I don't get it. 20 confirmed cases of H1N1 swine flu in the U.S. and some European travel minister warns against travel to the U.S.? LOL.
There is a bigger question here perhaps about the psychology of fear but I'm just shaking my head with disbelief that people in Fargo, North Dakota are probably out at the store buying masks right now.
It's a typical viral flu folks! Take something for the fever, get plenty of liquids and rest. If it gets worse there are plenty of anti-viral meds that will help you recover. In general, the human immune system does a pretty good job with a flu virus.
Stop being such big pussies.
Yeah, the press does tend to hype stuff, because bad news sells. But it is a very sticky situation, beyond the impact of the press. Epidemiologists get very nervous when a new strain of flu virus shows up and starts knocking off some of the infected people. Flu viruses mutate very rapidly and can change to a very deadly form easily transmitted from person to person.
The 1918 flu pandemic is an object lesson. It killed about 975K people in the US and tens of millions world wide. Half of US soldiers who died in WWI were killed by the flu.
Epidemiologists at the Center for Disease Control face a terrible dilemma. If they say anything when it looks like there may be a risk, a lot of people panic and do weird things. Then if nothing happens, people think they were crying wolf and pay less attention. On the other hand if they don’t get the word out fast enough when a pandemic starts, a virus could decimate the world population.
Many epidemiologists think we face a flu virus time bomb, with new virulent strains like H5N1, mutations that can infect both birds and humans. If one of these virulent strains mutates into one that travels easily by person to person contact, air travel could spread it around the world in days.
spo
The 1918 flu pandemic is an object lesson. It killed about 975K people in the US and tens of millions world wide. Half of US soldiers who died in WWI were killed by the flu.
Epidemiologists at the Center for Disease Control face a terrible dilemma. If they say anything when it looks like there may be a risk, a lot of people panic and do weird things. Then if nothing happens, people think they were crying wolf and pay less attention. On the other hand if they don’t get the word out fast enough when a pandemic starts, a virus could decimate the world population.
Many epidemiologists think we face a flu virus time bomb, with new virulent strains like H5N1, mutations that can infect both birds and humans. If one of these virulent strains mutates into one that travels easily by person to person contact, air travel could spread it around the world in days.
spo
An unfortunate part of the panic about "swine" flu is goofy ideas about pigs and pork products. It's viruses that are the problem, but ignorant human panic is putting an industry in jeopardy.
Hej
I think that we are witnessing a mission impossible
Provided that a new influenza type is sufficiently contagious and at the same time with nasty high lethality - then there exist no program that can prevent its venture.
Once the virus has escaped the bottle the show must go on.
My point is that modern life with extensive flight traveling immediately will spread the virus all over and already then too late to intervene. And then what should the intervention be -
In such a case there will be no medical cure - effective vaccination will be available after the disaster - so at the best some people in due time may escape to safe isolated areas and the rest will have to live at the chance that they are not counting in the natural death rate from the disease.
Put in short - there exist no system - that can counteract such a natural cause.
But of course any so called civilized society have established their systems with plan A B and C -- and in my country we have had the first case of verified pig flue - a younger woman arriving a week ago by flight from US, now recovered and kept in isolation at home, and we have daily news with a panel of experts reporting about her fate and how vigorous attempts are ongoing in order to identify passengers at that specific flight and trying to trace them also abroad !!
And we have already had a handful of suspected cases kept in our limited number of (I think 12) fancy isolation rooms, and we have been assured that a vaccination will be guaranteed at the latest 6 month from now and that the nation have a buffer of Tamiflu for at least half of the population. AND that the experts are monitoring the situation from hour to hour
Whom to blame ? I do not know -
Authorities can say nothing but meaningless discomforting words and put up meaningless plans -
And people cannot expect otherwise -
I think that we are witnessing a mission impossible
Provided that a new influenza type is sufficiently contagious and at the same time with nasty high lethality - then there exist no program that can prevent its venture.
Once the virus has escaped the bottle the show must go on.
My point is that modern life with extensive flight traveling immediately will spread the virus all over and already then too late to intervene. And then what should the intervention be -
In such a case there will be no medical cure - effective vaccination will be available after the disaster - so at the best some people in due time may escape to safe isolated areas and the rest will have to live at the chance that they are not counting in the natural death rate from the disease.
Put in short - there exist no system - that can counteract such a natural cause.
But of course any so called civilized society have established their systems with plan A B and C -- and in my country we have had the first case of verified pig flue - a younger woman arriving a week ago by flight from US, now recovered and kept in isolation at home, and we have daily news with a panel of experts reporting about her fate and how vigorous attempts are ongoing in order to identify passengers at that specific flight and trying to trace them also abroad !!
And we have already had a handful of suspected cases kept in our limited number of (I think 12) fancy isolation rooms, and we have been assured that a vaccination will be guaranteed at the latest 6 month from now and that the nation have a buffer of Tamiflu for at least half of the population. AND that the experts are monitoring the situation from hour to hour
Whom to blame ? I do not know -
Authorities can say nothing but meaningless discomforting words and put up meaningless plans -
And people cannot expect otherwise -
People are the ones behind the media making all the hype. Just because there is a case of death from flu transmitted from a pig means they have something 'big' to hype about. I don't see anybody hype about the number of deaths from influenza every year.
_
"Kabbalah does not let us live our lives in the dust, but elevates our mind to the height of knowledge." Johannes Reuchlin
_
"Kabbalah does not let us live our lives in the dust, but elevates our mind to the height of knowledge." Johannes Reuchlin
Thankiossk Cool! 
sorry to sound like mr. conspiracy here, but is it possible that pharmaceutical companies are just cashing in on public fear?
i mean the whole "bird flu" thing got my country (new zealand) buying a crapload of tamiflu.. just think how much money they made. and where's bird flu now? i dont ever see it on any main media outlets. it's swine flu this, swine flu that
i mean the whole "bird flu" thing got my country (new zealand) buying a crapload of tamiflu.. just think how much money they made. and where's bird flu now? i dont ever see it on any main media outlets. it's swine flu this, swine flu that
Well, it's not that much of a "killer." Most people that get it have very minor symptoms, what fears the medical field is how quickly it ended up everywhere. It could not be contained. What's getting some people worked up is fear, that it "could" mutate and spread just as fast as it already has and be a real "killer." I think what caused it was doctors thinking out loud about that possibilty. Sure it's possible, but it's not a given.
I do however think they are correct for trying to do what they did for the most part. With science and technology on the rise nearly everywhere, how long could it be before some serious wacko gets a hold of something, and turns it loose? Or some seriously ticked of wacko leaks information. Don't get me wrong, I know that some of these things (as far as bio-engineering goes) are much harder to manufacture than nukes. I mean look at how scared we are of people getting nukes ... I'd be far more happier with some idiot having a cheap nuke on a crappy missile than letting the cat out of the bag. But that's what got the U.S. into trouble in Iraq, playing into that fear. If nothing else, it gave health organizations some good ideas on how ill-prepared they are for dealing with a real epidemic. If this would have been the killer the Spanish influenza was in 1918 with today's modes of travel ... yikes.
My theory is, there is nothing wrong with being prepared as best you can but don't fear it. Everyone dies, but not everyone lives without fear.
I do however think they are correct for trying to do what they did for the most part. With science and technology on the rise nearly everywhere, how long could it be before some serious wacko gets a hold of something, and turns it loose? Or some seriously ticked of wacko leaks information. Don't get me wrong, I know that some of these things (as far as bio-engineering goes) are much harder to manufacture than nukes. I mean look at how scared we are of people getting nukes ... I'd be far more happier with some idiot having a cheap nuke on a crappy missile than letting the cat out of the bag. But that's what got the U.S. into trouble in Iraq, playing into that fear. If nothing else, it gave health organizations some good ideas on how ill-prepared they are for dealing with a real epidemic. If this would have been the killer the Spanish influenza was in 1918 with today's modes of travel ... yikes.
My theory is, there is nothing wrong with being prepared as best you can but don't fear it. Everyone dies, but not everyone lives without fear.
