Swine flu spreads sickness, death, alarm.

Griffith

With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/04/24/swine.flu/index.html

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090425/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/med_swine_flu

MEXICO CITY – A unique strain of swine flu is the suspected killer of dozens of people in Mexico, where authorities closed schools, museums, libraries and theaters in the capital on Friday to try to contain an outbreak that has spurred concerns of a global flu epidemic.

The worrisome new virus — which combines genetic material from pigs, birds and humans in a way researchers have not seen before — also sickened at least eight people in Texas and California, though there have been no deaths in the U.S.

"We are very, very concerned," World Health Organization spokesman Thomas Abraham said. "We have what appears to be a novel virus and it has spread from human to human ... It's all hands on deck at the moment."

Epidemiologists are particularly concerned because the only fatalities so far were in young people and adults.

The eight U.S. victims recovered from symptoms that were like those of the regular flu, mostly fever, cough and sore throat, though some also experienced vomiting and diarrhea.

U.S. health officials announced an outbreak notice to travelers, urging caution and frequent handwashing, but stopping short of telling Americans to avoid Mexico.

Mexico's Health Secretary Jose Angel Cordova said 68 people have died of flu and the new swine flu strain had been confirmed in 20 of those deaths. At least 1,004 people nationwide were sick from the suspected flu, he said.

The geographical spread of the outbreaks also concerned the WHO — while 13 of the 20 deaths were in Mexico City, the rest were spread across Mexico — four in central San Luis Potosi, two up near the U.S. border in Baja California, and one in southern Oaxaca state.

Scientists have long been concerned that a new flu virus could launch a worldwide pandemic of a killer disease. A new virus could evolve when different flu viruses infect a pig, a person or a bird, mingling their genetic material. The resulting hybrid could spread quickly because people would have no natural defenses against it.

U.S. health officials said the outbreak is not yet a reason for alarm in the United States. The five people sickened in California and three in Texas have all recovered.

It's unclear how the eight, who became ill between late March and mid-April, contracted the virus because none were in contact with pigs, which is how people usually catch swine flu. And only a few were in contact with each other.

CDC officials described the virus as having a unique combination of gene segments not seen before in people or pigs. The bug contains human virus, avian virus from North America and pig viruses from North America, Europe and Asia. It may be completely new, or it may have been around for a while and was only detected now through improved testing and surveillance, CDC officials said.

The most notorious flu pandemic is thought to have killed at least 40 million people worldwide in 1918-19. Two other, less deadly flu pandemics struck in 1957 and 1968.

There's too much interesting info to quote it all, but you should really read the articles, anyway (all sorts of cool stuff about bird, pig, and human DNA viruses mixing into super viruses). Basically it's in Mexico, Texas, California (San Diego) and possibly even Queens New York, and is particularly nasty. It's also likely incubating anywhere at this point considering all the travel in and out of Mexico City. So far anywhere from 20 to 68 deaths by this particular flu, over a 1000 sick in Mexico, and 8 confirmed cases in the U.S (all recovered). That's 20 to 68 deaths because, according to the yahoo article, of the 68 people to die of flu only 20 have been confirmed to be from this strain (by name, you wouldn't think YaHoO! would be the less sensational news source =). Anyway, health officials are understandably concerned, as many are already on the lookout for potential pandemic viruses, but being very vague about how exactly worried they are and we should be, as they seem to struggling between warning people of possible serious danger here and not overreacting and starting a panic if it turns out to be not as bad as it looks like it could be. Bottom line, might be very serious, or might just be another flu story.

In any case, take care, everyone.
 

Rhombaad

Video Game Time Traveler
That's a bit scary. Thanks for posting, Griffith. Hopefully, they can figure out how likely it is to spread and get it relatively contained soon. It's never a good idea when someone from the World Health Organization says, "It's all hands on deck at the moment."
 

Aazealh

Administrator
Staff member
Hopefully this'll turn out milder than expected. The flu's such a potentially deadly virus, I've always wondered if it's not what would get us all in the end.
 

Griffith

With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
Aazealh said:
Hopefully this'll turn out milder than expected. The flu's such a potentially deadly virus, I've always wondered if it's not what would get us all in the end.

A lot of scientists wonder too, I'm just happy to hear that in this case anti-flu drugs are effective and recovery probable. Though it's taking a step in the serious direction still:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090425/ap_on_re_eu/un_un_mexico_swine_flu

GENEVA – The World Health Organization warned countries around the world Saturday to be on alert for any unusual flu outbreaks after a unique new swine flu virus was implicated in possibly dozens of human deaths in North America.

WHO Director-General Margaret Chan said the outbreak in Mexico and the United States constituted a "public health emergency of international concern."

The decision means countries around the world will be asked to step up reporting and surveillance of the disease, which she said had "pandemic potential" because it is an animal virus strain infecting people. But the agency cannot at this stage say "whether or not it will indeed cause a pandemic," she added.

lasplagassample.jpg


:isidro:
 

Walter

Administrator
Staff member
http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/04/26/swine.flu/index.html

The flu is now a "public health emergency" according to the U.S.
 

Scorpio

Courtesy of Grail's doodling.
Have to wonder if I have it, as I came down with flu-like symptoms a few days ago after my dad came down with them first. Luckily the worst of it went away after the first day or so and now only a runny nose remains. Regardless of swine flu, between this and the flu I caught around x-mas I am getting really tired of being sick.
 

SaiyajinNoOuji

I'm still better than you
Well you know who lives in San Diego? The god damn Marines do. MCRD San Diego and Camp Pendleton. Thats a lot of ground pounders there that travel around the world. :schnoz:
 
Ya I think I just got it. I went to CT to visit my gf this past weekend. She told me a couple of weeks ago she had some stomach virus but that it was gone now. I'm still not absolutely sure if I contracted it from her or just the area or if I even have it. But I know I have all the symptoms. I was reading that testing was done at a New York city school and discovered some people infected there. My gf lives in Stamford, CT and that so close so it's possible it's begun to spread that far.

This entire weekend I gradually started to become more and more tired until today I felt terrible. I have a pounding headache and nausea. When I was driving back to the upper NE area from CT I began to feel worse and worse. I had to work tonight too. I went in regardless of feeling this way.....bad idea. Within the hour I was vomiting in the bathroom and my headache felt even more severe. I could really feel the THUMP-THUMP in my head. Thankfully they said it was alright to leave early.

Please everyone take care of yourself. Be careful!
 

Aazealh

Administrator
Staff member
Hope you'll be alright man. Those living close to known infected zones ought to be careful.
 

NightCrawler

Aeons gone, vast, mad and deathless
I say this is media sensationalistic hype. Just like the bird flu was... I mean, 100 or so chinese died in one year of it, and people start panicking everywhere. I bet even lightnings killed more people in china that year than bird flu.

EDIT: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H5N1#Humans_and_H5N1

257 deaths since 2003? Please...
 

Griffith

With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
Yeah, I think we all hope you're right, but...

NightCrawler said:
257 deaths since 2003? Please...

I think if anything that justifies the certainly sensational coverage, as it shows just how well contained that outbreak of flu was, especially when you consider it's 61% death rate according to the statistics you posted. If only there was this much education and attention payed to the "regular" flu, there wouldn't be so many thousands of deaths, largely as a result of people's ignorance. That's why such coverage is important when you're dealing with a potentially deadly virus outbreak with pandemic qualities, you definitely want the news spreading faster than the virus. The catch 22 is we're blind to whatever good it does because we shouldn't find out how bad the worst case scenario is if we're effective in containing it. Meaning we're basically left complaining it wasn't as catastrophic as it should have been to warrant the coverage.
 

NightCrawler

Aeons gone, vast, mad and deathless
Like you said, "regular" flu kills far more than bird flu, and most likely, swine flu. Yet, it doesn't get the media all worked up.
 

Griffith

With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
NightCrawler said:
Like you said, "regular" flu kills far more than bird flu, and most likely, swine flu. Yet, it doesn't get the media all worked up.

The point I was making is it wouldn't be the case if the media and general public got as worked up by the average flu, or vice versa. That's the point, it's largely death by ignorance, so if anything, we should complain the media isn't doing more. Of course, if they and WHOs are effective, we literally end up with nothing to complain about (and we do =).
 
A

avidwriter

Guest
Well you can expect the media to make a big deal out of it. News is like any other media, they are out to make money and they make money off fear. I live in NY, not far from Prep either but I'm not worried. :ganishka:
 
NightCrawler said:
Like you said, "regular" flu kills far more than bird flu, and most likely, swine flu. Yet, it doesn't get the media all worked up.

Cases like this will only increase exponentially if the proper reaction is not deployed. It's always better to be safe than sorry. :puck:
 
avidwriter said:
Well you can expect the media to make a big deal out of it. News is like any other media, they are out to make money and they make money off fear. I live in NY, not far from Prep either but I'm not worried. :ganishka:

I don't think anyone is saying to walk around in a HAZMAT suit or incase your home in plastic, but to shrug off something of this nature comes across as ignorance. I hope your immune system is up to snuff sir.
 
Something also to consider when looking at people's reactions to this flu versus the normal type that goes around every year; consider that Swine flu has absolutely no known cure whereas we make new flu vaccinations every year. If this Swine thing ever did actually explode, we'd be in serious trouble. We're not going to be taken down by regular flu viruses, but this thing could kill countless if not contained.

I'm guessing that in the end it won't be a big deal, but hearing of other pandemics as mentioned where millions of people died... yeah it's not cool at all.
 

NightCrawler

Aeons gone, vast, mad and deathless
Aazealh said:
Yeah why do we make a big deal out of this? Why take preventive measures? I say let's not care about potential pandemics, nothing bad can happen. I mean it's not like there's a precedent for it, right?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1918_flu_pandemic

1918 =/ 2009

I'm not against preventive measures, i'm just saying people are too damn influenced by the media.

EDIT: On the subject - http://warmingglow.uproxx.com/2009/04/swine-flu-ratings-gold/
 

Th3Branded0ne

I'll be back.
NightCrawler said:
1918 =/ 2009

I'm not against preventive measures, i'm just saying people are too damn influenced by the media.

EDIT: On the subject - http://warmingglow.uproxx.com/2009/04/swine-flu-ratings-gold/

I see your point of view on being influenced by the media, but I also see it that many people are oblivious as to what measures to take. There are rural areas that don't really have the knowledge to know what measures to take on a daily basis. So if someone happens to be there to let them know what to do is a good chance the flu won't be as bad as it might possibly can be if nothing is done. I guess, some might be annoyed or fed up seeing reports on the news everyday and being reminded of what to do even if you know what to do. But caution and over exposure I think is what is needed, even if it gets in your nerves at times.
 

Griffith

With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
Yeah, media sensationalism is a fine point, especially if it becomes a detriment to readiness like it threatens to nowadays, but it's not necessarily an appropriate complaint here. This isn't some isolated school shooting being hyped, whatever the media's motivations, it is preemptive reporting on a real potential threat, and denial and kneejerk cynicism are merely the flipside of hysteria, as well as another form of media influenced conformity. I do hope nothing much more comes of this and that it's wiped out like past scares, becoming a joke like the bird flu, because I don't want to see the alternative.
 

Aazealh

Administrator
Staff member
NightCrawler said:
1918 =/ 2009

Have we developed a special immunity to the flu since then? Because last I checked, we had not. Quite the contrary, as a matter of fact.

As for being influenced by the media, where I live people aren't making a big deal out of it. They're following the situation like they would any event of importance, but it's not quite total panic yet. Not sure how it is elsewhere, but I haven't heard accounts of mass hysteria yet.
 

NightCrawler

Aeons gone, vast, mad and deathless
Aazealh said:
As for being influenced by the media, where I live people aren't making a big deal out of it. They're following the situation like they would any event of importance, but it's not quite total panic yet.

Same here.
 
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