Swine Flu, the second wave
 

http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/05/04...ain/index.html

Is it me, or is this really just a little thing being MADE big?
As far as I know, it's exactly the same as a Flu, with a lower deathrate, and the symptoms aren't all that bad either.
Hopping the border is a nasty subject to cover, But it's gotta be done, I personally think that we need to keep it where it's at, and not let them bring it where it is'nt. Hmm?
If it turns out this H1N1 is as bad as they say, We might be in trouble.
:O Zombie virus, anyone?

It's more a barometer of what we will actually do when diseases like this come out. Might be exaggerated, but there are many people watching this interested in how people and governments react.


A lot of medical authorities think that there is an impending epidemic of a strain of flu-virus, that will be both deadlier and much more infectious. I remember some of the predictions about both mad cow and bird flu, though I suppose it's wiser to err on the side of caution.

err
 

I heard that the strain is part-pig, part-bird, and part- human.
I guess that means that we better stay indoors, and play Fiesta:nahnah:

Part WHAT?
The flu is a type of influenza that affects swine. I don't know where you heard it was some kind of hybrid monster.
And Fiesta won't make it any better on you if you DO get it. It just burns your immune system down.
This is meant for SERIOUS replies, thanks.
I sure hope this thing gets under control soon, people are acting out because of it.

i think he meant it's part swine, bird, and our normal flu. also, he probably meant staying inside before you get it and i guess if you don't have contact with other people you probably won't get it.
you should think about people's posts a bit more before you attack them o_o

And I said it's not 3 parts of those things. It's influenza. On a pig.
And if you stay inside and avoid human contact, then congratulations!
You've become a stereotypical gamer. And paranoid.
I don't attack posts, I dislike it when i'm told how to act as well.
If you post in here, You get criticized, It may be constructive, It may not.

if i can find where i read it i'll point it out to you but i do believe the one that's spreading to us is a new strain that has parts of the normal swine flu, bird flu, and our usual flu

The only thing i've heard about that is that they are COMPARING this to our flu, speculating if it can be cured like ours.
As far as I know, the bird flu has nothing to do with it, It's all about the pigs.

http://www.flyffworld.com/forums/t115525/

i know you probably don't know aaerdan but the chance of his post being a lie is pretty much 0%

it also says it in this post:
http://www.flyffworld.com/forums/t115426/
and there's a news link at the end.

It's kind of hard to believe the whole world calls it the swine flu, If not a single pig has been infected with it.
They have already started killing pigs off in some places.
I think that the guy you're quoting is off his rocker a bit.
And besides, If it's a mix of the 3, Should the WHO and the CDC not be taking care of birds and such as well?

Need solid proof.

i think one of the links did say that it originated in pigs or something along those lines but contains strains of all three.

i googled:
http://www.forbes.com/feeds/hscout/2...out626461.html

Destrus is right. it's said the same thing on the news.

There's a reason why they are calling it H1N1 right now--because the swine flu is a misnomer.

For the most part, the CDC has analyzed the swine flu genetics and have seen that it is made up of a mix of human flu, swine flu, and bird flu.

But it is also possible that it is made up two strains of swine flu. But the problem with that is, why would a swine flu transmit to humans?

And how do you want them to do that? Shoot birds out of the sky?

I didn't know wat "Swine" really mean, so I looked it up, and Swine includes pigs?!?!

There was a huge outbreak with H5N1 (bird flu) in Asian 10 years or so ago, and there was a even bigger outbreak with SARS few years ago...

I think they're trying to becareful and minimise any outbreak until they know more about the virus (or w/e they're called)...

The reports out there were very confusing at the beginning, some says that there's been hundreds dead already, but another report says that only 16 are confirmed dead by the virus...



But whatever happens... personal hygiene is the best you can do to for yourself...

Wash your hands often... esp when you come home from somewhere...

Prevent from rubbing your hands into your eyes / nose / mouth...

This is good to avoid normal flu too...

The panic surrounding this flu is ridiculous. I won't even go into my rant about it, but at this point...I'm just hoping they'll cancel school for me. >.>

To my teacher, it's not a big deal. She says, only one person died from the swine flu in the U.S., BUT, that person was actually someone (I think it was a child) someone from Mexico, NOT a US citizen. And a child has a bad immune system. Washing your hands would probably be good way to stop.

Also, that antibacterial stuff (the Clorox wipes, Febreze, etc.) is actually a waste of money, according to this one article we read in my biology class. There is practically no way to get rid of ALL bacteria and germs from your house. If you try, you may have obsessive-conpulsive disorder. And, most bacteria is harmless, and some your body can fight off. The only reason you should keep your house bacteria free is if you have a toddler or an elderly person that is sick, since their immune system is not on the good side.

@Senyx: You should look up the information on official sites yourself before you attack people's post. aramil001 didn't write his post in the "correct terminology" but he has a point.

Source

Source.

So in fact, staying in doors in this case is not being a "stereotypical gamer and paranoid". It's to help reduce transmission of a disease that we have no immunity to (yet). Playing Fiesta was a side joke.

@kirby: Yes, we've all got bacteria on us (Staphylococcus epidermis would be a common example on our skin), and anti-bacterial may/will not wash every bacteria away, but I think it's still a good practice to wash your hands when needed. That said, I don't mean washing your hand every hour or anything. More of.. washing your hands when you come home after going out.

And of course nobody can get rid of every single bacteria in the house... but I don't think anyone is trying to tell us to do that. WHO is just telling us wash our hands for the sake of hygiene/transmission reduction, not for the sake of getting rid of all bacteria. In fact, getting rid of every bacteria might not be a good thing... lol.

I'd be afraid if Obama came out on T.V saying "The new Swine Flu virus now has made some.. "Minor" alterations to the Gene, we shall call this the T-Virus until further notice."

My question is this: why the hell werent we hearing about it when the 150 people in Mexico were dying, and helping THEM out? >.>

Probably because they wanted to keep it from going to the public and then the world about having such an illness. They'd be under the microscope for letting it happen, no?

It's funny cause our class had to make a poster with a political theme... more than half the class did the swine flu. .___.

And you really shouldn't have the world tell you to wash your hands after you come home and such... should be common practice. But of course there are those who walk right out after going to the washroom. Yuck.

Because they didn't recognize that it was the H1N1 virus. Don't forget that the H1N1 virus is a new virus and it has symptoms pretty similar to regular flu.

It's a virus. o.o So bacteria has nothing to do with it.

And the boy who died was from Mexico, so...

Honestly, 100-something people dying from flu, while a horrible thing, isn't that much...more people die from normal flu outbreaks... D:

At the moment, WHO site states there are 26 deaths (25 from mexico, 1 from US). Not really sure how the media/news got 100 and something (I think I heard/read somewhere that the 100+ was the initial guess.. but they found out later that most of them weren't H1N1's fault? not sure).

I think the reason it seems to be such a "scare" is because:

1. It's a new virus, we have no immunity against it. For seasonal flu, most of us would have had a little immunity to it from previous exposure of a similar strain.
   
2. There are no vaccines for it when there's an outbreak, where as seasonal flu vaccines can be developed annually for it.
   
3. Seasonal flu happens every year while pandemics do not. Influenza viruses can induce point mutations to their antigens to alter the strain and make it "slightly different" so our old antibodies don't bind so effectively (this is called an antigenic drift, if anyone is curious..). Pandemics is usually caused by antigen shifts (the case for this) where the virus exchanged RNA with other different strains (bigger change). Meaning our immune system will have to initiate a whole new response. Boohoo.

The big question: Is it as scary as the media makes it sound, and should we be scared too?

Probably not (especially when it sounds like some media doesn't have the right info.. unless I am misunderstanding something somewhere) BUT I personally don't think it should be underestimated and thought of as "just another flu". It is a new virus after all, it deserves some attention as a greeting! :angel:

Yeah, that's what I thought...news around here still says 100+ though. >.> So I wasn't sure.

It's always good to be cautious about flu, especially new strains, but the media is just causing panic. Like, those face masks? Don't even help that much except to help the person wearing it from spreading it to other people. And people are afraid to leave their houses, schools are closing for a week or more (pushing the last day back even further), and people freak out when anyone coughs or sneezes... :l

Haha, yeah, though I think they close schools down because children spread germs like nothing when they're together. They don't know how to keep themselves (politely) away from those who are sick and wouldn't mind if people sneezed in their faces. Not sure if the schools closed down were primary or high schools though.

But hey, if my uni closed down because of a flu outbreak, I wouldn't mind T_T.

Yeah, face masks... I think I saw bits of that in the HK news on the chinese channel we have here... in a way, I can't blame them for that, especially after SARS... not sure about other countries o-o.

The 100+ deaths number come from suspected flu deaths, meaning that those people died before doctors were aware of swine flu.

Many of those families don't want the bodies exhumed so doctors really have no to test the dead bodies to see if those bodies actually did have swine flu or not.

Some people thinks that using face mask would prevent (or reduce the chance of) you from catching the virus...

But face masks are really used to stop you from spreading germs... it does not protect you, coz you can still catch it all through the eyes...

Unless you wear googles with the face mask LOL!!

^ Glasses aren't good enough? *sigh*

ummm My mom is the only person that I know that is worried. Everyone else just goes "OMFG!!! You have the swine flu!!! Ur gunna die!!" when someone coughs, hehehe

H1N1, It's just another kind of flu. We already got cures for H1N1, so I don't think it is that deadly as the media stated, the overexaggerated on the flu topic. Besides, you won't die from the flu due to the fact we already got cures for it.

People can and do die from the flu though.

I do agree some people are overreacting, but it is something we should be concerned about.

http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s...u_deadbaby.jpg
I'll just leave this here..

Is that counting the toddler or the teacher from Harlengen? Both of them seem to have had some sort of underlying condition.

When a vaccine is released, will any of you guys ever get it as soon as it comes out?

I won't, even if my parents want me to. My biology teacher isn't gonna get it, as soon as it goes out. Their reason is because the vaccine won't have enough time to be tested yet. It may have side-effects that will happen it the way future (like in the move I Am Legend, but lets stay on topic.) So, yeah, I don't want the vaccine when it is released.

i never had a normal flu shot i don't think i'd get one for this one either.

It's not like they're going to throw something together and release it...

The I Am Legend virus was a mutated re-engineered virus which obliterated humanity, and is a fictional creation. I doubt that this strain of H1N1 will eliminate 90% of the world's population, and as it's fictional, you cannot compare this mutated H1N1 "the end of humanity."

Furthermore, a vaccine takes time to research and deploy. It's not like they'll have one out tomorrow.

Still, yeah they're not going to release one super quick, but they may never know the side-effects of it, even if it's a new vaccine. My bio teacher, told me that there was this one vaccine that all pregnant women took, then 30 years later, most of their kids were schizophrenic. So, you never know.

You have to understand that drugs, vaccines and such all have to go under clinical trials before they can be administered to the public. I believe these procedures are very strict and they would have had to gone through several experiments to ensure that things are fine. There are 4-5 phases of clinical trials - I don't exactly remember the details, but I know that one part involves having volunteers to try it out (I think that's the last part. It may sound like "OMG human testing?!?!" but I believe they do several tests before the volunteers get to try it anyway so it's not like "lets try to see if this works in humans!! -injects-").


Granted, there have been "bad accidents" with new drugs back in the past during clinical trials where people had serious side effects... but that's in clinical trials. I don't think they would easily let vaccines go out to the public with "a few tests" and that's it. Unless you're part of the volunteers for these trials.. I kinda doubt it anything would really bad would happen.


That said, everyone can have different responses to vaccines (or any drugs, for that matter) and it may be hard to predict the precise outcome. And I guess accidents will be accidents, where if anything bad did happen, people cannot avoid it (unless experiments/clinical trials/etc weren't carried out properly.. it's happened in the past but I guess we -should have- learnt from mistakes in the past trials o.o). I think with influenza viruses, as long as the "majority" of the population has immunity to it, it'll be okay.


Well. After all that rambling. All I'm trying to say is that if they are ready to distribute a vaccine to the public, it should be relatively safe.


Am I gonna take it? I dunno. This would be several months down the track.


Edit:

I missed this post.
But that's something hardly anyone can predict, especially when it's something that happens 30 years down the track. Risks like this can't be really avoided imo. You might as well not take any vaccines that are produced from now on if you're worried about something like that.

^ What Blaahs said.

This reminds me of the thalidomide incident where pregnant women were prescirbed the drug to treat morning sickness. It turned out that thalidomide caused limb abnormalities in the infants. The problem is that no one would have been able to predict that.

Only when the situation arises, the problem is brought into everyone's attention, despite prior testing that was done to legitimise the use of a particular drug. Lots of pharmacological agents were approved then withdrawn over the years by the body responsible for releasing the drugs to the general public, e.g. the FDA in America.

The current development of biochemistry and genetic study is not yet adequate to allow us to map all cause-effect relationships pertaining to individual drugs and pathogens. This is why the nature of A(H1N1) is still unclear and to identify its origin as well as to predict that this specific reassortant strain would be infectious is still not possible with our current technology.

The bottomline is yes, it's unfortunate that sometimes accidents happen but for the most part:

That about sums up what it is happening in our society at the moment.

they ar busy making a vaccine. i heard from the news