Achoo! - Oink!

[knightni]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_swine_flu_emergency

[Heads22]

I have not yet read the story, nor watched anything relating to the swine flu, as I did my best to avoid actualnews thhis weekend, so I'll just assume it involves Michiganders having rough sex with pigs.

[BigSqwert]

Hooray for factory farming!

 

http://www.grist.org/article/2009-04-25-sw...flu-smithfield/

[GoSox05]

Hooray for factory farming!

 

http://www.grist.org/article/2009-04-25-sw...flu-smithfield/

 

 

Factory farms are one of the reasons I don't eat meat.

[BigSqwert]

Ditto

[knightni]

I have not yet read the story, nor watched anything relating to the swine flu, as I did my best to avoid actualnews thhis weekend, so I'll just assume it involves Michiganders having rough sex with pigs.

I see...

[CanOfCorn]

2008: Approximately 21000 people die from the FLU. Not the Swine Flu...just the flu. Let's just keep it in perspective.

[Texsox]

2008: Approximately 21000 people die from the FLU. Not the Swine Flu...just the flu. Let's just keep it in perspective.

This is a nice way to stimulate the "anti-flu" economy.

 

Actually, that number is kept as low as it is by aggressive measures when a new strain develops. What may seem like an over-action, is probably appropriate.

[CanOfCorn]

This is a nice way to stimulate the "anti-flu" economy.

 

Actually, that number is kept as low as it is by aggressive measures when a new strain develops. What may seem like an over-action, is probably appropriate.

 

Look Mr. Smartypants...If I say it's an overreaction...IT'S AN OVERREACTION!!! DAMMIT!!!!

[Reddy]

i just don't really care about things like this. if i get it then... man that sucks. but i'm not gonna change my lifestyle just because everybody's gettin' all riled up about some new disease floatin' about.

[southsider2k5]

The interesting thing is that the CDC admitted today they are doing nothing to stop it from entering the US anymore than it already has. They aren't testing anyone as they come into the country, they aren't even asking people about it. They also are not stopping anyone who could potentially have it from coming into the country.

[Balta1701]

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	M - Th 11p / 10c
Snoutbreak '09 - The Last 100 Days
thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Economic Crisis Political Humor

 

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	M - Th 11p / 10c
The Last 100 Days
thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Economic Crisis Political Humor

[Balta1701]

The interesting thing is that the CDC admitted today they are doing nothing to stop it from entering the US anymore than it already has. They aren't testing anyone as they come into the country, they aren't even asking people about it. They also are not stopping anyone who could potentially have it from coming into the country.

Should they be?

[Flash Tizzle]

The interesting thing is that the CDC admitted today they are doing nothing to stop it from entering the US anymore than it already has. They aren't testing anyone as they come into the country, they aren't even asking people about it. They also are not stopping anyone who could potentially have it from coming into the country.

No one in the United States has died yet from contracting the disease. Hell, we all may be better off getting it now and building some resistance in the event it mutates.

 

Although I'd have to believe, even if the mortality rate was 100% they wouldn't close the borders. You'd just end up with people illegally crossing to receive medical treatment, or something resembling a movie where border crossings become war zones between migrants and soldiers.

 

Didn't someone within the government say something to the effect of "containment would do nothing" and "its already too late." Well, yeah -- that's what happens with viruses; they spread quickly. Especially those which have incubation periods of a few days. It proves to me if the worst were to occur and millions began dropping, we'd just be writing our own version of The Stand soon enough. The government wouldn't do s***. Just look at this swine flu and how quickly it seems to have jumped across the US.

 

[southsider2k5]

No one in the United States has died yet from contracting the disease. Hell, we all may be better off getting it now and building some resistance in the event it mutates.

 

Although I'd have to believe, even if the mortality rate was 100% they wouldn't close the borders. You'd just end up with people illegally crossing to receive medical treatment, or something resembling a movie where border crossings become war zones between migrants and soldiers.

 

Didn't someone within the government say something to the effect of "containment would do nothing" and "its already too late." Well, yeah -- that's what happens with viruses; they spread quickly. Especially those which have incubation periods of a few days. It proves to me if the worst were to occur and millions began dropping, we'd just be writing our own version of The Stand soon enough. The government wouldn't do s***. Just look at this swine flu and how quickly it seems to have jumped across the US.

 

The belief is that the US strain has already mutated, down to a less lethal form. The real danger would be someone bringing in the more dangerous Mexican strain, which we aren't even caring about preventing. I can't imagine it would be too difficult to check people coming back from Mexico to see if they are having a fever, like they are doing in Asia, and then going from there.

[Balta1701]

The belief is that the US strain has already mutated, down to a less lethal form. The real danger would be someone bringing in the more dangerous Mexican strain, which we aren't even caring about preventing. I can't imagine it would be too difficult to check people coming back from Mexico to see if they are having a fever, like they are doing in Asia, and then going from there.

Currently the WHO is not yet recommending any sort of travel restrictions (as was done with SARS as that outbreak developed.) Here's their reasoning:

The World Health Organisation is not recommending travel restrictions and border closures to fight swine flu, a spokesman said on Tuesday.

 

Infected people may not show symptoms at the airport or when they reach a border crossing, so travel limitations like those imposed during the SARS outbreak are ineffective, spokesman Gregory Hartl said.

 

"Border controls don't work. Screening doesn't work," he told a news conference, describing the economically-damaging travel bans as basically pointless in public health terms.

 

Still, the WHO is urging people to think twice before travelling to and from affected areas, and to avoid crowds and public transport in the presence of any flu-like symptoms.

 

"Certainly if you feel that you are ill you should not travel, in any case, to anywhere," Hartl said.

 

Up to 149 people in Mexico have died of the new swine flu virus known as H1N1, which has caused milder symptoms in other countries including the United States, Canada, Spain, Britain, Israel, and New Zealand.

 

"We don't understand why the disease has been more severe in Mexico," Hartl said.

[Flash Tizzle]

The belief is that the US strain has already mutated, down to a less lethal form. The real danger would be someone bringing in the more dangerous Mexican strain, which we aren't even caring about preventing. I can't imagine it would be too difficult to check people coming back from Mexico to see if they are having a fever, like they are doing in Asia, and then going from there.

I'm not a pathologist, or any "ologist,"" but I've been led to believe the reason the Mexican strain has killed nearly 150 is because, well, Mexico is a s***hole. The conditions these people live in can't possibly be one of cleanliness. And even if there is some Mexican strain that is stronger than the one we've seen, several thousand are infected (that we know of) and only a hundred (again, that we know of) have died. Yes, over a large population that is a lot of infected; but it's not like the Bubonic Plague where a 1/3 of Europe vanished.

 

Also, speaking of The Plague, unlike that disease (which had noticeable symptoms) the flu has generic symptoms. I'm sure if you typed in coughing and headache in WebMD you'd come up with thousands of results. If I was someone intent on creating a deadly disease, I know I'd have it based off of the flu. How does someone distinguish the coughing and headaches from an ordinary, healthy person from those of someone infected with the swine flu?

 

I don't know, it just seems to me that the media is doing a great job of fear mongering. WHO isn't issuing travel restrictions, and the government doesn't seem to care. Didn't Obama come in close contact with someone in Mexico with the swine virus that actually died a few days later? He seems to be fine.

 

If the world is throwing it's arms up over this, just wait until the real deadly virus comes along that kills more than .005% of those who come in contact with it.

Edited April 28, 2009 by Flash Tizzle

[HuskyCaucasian]

I'm not a pathologist, or any "ologist,"" but I've been led to believe the reason the Mexican strain has killed nearly 150 is because, well, Mexico is a s***hole. The conditions these people live in can't possibly be one of cleanliness. And even if there is some Mexican strain that is stronger than the one we've seen, several thousand are infected (that we know of) and only a hundred (again, that we know of) have died. Yes, over a large population that is a lot of infected; but it's not like the Bubonic Plague where a 1/3 of Europe vanished.

I think that's a good assessment. it's about the availability of healthcare. If you exposed 1 million people to a disease in India, and 1 million in America, a lot more will die in India because of the availability, or lack there of, of healthcare.

[CanOfCorn]

Thanks WHO...

 

I will not be travelling to any affected areas, not that I needed ANOTHER reason to NOT go to Indiana!

[Flash Tizzle]

It's going to get ridiculous when the first American dies from this:

 

CDC: 'Fully expect we will see deaths'

Apr 28 03:29 PM US/Eastern

By MIKE STOBBE

AP Medical Writer

ATLANTA (AP) - A U.S. health official said at least five people are hospitalized with swine flu in the United States and deaths are likely.

 

"I fully expect we will see deaths from this infection," as swine flu cases are investigated, said Richard Besser, acting director of the federal Centers for Disease Control. He said he did not know about a newspaper report of two deaths in two southern California hospitals in which the victims seemed to be suffering from swine flu symptoms.

 

"I would say I'm very concerned," Besser said. "We are dealing with a new strain of influenza, we're dealing with a strain of influenza that appears to be moving through our community."

 

Based on the latest lab analysis, Besser said new flu infections are still occurring. He noted, however, that ordinary human flu accounts for about 36,000 deaths every year in the U.S.

 

He said hospitalizations nationwide include three in California and two in Texas.

 

Besser said the country has 64 confirmed cases in five states, with 45 in New York, one in Ohio, two in Kansas, six in Texas and 10 in California. At least four other cases have been reported by states.

 

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D9...;show_article=1

 

 

[southsider2k5]

Currently the WHO is not yet recommending any sort of travel restrictions (as was done with SARS as that outbreak developed.) Here's their reasoning:

 

So stopping people who are infected won't help... Brilliant.

[Balta1701]

So stopping people who are infected won't help... Brilliant.

Sometimes experts do have an idea what they're talking about. Do they here? I don't have a clue.

 

Here's another way to word it: cost/benefit.

For one thing, the spread of the disease has already started, making a border closure kind of like closing the barn door after the animals have escaped.

 

For another, closing the border is nearly impossible. If the United States could close its border with Mexico, illegal immigration might not have become the divisive and emotional issue that it has been.

 

Adding to the mix: The president is trying to calm people, not alarm them.

 

But mostly, as Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano explained this morning, the economic and human costs of closing the border outweigh any conceivable benefits.

 

"We think that what we're doing now at the land ports and the airports makes sense," she said on NBC's "Today Show." Asked whether border closure is under review, she added: "That's something that can be considered, but you have to look at what the costs are. We literally have thousands of trucks and commerce that cross that border.... That would be a very, very heavy cost for what epidemiologists tell us would be marginal" benefit in containing the virus.

 

Having gone through that border a couple times, unless the drug war has dramatically disrupted it, giving people a health check would make it go from taking hours to get across the border to taking days. If you're going to take those kind of steps, they're right, it needs to be a lot more effective than it actually is.

[Texsox]

No one in the United States has died yet from contracting the disease.

 

Sadly, that changed.

 

http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/04/29/swine.flu/index.html

[shipps]

We should be no more worried about the swine flu than we are the regular yearly flu. The overreaction is amazing.

[NorthSideSox72]

We should be no more worried about the swine flu than we are the regular yearly flu. The overreaction is amazing.

I agree with you and Flash on this one. This isn't some hemorragic fever that kills 80% - its a flu strain that kills a tiny %, and the total damage will probably be waaaaaaaay under what other common flu's and what not kill in a given year anyway. The overreaction on this is amazing.