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Community => Watto's Junk Yard => Topic started by: Scott on April 25, 2009, 09:35 PM
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Anyone else scared out of their gourds right now? :-\
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Anyone else scared out of their gourds right now? :-\
I don't think I'll be traveling south any time soon.
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Yeah but how many people already have traveled south...and come back...and sneezed on their hand and opened the door with it right before you touched the same handle.
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I'm glad I don't work in a grocery store anymore. Hopefully this doesn't spread to much either unfortunately I have heard reports that 2 cases were found in Kansas and a school in New York has 75 kids who have flu like symptoms and early samples of blood work shows that it could be Swine Flu.
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I'm about as worried as I was about SARS and Bird Flu. There are 400 million people in this country, a couple hundred cases where even most of those people live isn't going to ring the doomsday bells just yet.
I'll try not to toss and turn too much tonight.
Not that the few cases where people die aren't sad.
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I'm glad I don't work in a grocery store anymore. Hopefully this doesn't spread to much either unfortunately I have heard reports that 2 cases were found in Kansas and a school in New York has 75 kids who have flu like symptoms and early samples of blood work shows that it could be Swine Flu.
From FoxNews:
"The symptoms in the New York cases have all been mild, and no students have been hospitalized."
A sore throat and a little fever for a few days won't be the end of the world.
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I'm torn. Part of me says we're so long overdue for a major, lethal outbreak it isn't even funny. The other part of me says the fear is part of a major media construct, which is doing exactly what it is supposed to: scare the pants off people and have them tuning into the news 24/7 for new updates. So how serious is it in an era where lawsuits will fly like crazy if people aren't warned of the absolute worst possible outcome at the first hint of trouble? Is it really serious or are we in litigation avoidance mode? These days it is impossible to tell which is which.
I don't know that I'm not wrong about the overdue part. Yeah, I've heard that from a lot of smart folks, but is it actually an acknowledgement of the current conditions we live in or a misunderstanding of the general health/conditions/situation at the time of the last major flu outbreak? We may not actually be due because we are generally healthier as a population than ever before.
I'm about as worried as I was about SARS and Bird Flu. There are 400 million people in this country, a couple hundred cases where even most of those people live isn't going to ring the doomsday bells just yet.
That's about where I sit, at the moment as well. It is horrible that people have already died and more may well, but we've become so completely unrealistic about how nature actually treats us that a few folks dying from food poisoning is major news. It used to be a whole lot more and something that just happened. Now its an outrage. Look back at history and you'll find we have it pretty good, especially with respect to child mortality rates. That's harsh, but it is also true.
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I'm with you, buggy - I feel like we're long overdue for some sort of plague to waste a quarter of the population. BUT, any time the media talks about some sort of exotic flu epidemic I just roll my eyes.
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Went digging for information on it and it seems to be H1N1 with some recombinant mutations to it. From the reports it is about 80% something we've seen before and 20% recombinant, so that's the new stuff creating the buzz.
If substantial mortality starts to appear in the US, then I'll start wondering, but much of the mortality thus far could be attributed to poor living conditions in Mexico combined with poor, limited or no health care and a particularly virulent flu. It's not so much the flu that killed them as the flu plus the other conditions compounding it. That's how I'd judge it thus far anyway.
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So far there are reports of swine flu cases in the following areas in the US:
-Flushing Queens, NY
-Topeka, KS
-San Antonio, TX
-Minnesota (unclear on the city)
-San Diego, CA
People are concerned because the outbreak in 1918 is estimated to have killed over 20 million people worldwide. Additionally the WHO is saying that this particular strain could have pandemic potential.
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I guess based on the fact that not many of the Americans have died yet...I am agreeing with you Brent that the living conditions/health care in Mexico are contributing to the number of casualties. And while so far it looks like no Americans have died...there are lots and lots and lots of countries that are even less well off than Mexico and if this spreads further to those areas it could get ugly
And while I am not worried about myself or anyone here, I think the whole thing is frightening based on the fact that while we are all dodging the bullet this time (so far)...next time we may not be so lucky.
I also wouldn't put all of this on the media...the WHO and CDC are both raising legitimate cautions. I'm not naive enough to not see that there is a benifit to those orginizations for being a tad bit alarmist (government funding through increased exposure). They have to realize that creating panic for no reason should not be in anyones best interests
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Sources say flu has been detected in Canada.
Reports indicate that Canada's first cases of swine flu have been detected at different ends of the country.
Sources say the cases have turned up in Nova Scotia and British Columbia.
Lab results show people infected with unidentifiable influenza A viruses. Swine flu is so new that most laboratories don't have tests to identify them as such.
It appears that Nova Scotia has three cases in people with a travel link to Mexico. B.C. has reportedly found a pair of cases, but it's not known if there's a Mexican link there.
Officials are planning a briefing Sunday afternoon on the swine flu situation in this country.
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And while I am not worried about myself or anyone here, I think the whole thing is frightening based on the fact that while we are all dodging the bullet this time (so far)...next time we may not be so lucky.
No disagreement at all on any of your post Scott. I'm just not sure what to think. I agree, it can't all be put on the media but at the same time I'm confused on how much is eventual lawsuit avoidance and how much is legitimate alarm. You just can't tell anymore. WHO I'm not such a big fan of, but the CDC I would definitely trust. I think when you read into the details of the releases from WHO and CDC it's more precautionary than anything else. The media then takes those bits and alters the context just enough to scare the pants off people.
People are concerned because the outbreak in 1918 is estimated to have killed over 20 million people worldwide. Additionally the WHO is saying that this particular strain could have pandemic potential.
And this highlights my own personal confusion. I'm no health care authority, so my thoughts are as meaningful/meaningless as anyone here. At the same time, think about the conditions of 1918. Are we in the same situation as then? Not even remotely in terms of living standards for most, and surely all of us on this board. This could play an incredibly important role in whether we even ever see another outbreak of that magnitude, no matter how overdue we may think we are. You need only look at the rates of malaria in Texas versus Mexico to see that even in what are essentially neighboring communities, the differences in rates are staggering and the only real differences are standard of living and access to health care.
But I can easily counter that with the nanny approach we see in society with avoidance of challenging our immune systems. And we have folks that avoid vaccines that could easily provide a substantial "in" for any number of illnesses that are already under control. So are we setting ourselves up for some major problems? I dunno.
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Sources say flu has been detected in Canada.
Reports indicate that Canada's first cases of swine flu have been detected at different ends of the country.
Sources say the cases have turned up in Nova Scotia and British Columbia.
Lab results show people infected with unidentifiable influenza A viruses. Swine flu is so new that most laboratories don't have tests to identify them as such.
It appears that Nova Scotia has three cases in people with a travel link to Mexico. B.C. has reportedly found a pair of cases, but it's not known if there's a Mexican link there.
Officials are planning a briefing Sunday afternoon on the swine flu situation in this country.
Canadian health officials are holding a press conference right now.
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"These cases are mild. No one in Nova Scotia has been hospitalized because of the illness. All those who have been affected are recovering. At this point we're not seeing severe cases like those occurring in Mexico," Dr Robert Strang, chief public health officer for the province of Nova Scotia, told a televised news conference.
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Anyone else scared out of their gourds right now? :-\
Funny this is all going on, and I just so happen to be insanely ill right now. I dont' think it's a flu though, but rather a sinus infection. I'm really, really out of it right now though, and basically wandered the local toy show like a Zombie on Friday and Sunday. I hope I didn't get Anthony Daniels sick with Swine Flu though.
Basically that was the running gag all weekend though. ::)
If this gets worse I'll go to a doctor... Otherwise I hope it just goes away.
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Anyone else scared out of their gourds right now? :-\
Funny this is all going on, and I just so happen to be insanely ill right now. I dont' think it's a flu though, but rather a sinus infection. I'm really, really out of it right now though, and basically wandered the local toy show like a Zombie on Friday and Sunday. I hope I didn't get Anthony Daniels sick with Swine Flu though.
Basically that was the running gag all weekend though. ::)
If this gets worse I'll go to a doctor... Otherwise I hope it just goes away.
Yikes - hope you feel better soon dude. :-\
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Funny this is all going on, and I just so happen to be insanely ill right now..........
I'm really, really out of it right now though, and basically wandered the local toy show like a Zombie on Friday and Sunday.......
If this gets worse I'll go to a doctor.... Otherwise I hope it just goes away.
Geez Jesse -- what do you consider "worse"? ???
Hope you are feeling better soon! :-*
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Sounds like Swine Flu.
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Nah, he'd be dead already.
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Nah it's not horrible like you're running to the bathroom all the time and things... I'm pretty sure I just have a bad sinus infection. I think it's down now to just a sore throat really and a stuffy head as the sinuses are clearing up. It sucked in that freakish heat wave though this past weekend. It never fails that when it gets hot, I get sick.
I hope I didn't get Anthony Daniels sick. :-\
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You better hope so for your sake Jesse. Otherwise Bill Cable is gonna punch you in the face at the next get together, LOL.
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It wouldn't be a first time... He hates me.
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(http://3.media.tumblr.com/l1ZsqyHh5muhb5uyKCKxvc04o1_500.jpg)
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So I just heard from a co-worker that 20 kids, including 2 of hers, were just sent home from one of the schools in our town for flu like symptoms... She is on her way to the hospital now to have them tested.
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So I just heard from a co-worker that 20 kids, including 2 of hers, were just sent home from one of the schools in our town for flu like symptoms... She is on her way to the hospital now to have them tested.
Yikes - I hope they're okay! You're in Wisconsin, right?
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So I just heard from a co-worker that 20 kids, including 2 of hers, were just sent home from one of the schools in our town for flu like symptoms... She is on her way to the hospital now to have them tested.
Insanity.
From the CDC website, about regular flu:
Every year in the United States, on average 5% to 20% of the population gets the flu; more than 200,000 people are hospitalized from flu complications, and; about 36,000 people die from flu-related causes.
Tell me this isn't being blown way out of proportion for reasons that aren't yet clear.
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This thing is showing how sometimes a 24 hour news cycle is not the best thing.
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Yikes - I hope they're okay! You're in Wisconsin, right?
Yeah, we are in southeast WI. Word on the street is that there were a couple of families from that school that went to Mexico for their Spring Break and some of the kids are now sick. I'm really hoping that it's just the regular flu and everyone is all right.
Tell me this isn't being blown way out of proportion for reasons that aren't yet clear.
I really hope that's the case... I'll post more once I hear something...
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From the CDC website, about regular flu:
Every year in the United States, on average 5% to 20% of the population gets the flu; more than 200,000 people are hospitalized from flu complications, and; about 36,000 people die from flu-related causes.
Tell me this isn't being blown way out of proportion for reasons that aren't yet clear.
That's definitely an eye-opening stat that people are taking to heart. The concern appears to be that while the fatality numbers have been low relative to the number of people who die from common strains of the flu, human resistance to H1N1 is almost non-existant.
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Farmer may have given swine flu to pigs, Canada says (http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/05/02/swine.flu/index.html)
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The pig was dressed suggestively, she was practically begging for it. Damn Canucks. :P
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The pig was dressed suggestively, she was practically begging for it. Damn Canucks. :P
Ew.
The plot thickens!
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That's definitely an eye-opening stat that people are taking to heart. The concern appears to be that while the fatality numbers have been low relative to the number of people who die from common strains of the flu, human resistance to H1N1 is almost non-existant.
Nevertheless:
May 4th, 2009
Swine flu no worse than regular flu, officials now say
Posted: 05:56 PM ET
WASHINGTON (CNN) — The swine flu virus that has sparked fear and precautions worldwide appears to be no more dangerous than the regular flu virus that makes its rounds each year, U.S. officials said Monday.
“What the epidemiologists are seeing now with this particular strain of H1N1 is that the severity of the disease, the severity of the flu — how sick you get — is not stronger that regular seasonal flu,” Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said Monday, as the worldwide number of confirmed cases of swine flu — technically known as 2009 H1N1 virus — topped 1,085.
The flu has been blamed for 26 deaths — 25 in Mexico and one in the United States, according to the World Health Organization.
Still, Napolitano noted, the seasonal flu results in “hundreds of thousands of hospitalizations” and roughly 35,000 fatalities each year in the United States. There are still concerns that the virus could return in the fall — in the typical flu season — as a stronger strain.
“We are cautiously optimistic that this particular strain will not be more severe than a normal seasonal flu outbreak,” Napolitano said. Federal officials will continue to prepare for possible futures outbreaks and look into developing and distributing an H1N1 vaccine, she said.
Researchers at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the WHO said they will monitor developments in the Southern Hemisphere, where flu season arrives over the next few months. Results there will help determine actions in the United States and elsewhere when flu season in the Northern Hemisphere arrives in the fall.
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Awesome. We get to perpetuate the fear for several more months; how sweet is that? ::)
Stronger strain? Uh, no, sorry. For it to change would require it to mutate or recombine further and it is therefore no longer the same strain. More hedging that I quite frankly still don't get. Scare the snot out of people and then realize oops, we ****** up on that guess, so we'll say chicken little will be back even stronger in the fall? Really, what gives because this isn't making sense. I'm not surprised Napolitano isn't getting it correct, she's just a politician, but I'm really, really curious about why the CDC and WHO are saying this sort of stuff.
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WHO declares swine flu pandemic (http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/06/11/swine.flu.who/index.html)
The World Health Organization raised the swine flu alert Thursday to its highest level, saying H1N1 has spread to enough countries to be considered a global pandemic.
Increasing the alert to Level 6 does not mean that the disease is deadlier or more dangerous than before, just that it has spread to more countries, the WHO said.
As of Wednesday evening, the virus had spread to 72 countries, the health agency said. There were 25,288 confirmed cases and 139 deaths. The United States had 13,217 cases and 27 deaths, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday.
Also Thursday, authorities in Hong Kong ordered the closure of all elementary schools, kindergartens and day care centers in the city after 12 students were found to be infected with the virus.
Authorities have not determined the source of the infection, said Hong Kong's Chief Executive Donald Tsang. This makes it the first cluster of swine flu cases in the city without a link to someone who had traveled overseas.
The number of cases continues to grow in Britain, Japan and Australia -- all of them outside the Americas, where the virus was first detected in April.
Thursday's declaration of a pandemic by the WHO made this the first flu pandemic in 41 years.
In Hong Kong, the schools and day care centers were told to close for 14 days as investigators tried to identify the source of the infection, said Tsang, the chief executive.
The health department will decide after two weeks whether or not to continue the shutdown.
A month ago, Hong Kong quarantined about 300 hotel guests for a week after the first case of the virus was confirmed there.
Hong Kong's abundance of caution stems from the government's unwillingness to see a repeat of the SARS epidemic in 2004, which killed nearly 300 people.
Also on Thursday, Israel's health ministry announced that the number of people diagnosed with swine flu there was 68.
Health officials have begun using the virus' clinical name -- H1N1 -- to reflect that it's actually a combination of several different types of flu and to reduce confusion about whether eating pork can spread the virus. It cannot.
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CYA
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From the CDC website, about regular flu:
Every year in the United States, on average 5% to 20% of the population gets the flu; more than 200,000 people are hospitalized from flu complications, and; about 36,000 people die from flu-related causes.
versus:
WHO declares swine flu pandemic (http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/06/11/swine.flu.who/index.html)
The World Health Organization raised the swine flu alert Thursday to its highest level, saying H1N1 has spread to enough countries to be considered a global pandemic.
Increasing the alert to Level 6 does not mean that the disease is deadlier or more dangerous than before, just that it has spread to more countries, the WHO said.
As of Wednesday evening, the virus had spread to 72 countries, the health agency said. There were 25,288 confirmed cases and 139 deaths. The United States had 13,217 cases and 27 deaths, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday.
139 deaths worldwide over 2+ months in 72 countries for swine flu versus 36,000 deaths in the US alone annually from regular, boring flu. Pardon me? ???
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Experts have reported the first case of swine flu that is resistant to tamiflu - the main drug being used to fight the pandemic.
David Reddy, company executive, said it was not unexpected given that common seasonal flu could do the same. (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8124987.stm)
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139 deaths worldwide over 2+ months in 72 countries for swine flu versus 36,000 deaths in the US alone annually from regular, boring flu. Pardon me? ???
But this one's called SWINE flu! Spooky!!!
I think the real concern is this fall... the swine flu could combine with regular seasonal flu to produce a very virulent strain which nobody has antibodies to fight. That's what happened in 1918, leading to 60+ million deaths, most of them healthy adults (the 36,000 are mostly old, very young or sick). We have much better means to control an outbreak these days, but it's certainly dangerous.
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"Blood tests show that many people who were born before the 1918 flu pandemic seem to have immunity to the current swine flu, but not to the seasonal flu that hits every year." (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090713/ap_on_sc/us_swine_flu_study)
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Well that's awesome news for the 91+ crowd.
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Anyone have the flu yet? I think I have it right now. About halftime of the game today I started coming down with a fever...I'm at 100 right now and feel like crap. :-[ Not sure if it H1N1 of course but its been going around town like crazy since school started. Thanks to the guy at work that came back after only being out for a day
I know I and 99.99% of people will be fine, what scares me is if the avian/swine/human death strain ever happens...I think the failures of getting out vaccine and people not getting sick is pretty damn scary...no?
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I'm in the same boat as you Scott. I got slammed with a fever and body aches and am pretty much living on the couch for the next few days (which really sucks because I was supposed to have a job interview on Monday). I started my Tamiflu because I have a heart condition and so I'm in the "high risk" group. I know that seasonal flu affects people every year, but it's kinda scary that the H1N1 version hits younger people and kids.
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Well, being ever the radical, I remain wholly unconcerned about the H1N1 variant.
The Southern Hemisphere has gone through their flu season already but the Northern Hemisphere, where we are located, is just entering it. Ok, fair enough. Currently the H1N1 mortality sits in the ballpark of 5000 cases worldwide. I won't bother linking the CDC website again, but the annual mortality from regular, garden variety flu and related complications (I assume those 5000 deaths attributed to H1N1 can be described as "flu and related complications" as well) in the US alone is 36000. I'm too lazy to look for worldwide figures on "flu" that isn't H1N1 but I'd guess if the rate is that high in the US, a first world country, it will be higher in poorer countries.
Yes, there are individuals at risk who should be concerned. Yes, it is concerning that H1N1 seems to have some greater impacts on younger folks rather than just knocking off geezers. At the same time, and realizing this is wholly relevant to many here, younger kids means under 5 for high risk. Otherwise they aren't in the high risk category (6-18 y.o.). I also suspect that much of the "unusual" mortality cases will tend to have complications, as the young hockey player in Canada (10 y.o.) did - asthma.
Old flu is boring, common and lethal. H1N1 is a "new" variety of the flu and thankfully from the media's perspective, it kills some people outside the norm of what is expected, ergo it becomes big news. Couple that with a shortage of vaccine, panic in the clinics handing it out and the media are rubbing their hands together with glee.
I don't have the flu yet but won't be surprised if I get it. Knock on wood I hope it doesn't do anything serious but I'm not about to start worrying about what ifs at this point.
I know I and 99.99% of people will be fine, what scares me is if the avian/swine/human death strain ever happens...I think the failures of getting out vaccine and people not getting sick is pretty damn scary...no?
At the risk of pushing this south, you can't trust the pharmaceutical companies anyway, right? ;) The true complication is you can't pump out that much stuff (vaccine) that fast anyway. You still need to go through the testing and all the regulatory procedures. This is a recombinant variety of the regular flu, so you can't just easily dump some identical vaccine out there. It won't work and if you modify it haphazardly without the testing it could be worse than the disease. Manufacturing processes coupled with regulatory processes = slow.
If that evil death strain ever comes out, we're all screwed anyway, much as if Iran fires off a bunch of nukes. I grew up living under that spectre with the cold war through the 70s. I'm not suggesting we can ignore it but practically speaking there really isn't anything we can do about it either.
Do what you can to keep your family safe, but be realistic is my viewpoint. I'd never suggest folks not wash their hands, cough into their sleeves or not use hand sanitizer. But has the rate of infection fallen by a measurable percentage? I seriously doubt it but someone's making a boatload off the high profile nature of this flu relative to its mortality rate. More than one someone. And knocking on wood doesn't hurt either ;)
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Scott, hope you ride it out quickly with no complications.
In RI the next state over we've lost two teenage girls in a matter of a week. Really scary stuff.
I know I fear my little ones getting it. I do realize that 99% of people get through it, but 1% is 1% in my eyes and with kids that small percentage might as well be 50%.
I have to say I, myself, am scared of getting this one. I have asthma and I generally go through at least one upper respiratory infection every year (two years ago pnuemonia) so this is one that has me on alert. Since the bacterial part of the flu seems to be the one that fills the lungs incredibly fast and seems to be the killer. So definitely more concerned with getting this one.
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I've already had H1N1 this year - it knocked me on my butt for a while - though I only got one day off. I wasn't concerned about it - but my Dr. was. My lungs are damaged from several bouts with bacterial pneumonia in the last 3 years. I need a rescue inhaler every time I get a respitory infection. I did a round of Tamiflu, but the darn thing seems to be lingering 4 weeks later. My 4 year old had it too, but her most noteable symptom was the high fever, which only lasted 3 days, thank God. My 8 year old still gets the croup and goes into respitory distress everytime he gets a cold - so he's the one I am concerned about. Not because of the media hype - but because he lands in the E.R. everytime this happens.
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I had H1N1 a couple of weeks ago. By the second day my fever was pushing 103.5, about the highest I've ever had it that I can remember. Other than that it was exactly the same as regular flu, and I recovered in 4-5 days.
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So how are we doing these days?
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Remember that conversation we had about climate change? Well, let's just say that somebody made some nice coin off of the swine flu scare!
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I had a sore throat last week, but I'm good now.
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All was well in our house until a couple of weeks ago. On Monday am my 8 y.o. woke up w/a sinus/ear infection and a fever. He just kept feeling worse and weaker. On Wed. am I had to go in for scheduled surgery - so my mother-in-law came to stay over. She came to the house with a stuffy nose feeling crappy. While I was in the hospital she called my husband to say she was sick as a dog - she went to the Dr. and was diagnosed w/the flu. So he went home to take care of the kiddos. I started getting a post-op fever. So after a day or two of the Drs. scrambling, they did a flu test on me - score! So now I am getting over the flu while recovering from surgery - and yesterday the 5 y.o. wakes up with a stomach bug. :(
You asked Brent :-*
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Sorry to hear about your run of bad luck Tracy :-\ Which flu version didja get...
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Thanks Brent :) Type A this time around. I got vaccinated for both strains and ended up contracting both strains this season. ???
Wait - it gets better - at 2zm tne 8 y.o. starts with the plumbing on both ends and by 5 a.m. my hubby - who has already been home for 8 days taking care of me - started with it too. I am staying far, far away.......
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... starts with the plumbing on both ends .......
Awesome visual :D