Swine Flu

Discussion in 'The Lounge' started by pacmansays, Apr 26, 2009.

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  1. Neha

    Neha Beyond Infinity. Contributor

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    I'm thankful to God, the swine hasn't affected India yet!I still remember how fast the bird flu spread...and when you have billion plus people to think of it's enough to drive the government ballistic.....though even 1 milion would do that.

    God, like Murphy's law says(it was that right?)...when anything has to go wrong it does!
     
  2. Rei

    Rei Contributor Contributor

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    Just a few things to think about regarding all the people who have died from it:

    1) Did they have any other health problems?
    2) What kind of medical care did they have access to?
    3) How quickly did they get said medical care?

    These are details that are not being included when they talk about the people who have died. Every time the Canadian news talks about cases in Canada, they emphasize the fact that they are MILD.
     
  3. pacmansays

    pacmansays New Member

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    Well i'm not 100% sure but generally all the people who have died are more fragile or susceptible to this illness....the only death in the US was a toddler.

    But I believe this disease follows the same path of many diseases in the fact it is localised. Local immune systems are suscepitble to illnesses which people outside of the area aren't. So, the reason there are no deaths outside of Southern US and Northern Mexico is because that area is the disease can fight immune systems there. The only worry is if it mutates to kill outside the localised area
     
  4. becca

    becca Contributor Contributor

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    The one from the toddler that died, if anyone bothers to read the link. It said that the family went to Mexico, and the child fell ill on the way home, and was taken to a hospital, the little person died at the hospital. So it would imply that there was medical intervention. Whether it was just not soon enough, or the child was too young for the body to fight it properly, I don't know. Maybe the small child had never had the flu period, and didn't have any antibodies to counter the attack of the virus, and therefore was hit more severly. I don't really know. I just know that there was a death of a small child (which is always tramatic and sad), in the US.
     
  5. Cogito

    Cogito Former Mod, Retired Supporter Contributor

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    A somewhat remarkable aspect of this flu is that it hasn't just been those usually at risk (very old, very young, immune-impaired). Many of the fatalities were young adults, a portion of the population that usually is more robust against infectious disease.

    Some of the speculation has been that the immune response in some of the victims was overreactive, that the general immune response was active and did more organ damage than the virus itself.

    That being the case, it sounds like promply treating te symptoms may be critical to recovery - keeping the patient hydrated and working to reduce the fever, the entire time symptoms are present.
     
  6. razumikhin

    razumikhin New Member

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    You know what? I'm excited about this. I'm excited because this could be it, this could be the time we've all been waiting for. If bird flu and swine flu could just somehow combine, then we might see it happen in the next few weeks.

    This is going to be when pigs fly.
     
  7. Rei

    Rei Contributor Contributor

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    This is the key here. Taking care of yourself right away, in the best way you are able to. Did these young healthy people take care of themselves? We don't know.
     
  8. The Freshmaker

    The Freshmaker <insert obscure pop culture reference> Contributor

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    That's how it goes with a lot of kids, and frankly I'm surprised that none of the college kids here in the US have died from it. People get caught up in school and work, and don't take care of themselves. "Toughing it out" becomes a virtue. No one wants to look like a slacker by staying home, even though that would be the prudent thing to do.
     
  9. sophie.

    sophie. New Member

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    Hahaha!
    GENIUS

    We will simply have to try and mix them together...
     
  10. HKB

    HKB New Member

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    Oh god. Swine flu is no different from the regular flu, with the exception that thousands of people have "regular" flu and thousands a year die from it, usually the very old and young and otherwise weak, whereas a few people have died from swine flu. Stop watching TV.
     
  11. ManicParroT

    ManicParroT New Member

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    Yeah, the World Health\ Organization doesn't have a clue, they totally don't understand the difference between normal flu and swine flu. They're just putting major health alerts in place for a laugh.

    :rolleyes:
     
  12. HKB

    HKB New Member

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    WHO is concerned with any and all influenza outbreaks because they kill thousands of people a year and it's a major killer in poorer countries.
     
  13. chandler245

    chandler245 Banned

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    Well we finally had an outbreak where I am. I thought it would never hit here, but hey I don't know what to think about it.
     
  14. marina

    marina Contributor Contributor

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    Reading the news online, it's amazing how one news report will talk about thousands of infected people and 100+ fatalities, or how there have been a high number of fatalities among healthy young adults, but then I'll go to the World Health Organization website and it says the only confirmed fatalities from the virus are 7 people in Mexico and 1 in the U.S. And then I read on NPR.org that most of those that died in Mexico were "young adults," and the reason that's troubling is because "a hallmark of past flu pandemics has been high fatalities among healthy young adults." You can see how that fact (assuming it is a fact) got distorted and reporters ended up writing it as if there have been high fatalities of young adults.

    I've also read articles that say there is no vaccine to deal with this particular strain of influenza, but then other articles will say how the U.S. government is going to be releasing "millions of doses of flu-fighting medicine" to the states most affected. How can a "flu-fighting medicine" protect against swine flu? It would be easy to read this and think it's saying that there's medicine to either cure or protect you from the swine flu, and it's just a matter of the government releasing it to its citizens.

    The media reports on the swine flu is all so discombobulating!*

    * I don't think I've actually ever written/typed the word discombobulating before, other than possibly a vocab test. :)
     
  15. HKB

    HKB New Member

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    Mexico is a pretty poor country. Lots of people in Mexico don't have access to good medical care. It's not surprising that some young people died of swine flu there, no doubt they also die of non-swine flu at a much higher rate.
     
  16. Cogito

    Cogito Former Mod, Retired Supporter Contributor

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    There is little natural immunity to H1K1 in te human population, and no vaccine. Influenza infections spread rapidly and can be quite serious without treatment. No flu outbreak should be taken lightly, and this one is propagating rapidly. Even if the mortality rate is under a one perscnt (and in this case it is not, so far), if the infection rate is not controlled, the death toll could become quite high indeed.

    Panic is not called for, but prudence and containment is.
     
  17. Rei

    Rei Contributor Contributor

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    Once again, you've said it Cog. This strain does resemble the one from 1918, but the fact of the matter is, we are better prepared for it. We have the ability to make vaccines (I think the flu vaccine came out in the 1950's), and we have better health care than we did 90 years ago. It's not going to be that bad as long as we are smart.
     
  18. Trojan

    Trojan New Member

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    My theory:- Pig Heart Boy started it all and everything can be blamed on him.

    In all seriousness I'm purposely not paying much attention to it until it begins to really effect the UK.
     
  19. Xeno

    Xeno Mad and Bitey Contributor

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    Well, then it's kind of time to start caring...
     
  20. fantasy girl

    fantasy girl New Member

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    swine flu


    heres the wikipedia, swine flu

    it says something about it being similar to spanish influenza
     
  21. HKB

    HKB New Member

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    Cog- You can say the same thing for non-swine flu. That's why you have to get a shot every flu season, because there is no immunity until they make a new vaccine for the "new" flu.
    The point is it's not really any different than the regular flu. It's still dangerous in the right population, but there's no reason to believe that it's some kind of super-deadly-super-flu.
     
  22. Rei

    Rei Contributor Contributor

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    Actually, it does have the potential to be super-deadly, if it does resemble the flu from 1918. Thousands of people died of that.
     
  23. sophie.

    sophie. New Member

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    50 million actually :p
     
  24. HKB

    HKB New Member

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    Because it was 1918. And millions died from it. I still kills about 20,000 people per year, the regular flu, right now does that. Young, healthy people in developed countries do not and will not die at the rate they did 100 years ago from the flu because of general access to good healthcare and vaccines.
     
  25. Speedy

    Speedy Contributor Contributor

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    I just want forget SARS. They were like, this has the protential to kill a billion people in a matter of months....yeah...no.

    My opinion on this is meh..... I live one minute away from the doctor, so ...
     
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