H1N1 ("Swine") Flu

I don't call this a pandemic, the rate of people dying is not much worse then the normal flu. This strain is not killing off healthy people.
 
MacNut said:
I don't call this a pandemic, the rate of people dying is not much worse then the normal flu. This strain is not killing off healthy people.
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I think this is another example of how the media is over stepping it power. It is only really because of the mass media that they caved and did it.
 
OMG WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE.
As of now it's officialy a level 6 of 6 pandemic! All thanks to my home state victoria. Yeh, we beat you again nsw.

Anyways, we need a good population cull.
 
MacNut said:
I don't call this a pandemic, the rate of people dying is not much worse then the normal flu.
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A pandemic is not defined by a high mortality rate in those infected. A disease may be a pandemic without killing many people.

More so, a pandemic is defined by the criteria that a disease is new to the human population, the disease can maintain sustainable transmission from person to person, and that the disease has been demonstrated to cause serious illness. There is no requirement that the disease must have a high mortality rate.

EDIT: Bah, I promised myself I wouldn't post in this thread again...wasn't too good at keeping that promise. :(
 
Eanair said:
A pandemic is not defined by a high mortality rate in those infected. A disease may be a pandemic without killing many people.

More so, a pandemic is defined by the criteria that a disease is new to the human population, the disease can maintain sustainable transmission from person to person, and that the disease has been demonstrated to cause serious illness. There is no requirement that the disease must have a high mortality rate.

EDIT: Bah, I promised myself I wouldn't post in this thread again...wasn't too good at keeping that promise. :(
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I'm glad you did, you bring a bit of sense into it. :)
 
Swine flu first UK death

A person suffering from swine flu, and with "underlying health problems" has died in Scotland. Apparently it's spreading a lot faster there than the rest of the UK, and faster in the UK than the rest of Europe...

It's officially a pandemic, according to WHO, but unlike the last one 40 years ago which killed 1 000 000, this one is far less virulent with the majority of people suffering only MODERATE symptoms.

Keep up the hand washing everybody!


BBC article: tr.im/otEj
 
In before someone saying "but the normal flew kills XXXXX people per year, and also, I'm smarter than these WHO people! I graduated high school!!!!!"

I'm so sick of people saying stuff like that. WHO raised it as a PRECAUTION and because it fits the definition. Problem is that some idiots watch so many movies and think that pandemic means some sort of end of the world.
 
NathanCH said:
In before someone saying "but the normal flew kills XXXXX people per year, and also, I'm smarter than these WHO people! I graduated high school!!!!!"

I'm so sick of people saying stuff like that. WHO raised it as a PRECAUTION and because it fits the definition. Problem is that some idiots watch so many movies and think that pandemic means some sort of end of the world.
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I'm not denying that it's a pandemic, and WHO is doing its job. However, I'm here to remind people that they are blowing this waaaay out of proportion.
 
Granted, it's from Fox News, but...

A new strain of the swine flu virus has been discovered by Brazilian scientists.

The scientists uncovered the new strain after examining samples from a patient who was hospitalized in Sao Paulo in April, Agence France-Presse reported.

The 26-year-old, who developed flu symptoms after returning from Mexico, has since made a full recovery.

The variant has been called A/Sao Paulo/1454/H1N1 by the Adolfo Lutz Bacteriological Institute, which compared it with samples of the H1N1 swine flu from California

It was not yet known whether the new strain causes more severe infections than the current H1N1 strain, which has been declared a global pandemic by the World Health Organization.

Nearly 36,000 people in 76 countries have been infected with the H1N1 virus, according to the latest figures from the WHO, causing more than160 deaths.
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http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,526832,00.html

And here is the article linked to in the Fox news story:

Brazilian scientists have identified a new strain of the H1N1 virus after examining samples from a patient in Sao Paulo, their institute said Tuesday.

The variant has been called A/Sao Paulo/1454/H1N1 by the Adolfo Lutz Bacteriological Institute, which compared it with samples of the A(H1N1) swine flu from California.

The genetic sequence of the new sub-type of the H1N1 virus was isolated by a virology team lead by one of its researchers, Terezinha Maria de Paiva, the institute said in a statement.

The mutation comprised of alterations in the Hemagglutinin protein which allows the virus to infect new hosts, it said.

It was not yet known whether the new strain was more aggressive than the current A(H1N1) virus which has been declared pandemic by the World Health Organization.

The genetic make-up of the H1N1 virus and its subvariants are important for scientists.

Pharmaceutical companies are working to mass produce a vaccine against the current A(H1N1) flu.

There are fears though that it could mutate into a deadly strain, much in the same way as the 1918 Spanish flu -- also an A(H1N1) virus type -- did when it killed tens of millions around the planet.

According to the WHO, 36,000 people in 76 countries have been infected with the H1N1 virus, causing 163 deaths.
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http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.594b3919f568748326be82a3a65d7646.241&show_article=1
 
The "hype" about swine flu may actually be responsible for helping to stem the outbreak in it's early stages. People look back on SARS and scoff over the media attention it was given, and SARS ended up killing 600 people; a number that may have been much, much higher had it not been for the quick action of the WHO. Here's a rough explanation of how that works:

With the typical seasonal influenza, if you are infected by it and pass it on to, say, 5 other people, there's a good chance that 4 out of 5 of those people will possess a natural immunity or an immunity shored by their flu shot. After six generations, the infection rate would look something like this:

1--->1--->1--->1--->1--->1

With the swine flu, which represents what is essentially a new and unknown strain of flu, if you pass it on to 5 other people there's a good chance all five will become infected. If each of those people then pass it on to 5 more, you get something that looks like this after six generations:

1--->5--->25--->125--->625--->3 125

(That's 2 million by the 10th generation)

Let's say the media "hype" causes roughly ⅓ of the at risk population to be more careful than they otherwise would have been, and observe additional hygiene protocols that helps to stop the transmission of the virus as early as the second generation.

1--->3--->9--->27--->81--->243

(a mere 20 000 by the 10th generation)

All of a sudden what could have been disastrous becomes much more easily manageable. I hope I have explained that to the satisfaction of any resident doctors, and if I have not I am open to correction; this is the situation as I understand it.
 
rdowns said:
8 cases in the NYC area, not too far from me. From my new spring ensemble...


bird%20flu%20mask.jpg
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rdowns,
That is the hottest avatar EVER!!! Where did you get it?
 
TuffLuffJimmy said:
I'm not denying that it's a pandemic, and WHO is doing its job. However, I'm here to remind people that they are blowing this waaaay out of proportion.
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It's way too early to make such a grand, omniscient statement.

I'll go so far as to say that Pandemics such as SARS, bird flu, swine flu etc will soon become the norm, not the exception. Anytime a population is crowded and jets from one corner of the globe to the other, the only possible outcome are more frequent outbreaks of disease.
 
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