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The media is telling me I am going to die of swine flue.

I got this as a CNN Breaking News text alert at 6am this morning.

23 month-old Texas child confirmed as first U.S. swine flu death, according to Richard Besser, acting director, CDC.

You can read the actual article here.
 
The actual story is, that the child was a Mexican National, and may have been sick for a few weeks all ready..

Regards.. Tim of T and J
 
*hopes someone throws paris hilton into mexico*
:dunce:

Are you kidding? With as many diseases as she's probably carrying, she's probably the only person with a natural anti-body!

I know.

But seriously...what do you want the media to report. That everything is happy sunshine bunnies with chocolate and rainbows.

Mmmmm... sunshine bunnies, chocolate sunshine bunnies, and rainbowy chocolate sunshine bunnies...

I second this!

/start rant/ I don't want to see my tax dollars go to another country when we have our own that need help. It's bad enough illegals get free health care in this country while us working stiffs get kicked in the butt when our employers pull our health insurance (happened to us in January) or up the rates so high we can't afford it and the government doesn't help. :mad: /end rant/

Agreed.

Last year it was the bird flu, next year it will be chinchilla fever:roflmao:

Don't forget about the Canine Craze!

And in the end,.....Snakes will rule the Earth!:eek:

With the cockroaches.


Seriously, I think the media is blowing it out of proportion. The CDC is doing all it can, but they can't stop the media. Yes, I think that we do need to take this seriously. When I was at the hospital last night, there was a woman in the ER who said she had what she thought were flu-symptoms, and she just got back from Belize. People are taking this seriously, which is a good thing. As it's been said before, we can't afford a pandemic. The planet could. The planet would prefer the death toll to be proportional to that of the Bubonic Plague. The population of the human race is about the equivalent of putting a million ants in one of those tiny ant farms everyone had as a kid. There's not enough room for all of us, and we're running out of resources QUICKLY.
 
I think the best advice anyone can follow concerning this virus is to hope for the best, but plan for the worst. With all of the easy and frequent international travel these days, a real pandemic is a distinct probability. Not necessarily now, with this bug, but sooner or later it's going to happen.

Wash your hands often, avoid crowded areas when possible, don't put your fingers into your mouth and nostrils, or rub your eyes with your fingers. Might be a good idea to carry around one of those little bottles of disinfectant that you see at a lot of the herp shows. It isn't a cure-all, but it will certainly help you to remember to keep your hands clean as much as possible...

Most people really don't have a clue nor care about personal hygiene. In any public restroom I have ever gone into, I would say that easily only one out of ten wash their hands before exiting. Why those doors are usually designed to be PULLED open from the inside by grabbing the door handle just boggles the mind. They will have installed faucets, paper towel dispensers, soap dispensers, and hand driers that do not need to be touched but you STILL need to touch that door handle in order to exit the rest room.... :crazy01:

So yeah, a highly contagious pathogen will spread like wildfire sooner or later...
 
How many people remember how scared everyone was when AIDS/HIV first appeared in the 80s?

This though is so much different, its fast, you dont need to really touch the other person to get it. I know this has been a bad spring for illnesses. I know up here last month a bug went around that got nasty for alot of people and gave them pneumonia. It was kinda scary cause I sure didnt want to get pneumonia.
 
The population of the human race is about the equivalent of putting a million ants in one of those tiny ant farms everyone had as a kid. There's not enough room for all of us, and we're running out of resources QUICKLY.

Not really. It depends on how we live. In Tokyo, it's not uncommon for 100 households live on an acre of land. At 100 households per acre our entire US population would fit into Los Angeles and the entire world population could live in the state of Virginia. Don't get me wrong, I'd shoot myself if I had to live that. But there is a LOT more land and resources than some would lead you to believe. Roughly 90% of the earth's people live on 10% of the land. Additionally, about 90% of the people live north of the equator.
 
Not really. It depends on how we live. In Tokyo, it's not uncommon for 100 households live on an acre of land. At 100 households per acre our entire US population would fit into Los Angeles and the entire world population could live in the state of Virginia. Don't get me wrong, I'd shoot myself if I had to live that. But there is a LOT more land and resources than some would lead you to believe. Roughly 90% of the earth's people live on 10% of the land. Additionally, about 90% of the people live north of the equator.

Only because there's really no resources on the other 90% of the land, or the areas have been declared wildlife preserves. The cost of populating a desert, I'm sure, is much more expensive than trying to populate the edge of a forest. There are natural resources which we need to stop taking advantage of either way you look at it.
 
It does seem that the media are making the most of giving dire predictions of impending doom.
Still looks like the Egyptian governments havin a panic attack, slaughtering all the pigs in the country! They havnt even had a case yet.
 
I'd be fine with a one, or even two child limit, worldwide.

Mein Kampf? :sidestep:

^^^A joke, in case that comes off wrong. There's just no way to enforce that sort of thing that wouldn't be statist and brutal!
 
I knew I'd find somehting about this here somewhere, and I just wanted to provide some insight. There are now 4 confirmed cases of N1H1 flu in my county, and 2 are in my hospital. Both are actually secondary to another major immunocompromised diagnosis. Its true that healthcare workers are taking this very seriously, but not in the way that most would think.

This is still just the flu, and the outcomes are expected to mirror the seasonal flu. The concern is that A) the virus already has mutated (that is why it was passed from swine to human in the 1st place). While viruses are able to evolve overnight, it takes our technology months to catch up. B) because it has mutated, and it is not seen in humans, we haven't built up an immunity to any components of the virus. C) This strain is very contagious.

Thats all. Thousands and thousands of people die from the flu every year. This will be no different. Yes, the young and old are targets, but regular healthy people can be affected too. The immunocompromised are at major risk. To be honest, there is more of a risk for secondary diagnosis than anything else. (ie: the virus weakens the immune system, and you develope pnuemonia). We in the healthcare field have seen it everywhere for a loooooong time.

The N1H1 flu is nothing to get too worried about. The media hype is... well, the media hype. Keep in mind though that it is very contagious. Do your part to cut off the spread, and we'll be in a better position to fight it off. It usually only takes a few months to mass produce a vaccine anyway. Us in healthcare will do everything we can to treat those that need it, and also try to keep the community safe. (Heh... you should see the get-up I have to wear these days!)
 
Are you kidding? With as many diseases as she's probably carrying, she's probably the only person with a natural anti-body
QUICKLY.
Great joke, that plot deserves a South Park episode. Paris Hilton is the disease sponge that will create the vaccine through her own freakish immune system.
 
The N1H1 flu is nothing to get too worried about. The media hype is... well, the media hype.

It's starting to look this way. Mexico has now downgraded the number of deaths attributed to Swine Flu - review of those cases has shown that some people died of other causes that may have been made worse by the flu. They're now reporting expected mortality rates for a "standard" flu outbreak (if there is such a thing).

I watched a BBC interview yesterday with an epidemiologist from Cambridge University, who said that every year in the UK, 12,00-13,000 people die from flu or complications caused by it. If you're old and infirm or already ill with something else, then any type of flu can be fatal.

A significant outbreak of Swine Flu is cause for concern and a reminder to take extra care over personal hygiene (sneeze into a hankie not a hand, etc), but it now seems that it's no worse than any other strain.
 
Not to make light of a serious disorder, but I have to tell you all a funny story. On Thursday, one of my students walked in to last period and grandly announced to the entire class "I have a cough and a sore throat. I think I am dying of swan flu."

Every single person in the class, including me and my co-teacher, paused and turned to look at her. I said "You mean swine flu?"

She looked at me and said "That's what I said."

"No, you said swan flu. That's a big white bird. Swine flu is what's out there."

"Well what's the difference?"

At this point I was laughing way too hard to continue, and the other kids were freaking out... "Swan flu?! Is that new too?! OMG!"

My co-teacher gets irritated and writes "SWINE AKA PIG" up on the board to show them the difference, which then got them all freaked out because "I had bacon this morning! Am I infected?!"

Incidentally, I have a sore throat and while I know it's post nasal drip from allergies, it is in the back of my head.... ;)
 
My allergies have been flaring up too ugh:( My son has asthma and I have an autoimmune disorder so getting this flu or any would not be good, but with cases already in my city its bound to happen unfortunately. It seems those who seek immediate treatment have come through fine though I keep hearing of some who had a weak strain so are there already more than one strain going around. We have to remember in Mexico health care isn't exactly what it is here, nor as accessible, and their culture handles illness differently. In America we run to the doctor everytime our nose runs- hence the high cost of health care, but in other countries people tend to medicate at home until they are extremely ill. So far no deaths in the US and of the people in my city that have contracted the disease they have actually been able to recouperate at home so i am optimistic.
 
who said that every year in the UK, 12,00-13,000 people die from flu or complications caused by it. If you're old and infirm or already ill with something else, then any type of flu can be fatal.
If I'm not mistaken, the concern with swine flue is that the young and healthy are the ones getting infected. That's part of the concern even though I'll admit there's too much media hype.

D80
 
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