrote: you dont tolerate disagreement, dear? not even factual?
I never said that. You may think it's implied, but get a closer look at the place you're attacking before barging in.

I know the above facts. I'm just stating they'll prove worthless in the long run, and that I'll laugh when they do due to my lack of faith in humanity.

John
Posts: 11479
Joined: Sat Sep 20, 2008 12:10 pm
Location: Cambridge, MA USA
Contact:

Doctors warn against 'swine flu parties'

Post by John »

http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/06/30/flu.party/

Doctors warn against 'swine flu parties'

* Story Highlights
* Talk of people holding swine flu parties so children build immunity to the virus
* Some feel it is better to contract H1N1 now than if it returns in a second wave
* Experts warn against deliberately spreading a disease that can be deadly

By Mark Tutton
For CNN

LONDON, England (CNN) -- Health experts are warning parents against
holding "swine flu parties" in the hope of infecting their children
with the H1N1 virus.

Travelers take precautions against the H1N1 virus in Kuala Lumpur.
-- Travelers take precautions against the H1N1 virus in Kuala
Lumpur.

Talk of swine flu parties has emerged on Internet forums. The idea is
that exposing a child to the H1N1 virus while it remains relatively
mild will give the child immunity if the virus returns in a more
virulent form later on.

The idea is an extension of chicken pox and measles parties that were
once a popular way of exposing children to those diseases so that they
might acquire resistance to subsequent infections.

But health officials have been quick to condemn the idea. Speaking at
a conference, Dr Richard Jarvis, chairman of the British Medical
Association's public health committee, said "I have heard of reports
of people throwing swine flu parties. I don't think it is a good
idea.

"I would not want it myself. It is quite a mild virus, but people
still get ill and there is a risk of mortality."

Last month, Richard Besser, the acting head of the U.S. Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention, also warned against deliberately
exposing people to the virus.

While it's not clear if any swine flu parties have been held, Justine
Roberts, the founder of Web site mumsnet, today told BBC Radio 4 that
some people have been discussing the idea.

"We have heard of people saying 'can we come round to your house when
you get it?" she said.

"There's definitely a prevailing view that it might be better to get
it now and some people are not despairing if there is a case in their
school."

Flu epidemics often come in waves and there are fears that a more
virulent form of H1N1 may strike in the fall. That happened with the
Spanish flu pandemic in 1918.

Researchers at George Washington University in Washington DC have
studied the 1918 pandemic and have found that in areas where there
were more cases during the first wave of Spanish flu, there were fewer
deaths during its second wave, in the fall of that year.

The suggestion is that exposure to the first wave of the flu conferred
immunity to its second wave.

But H1N1 is still very much an unknown quantity. Experts warn that
little is known about the virus and that actively encouraging its
spread could risk the health of those who are most vulnerable.

While the symptoms associated with swine flu are not usually life
threatening among people in good health, it can be deadly for elderly
people or those with other medical conditions.

The latest figures from the World Health Organization show there have
now been 311 confirmed deaths around the world from the H1N1 virus
first identified in Mexico this spring, and just over 70,000
infections in 113 countries.

StilesBC
Posts: 121
Joined: Sun Sep 21, 2008 9:44 pm

Re: Swine Flu Pandemic - Preparation

Post by StilesBC »

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009 ... 614325.htm
Swine flu panic spreads in Argentina

By Richard Reynolds

Posted Thu Jul 2, 2009 6:26am AEST

People in Argentina are starting to panic about the spread of swine flu, with at least nine more people dying from the virus overnight.

Just three weeks ago, swine flu was something that Argentines thought Mexicans and perhaps Americans had to worry about.

Officially 44 have now died from the virus, but unofficially, the tally may be as high as 150, giving Argentina a death rate higher than any other country.

Surgical masks appeared on the streets of downtown Buenos Aires today, but business still appears to be continuing as normal.

The two-week extension of the usual winter school holidays has many concerned that the government is not telling them the whole truth.

burt
Posts: 138
Joined: Sun Jul 19, 2009 5:56 am
Location: Europe

Re: Swine Flu Pandemic - Preparation

Post by burt »

Hello, I follow this blog for quite a time and I just decided to participate as I like the opinions I can find on it, so I just want to give mine and read the answers.

I recommend http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/colu ... -fear.html

THIS Flu is NOT dangerous for the humanity (very few deads), the next ont will be (please follow the information on the OMS site). The panic generated by the over information COULD be much more dangerous, BUT I donot believe it will, because the different governements in the world DO their jobs (not as for the financial criisis).

Regards to all

John
Posts: 11479
Joined: Sat Sep 20, 2008 12:10 pm
Location: Cambridge, MA USA
Contact:

Re: Swine Flu Pandemic - Preparation

Post by John »

H1N1 swine flu virus has been spreading rapidly in Britain. This is
a surprise since it had been thought that the virus would effectively
disappear in the Northern Hemisphere during the summer months.
However, it still appears to be pretty mild.
> ** U. K. urges calm while planning for 65,000 flu deaths
> ** http://www.rep-am.com/News/426551.txt
> Britons were told not to panic over swine flu Friday after the
> nation's most senior doctor said the health service is planning
> for 65,000 deaths from the disease, which has claimed 29 lives so
> far in the U. K.
In the Southern Hemisphere, where it's winter, it's spreading about
three times faster than the normal seasonal flu. Argentina has
declared an emergency because the virus is passing back and forth
between pigs and humans.
> ** Argentina declares emergency after flu found in pigs
> ** http://www.reuters.com/article/americas ... SN17476663
> BUENOS AIRES, July 17 (Reuters) - Argentina's government declared
> on Friday a national sanitary emergency due to the presence of the
> new H1N1 flu virus in pigs. Earlier this month, animal health
> officials said workers at a pig farm in Buenos Aires province were
> suspected of having passed the new strain onto the animals.
According to Henry Niman, the similarities to the 1918 pandemic are
growing:
> ** 1918 Pandemic H1N1 Human/Swine Recombination
> ** http://www.recombinomics.com/News/07140 ... Swine.html
> The swine origin is also supported by the recent Nature paper
> showing that sera from patients alive in 1918 had antibodies that
> not only saw the 1918 pandemic H1N1 strain, but also the current
> 2009 pandemic strain which is a swine H1N1. Thus, both the
> antibody data as well as phylogenetic analysis support a mammalian
> (human and swine) origin of 1918. ...

> These data have important implications for the current pandemic
> strain, because it is a swine H1N1 which can efficiently transmit
> in humans. It has spread throughout the human population
> worldwide, and now is in position for further adaptation to human
> host via recombination with seasonal H1N1, which is well adapted
> to humans.
I believe that it's now all but certain that we're going to have a
major H1N1 pandemic in the fall. The best scenario we can hope for
is that it will remain relatively mild, but it will still kill many
more people than the usual seasonal flu. The worst case scenario is
a repeat of 1918-19.

Separate from the health implications, there are also significant
economic implications.
> ** Swine flu could extend recession by two years, says thinktank
> ** http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/ju ... -thinktank

> Six-month swine flu pandemic could cost economy £60bn and hit the
> UK just as recovery starts, says Oxford Economics

> A six-month swine flu pandemic in the UK could cost the economy
> about £60bn and extend the recession by around two years, an
> economic thinktank warned today.

> Oxford Economics said a pandemic was likely to hit the UK just as
> its starts to recover from recession and could result in the
> credit crunch being much worse that it would otherwise have been,
> tipping the economy into deflation.

> The thinktank predicted that a severe pandemic could cut gross
> domestic product by 5%, with the economy shrinking by about 7.5%
> next year and enduring 1% deflation throughout 2010-12. It said a
> pandemic would lead UK consumers to save more and spend less.

> The report concluded: "There is a significant risk that the
> pandemic triggers a set of unfavourable behavioural changes that
> tip it into deflation. A flu outbreak in the autumn would hit just
> as the economy starts to recover from the credit crunch. It would
> threaten already fragile businesses and put further strains on
> financial markets and fiscal balances.

> "This could generate a vicious cycle that postpones the recovery
> for another couple of years. The fact that UK households' balance
> sheets are more stretched than in many other countries makes the
> risk of deflationary dynamics larger than elsewhere."

> The thinktank has previously warned that a six-month pandemic
> could cut world GDP by 3.5%, or about $2.5tr (£1.5tr).
Thus, this could have been posted in the "Financial Topics" thread,
as well as the swine flu thread.

John

Samir
Posts: 32
Joined: Wed Apr 29, 2009 10:45 am

Re: Swine Flu Pandemic - Preparation

Post by Samir »

So News Literacy teacher thought that the media blew the swine flu thing out of proportion. Next class a student which has been absent for weeks came in to talk to him. Turns out she has been travelling and came down with an illness. Guess what he thinks she has?

Interesting how that worked out.

Foolworm
Posts: 3
Joined: Sun Aug 02, 2009 1:17 pm

Re: Swine Flu Pandemic - Preparation

Post by Foolworm »

It may be more overblown news, but the new mutations in H3N2 (seasonal flu) are popping up, and are creating fears of hybridization. This particular variant is causing worry; - in HK, one has already died and 2 more are in ICUs within the first few days of confirmation.

http://www.chinapost.com.tw/taiwan/nati ... N2-flu.htm
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009- ... 803913.htm

I might add that for all the virulence of H1N1, H3N2 is without question the most successful human flu strain to date. With both circulating simultaneously around metropolises such as Hong Kong and Taipei, one logically jumps to the worst possible conclusion.

burt
Posts: 138
Joined: Sun Jul 19, 2009 5:56 am
Location: Europe

Re: Swine Flu Pandemic - Preparation

Post by burt »

Samir wrote:So News Literacy teacher thought that the media blew the swine flu thing out of proportion.
That is correct, it IS OUT of proportion, BUT...
Foolworm wrote:It may be more overblown news, but the new mutations in H3N2 (seasonal flu) are popping up, and are creating fears of hybridization. This particular variant is causing worry; - in HK, one has already died and 2 more are in ICUs within the first few days of confirmation.
I might add that for all the virulence of H1N1, H3N2 is without question the most successful human flu strain to date. With both circulating simultaneously around metropolises such as Hong Kong and Taipei, one logically jumps to the worst possible conclusion.
THIS IS THE problem (I already wrote on that on this site), a triple one:
--H1N1 is NOT dangerous, and it was OVERmediatized
--Now most governments and most medias say "keep cool, NO problem, just 4-5 times more people with the flu than usual, but not really important" (that is what I heard las week at the radio)
--The mix of H2N2 (I have to study a little bit more the information) could be deadly, but people are no more aware of the problem, they were anxious at the beginning, now most people don't understand anymore anything (because of the communication in the media which say at the same time "dangerous" and "we don't care")

Again as stated by the medical corpus FROM the beginning H1N1 is NOT the problem, the problem is the next mutation coming from a mix between one of the human flu virus and H1N1.
Now with this news the probability becomes extremly high, but NO vaccination and NO medecine (don't believe in the Tamiflu, this is ONLY advertisement and fun, check that with your doctor AND the old news from Japan: at the beginning of Bird Flu, another flu different, but... some of its genes are included in H1N1(if I understood correctly), In Japan they tried Tamiflu and it was NOT effective)
Tamiflu IS effective is a numerous of case with H1N1, but with it's mutants no one knows (I do not say yes or no, I say we have to wait for the hybrid).
Think about the fabulous quantity of unusefull vaccins which are NOW under production and which will be wasted...

If this new virus appears (too early to say), Consequences could be:
--sudden human AND financial panic because of stupid and laxist communication from the government (I mean by that, it would have been better to tell the truth FROM the beginning: ok we do nothing for H1N1, we will have a few deads, very few, but we concentrate our effort for the day we will have a mutant)
--Consequences of the panic much worse that the flu in itself
--A stop (for a week or so) of the economy (NOT important IF, a big IF, governments communicate clearly the truth, not electoral truth, but the truth)

NOW DON'T PANIC, THINK..... The new virus is NOT here, just be aware of the protections you should take if it arrives, for you and you family.
Forget H1N1 and concentrate yourself on this new probable flu.
Governments will do their duty (just because they don't want to loose the next election), We have the right doctors well informed, so if no one panics and speaks NOW with his-her doctor, everything should(?) go fine.

Thank you to Foolworm for the information

Amon
Posts: 24
Joined: Sun Feb 22, 2009 3:30 pm

Re: Swine Flu Pandemic - Preparation

Post by Amon »

Then you people are going to love this report.

Militarization of Swine Flu Preparations

I'm not going to take anything specific out of that article. I'll just let the rest of you have fun.

---------------------------------

Now, we still have to understand: it is difficult NOT to panic. Personally, I have no reason to panic when it's my life that might be in danger, as I know my life doesn't have as much consequence as I might feel it should. But I've already lost nearly all of my friends and relatives to either Death or Betrayal, and THAT is where the fear eats at me.

I feel stupid for having to make the reminder, but oh well: Regardless of personal feelings, when something like this happens that may be catastrophic, assume the worst-case scenario and prepare appropriately.

Post Reply

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 11 guests