• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Swine Flu pandemic approaches

Status
Not open for further replies.
We are all going to die (again)... it's mutating

Hong Kong finds 1st case of H1N1 resistant to Tamiflu

HONG KONG, July 3 (Reuters) - Hong Kong's health department said on Friday it had detected a strain of human swine influenza virus, or H1N1, that was resistant to Tamiflu, the main antiviral flu drug.

"This is the first time Tamiflu resistance in HSI virus (was) found in Hong Kong," a spokesman said in a statement, adding that similar cases had been reported in Denmark and Japan. (Reporting by Michael Flaherty; Additional reporting by Sam Cage; Editing by Alex Richardson)

http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssHealthcareNews/idUSSP48545220090703
 
wiid said:
Am I the only one who thinks this "pandemic" is fucking bullshit.

A pandemic just means we have a virus that can pass between people easily, it has nothing to do with how lethal it is.

Unfortunately the media blew their load too early, so even if this does mutate into something worse (killing people with great effect) and is a real threat it will be harder to get people to notice due to the cry wolf nature of the media.

It is not the pandemic that is bullshit, just what the media built it up to be
 

Ovid

Member
July 6 (Bloomberg) -- Swine flu, which has spread to 114 countries since April, may be at least 40 times less lethal than an earlier estimate, researchers in New Zealand said.

The probability of dying from the pandemic flu strain may be 1 in 10,000 cases and possibly as low as 1 in 100,000, doctors at the University of Otago in Wellington found. They applied four methods to calculate the proportion of fatal cases, and compared the results with an earlier estimate based on data from Mexico of 4 in 1,000.

Fatalities would be more common if the new A/H1N1 virus mainly affected the elderly, for whom flu usually poses the greatest risk, the scientists said in a study published in the journal Eurosurveillance last week. Gauging the pandemic’s ability to kill and cause serious disease is a key measure in assessing and determining how to respond to the threat, said co- author Michael Baker, an associate professor of public health at the university.

“The implications are potentially huge in terms of where you focus your effort responding to this,” Baker said in a July 2 telephone interview. “One of the reasons why this influenza pandemic might be having a very low case fatality is simply because it is infecting mostly younger people.”

The pandemic bug appears to be as contagious as seasonal influenza, and is spreading faster among people aged 10 to 45 years, according to the World Health Organization. The severity of the disease ranges from mild symptoms such as sore throat and muscle ache to severe illnesses including pneumonia that can result in death, WHO said.

Sounds exactly like the most common strain of influenza to me. This whole thing was bullshit from the beginning.
 

Plinko

Wildcard berths that can't beat teams without a winning record should have homefield advantage
This is big news today...

http://www.reuters.com/article/heal...edType=RSS&feedName=healthNews&rpc=22&sp=true
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The new H1N1 influenza virus bears a disturbing resemblance to the virus strain that caused the 1918 flu pandemic, with a greater ability to infect the lungs than common seasonal flu viruses, researchers reported on Monday.

...but why is this big news? Didn't we know this already? Wasn't the WHO already acting as if this was the case?

It's not good news by any means, but we're better off right now for three reasons:

1) It still hasn't mutated. A person or two developing resistance to Tamiflu is NOT mutation. As the CDC said, it's expected with every flu.

2) In 1918, they had no flu vaccine which we will probably have by the end of the year.

3) In 1918, they had no antivirals to combat the flu.
 

Flynn77

Member
Seriously this is bullshit. As a UK gaffer I can tell you that this story was popularised right at the time of the worst phase of the MP expenses scandal. It was pretty obvious that it was being wheeled out as a smokescreen. Trouble is as time goes on and given enough media hype, it starts to take on a life of it's own.

Over here they are now reporting deaths, and expected death totals everyday, only thing is, they are conveniently excluding the word 'with' when reporting on deaths. ie 'this is the 19th person to have died of swine flu'.

I've had it, (thank you Glastonbury!) and it's not much more than a normal cold. Kind of like a watered down version of the flu. It knocks your energy levels a bit, you feel a bit shitty and you get a sore throat, thats it.
 

Nerevar

they call me "Man Gravy".
Plinko said:
This is big news today...

http://www.reuters.com/article/heal...edType=RSS&feedName=healthNews&rpc=22&sp=true


...but why is this big news? Didn't we know this already? Wasn't the WHO already acting as if this was the case?

It's not good news by any means, but we're better off right now for three reasons:

1) It still hasn't mutated. A person or two developing resistance to Tamiflu is NOT mutation. As the CDC said, it's expected with every flu.

2) In 1918, they had no flu vaccine which we will probably have by the end of the year.

3) In 1918, they had no antivirals to combat the flu.

The 1918 flu was totally different than this flu anyway. That flu was killing young healthy people with strong immune systems because it provoked an extremely strong immune response that overwhelmed the body (cytokine storm), while those most traditionally at risk (children and the elderly) were only mildly affected. This flu acts more like the traditional flu and depresses the immune system so those with weak immune systems are the most at risk. Swine flu is nothing like the 1918 flu at all.
 

Ptaaty

Member
yawn...."Swine" or more accurately "swine/avian/human" flu...seems to be far less dangerous than normal flu. At best it is on par, even though it is so different.

You need to remember that the main flu strain is extremely nasty and the only reason we don't completely freak out is years of immunity built up around similar strains.

OMG it could mutate! well yeah it could, but so what? colds and flu do every year and this one is far less deadly than spanish influenza or others have been in the past.

Seasonal flu on average: http://www.cdc.gov/flu/keyfacts.htm

200,000/yr hospitalized, 36,000 deaths. And that in spite of the fact it is just mutations from the year before and that we vaccinate those at risk.
 

Xavien

Member
I had this thing.. felt shit for like 4 days, didn't do much more.

The whole media hysteria about Swine Flu is ridiculous, they're acting like its a resurgence of the bubonic plague and that we're all gonna die.
 

Relix

he's Virgin Tight™
In Puerto Rico there's a huge hype these days. My sister currently has it, she got quite fucked over but she's getting better. I don't care if I get sick, but i have a pregnant employee and I am taking some measures in my store, like cleaning the stands, etc with clorox wipes. In fact, I gave her 1 week off fully paid just in case, since in PR its spreading quite fast lately and the government hid some cases and stuff. I am more worried about her than me :lol

Oh well, at least my sister is getting better, but damn yesterday was bad for her.
 

Plinko

Wildcard berths that can't beat teams without a winning record should have homefield advantage
Flynn77 said:
Seriously this is bullshit. As a UK gaffer I can tell you that this story was popularised right at the time of the worst phase of the MP expenses scandal. It was pretty obvious that it was being wheeled out as a smokescreen. Trouble is as time goes on and given enough media hype, it starts to take on a life of it's own.

Over here they are now reporting deaths, and expected death totals everyday, only thing is, they are conveniently excluding the word 'with' when reporting on deaths. ie 'this is the 19th person to have died of swine flu'.

I've had it, (thank you Glastonbury!) and it's not much more than a normal cold. Kind of like a watered down version of the flu. It knocks your energy levels a bit, you feel a bit shitty and you get a sore throat, thats it.

Did you hear what the one of the top British health leaders said about 65,000 people dying? He then acknowledged the actual number could be anywhere from 350 to 700,000. The number he gave was completely arbitrary. You may be on to something with your theory.
 
I find it interesting that american media have all but dropped the subject. Probably saving up their panic hype for September when the flu swings its way back to the northern hemisphere.

South America is getting battered. Schools have canceled classes, suspended finals etc.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8083179.stm

Argentina will soon be the country with the most reported deaths.
 

MIMIC

Banned
Is it safe to come out now? Nobody's talking about it anymore so maybe everyone's dead.....

God, this was such bullshit. Who bought the vaccine? :lol
 

StoOgE

First tragedy, then farce.
MIMIC said:
Is it safe to come out now? Nobody's talking about it anymore so maybe everyone's dead.....

God, this was such bullshit. Who bought the vaccine? :lol

It was/is a pandemic and warranted precaution.

However, the media being what it was decided to cash in on the story and drove everyone batty.

Swine Flu is still out there, but so far is not any more lethal than the regular flu.

The fear is that it spread much more easily and across continents. If it mutated to something more resistent to tamiflu or became more lethal it could have been bad. We got a bit lucky in that it was pretty weak.

I got the vaccine.. but it was free and they came to my work. I also get the flu shot every year so no real worries on my end.
 

Medalion

Banned
Eat every pig you see in sight, you still won't get swine flu. But if you know someone who is sick from flu... yeah stay the fuck away.
 
MIMIC said:
Is it safe to come out now? Nobody's talking about it anymore so maybe everyone's dead.....

God, this was such bullshit. Who bought the vaccine? :lol

They were advertising Swine Flu vaccinations on the local radio here dude.

Big pharma dumped a lot of money into these vaccines. They're not going to let that investment go to waste. :lol
 

NotWii

Banned
MIMIC said:
Is it safe to come out now? Nobody's talking about it anymore so maybe everyone's dead.....

God, this was such bullshit. Who bought the vaccine? :lol
:lol
The pandemic has been officially over for a few weeks now
 
I didn't bother with the vaccine and i live in the south. I know they are giving out the shots still as I see it plastered on the Walgreen billboard daily on the way home.
 
BigJonsson said:
I saw a stat that 57 million Americans caught H1N1......so the concerns were warranted

Yup, just because it didn't end up being a strong illness doesn't mean it wasn't a pandemic. Most people I know in college caught it, although I never did (nor did I get the shot).

Summary: Precautions did help, if just a little bit. If the virus would have been stronger, there would have been chaos, because it did spread easily. Fortunately for us, it was just like the average flu.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom