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Lets all hope that it doesn’t reach full blown pandemic, and we all don’t have to restructure our lives to live around it.
Relax. Go about your business. Wash your hands. Spend less time watching scare-mongering media. Everything will be fine.
In my experience, the more you know, the less afraid you are, especially if you’re getting realistic information, not overly optimistic or pessimistic, just fact. This thing has me totally fascinated. When does a person get the chance to watch an epidemic unfold like this? Tracking the transmission, watching the politics, learning the science… I’m interested. Of course, I wish it were a simulation, not a real event; I’m not at all pleased that people are dying in Mexico. But if you’re interested in epidemiology, why shouldn’t you be following this?
I’m keeping tabs on the Mexican Flu only so far as “How dangerous is this? Not very? Meh.” If you take common-sense steps to avoid getting sick, or, if you *are* sick, to avoid spreading it, there’s no danger at all. (And hand-sanitizer is your friend, folks!)
Actually hand sanitizer is NOT your friend, as has been realized over the past few years.
It tends to make things worse. Washing your hands with a good soap for 15 seconds several times a day… THAT is your friend.
Oh, and using a tissue… that’s not only your friend but will help you keep your friends…
Wrong. Anti-bacterial sanitizers are bad for you. Alcohol based are safe. If this wasn’t the case then why would hospitals use alcohol based cleaning solutions for equipment?
Actually siegewolf, you’re mistaken. Mae has it right, alcohol sanitizers are bad and are responsible for the evolution of resistant bacteria. Hospitals use it because they need a COMPLETELY microbe free environment when working. What we need as civilians is to remove transient flora (the bacteria you pick up off bathroom knobs, handshakes, etc) but keep our normal flora (bacteria that normally inhabit our skin). What this does is to take up a large portion of the maximum bacterial capacity of our skin with normal flora, making it less likely to pick up transient flora on our skin (such as swine flu). This is best done by washing your hands with warm water and soap. Using alcohol rubs removes 99% of ALL microbes, including normal flora, thus making you MORE LIKELY to harbor harmful bacteria on your skin. Yes, alcohol sanitizers are necessary at hospitals, but they are not your best defense when it comes to avoiding sickness.
Hospitals don’t need a completely microbe free environment. There are no cleaning products on the planet that kill 100% of germs – the most physically possible to kill is 99.9%. But then that 0.1% is immune to the disease. So then they have to get more powerful products that kill 99.9% of what’s left… and so on.
in my opinion it’s good to get sick every once in a while then your immune system gets an immunity to it (exept the thrice-cursed cold)
and they only kill %99.9 so that they don’t get sued(i can’t spell that) for being anti-biochemical stuff…junk
heck yeah! Every1 wherever I go is freaking out. srsly, its not that big of a deal. my friend Shannon got all freaked out because the first death of swine flu came in. 23 month old bebe. but, 300 people at least have died in Mexico- they aren’t freaked out about that! Honestly, this isn’t that big. It’s just that the media is trying to freak us out for some random reason, I don’t know what. possibly they don’t like Obama.
Angeldragon.
i think we as americans spas out to much its amazing what a little epidimic can do to us
and the 23 month old was from mexico and transported to texas for treatment thus should not really be considered an american death.
meh..i do that already
I live in Finland. Government has announced that it has enough medicine for third of the population. More than third would never get sick even in a full blown pandemic (even one in the scale of the black plague) and even if that many did, not all would need medicine. Hell, currently the disease has 1.2% mortality rate and that is counting people in Mexico where the health care doesn’t quite equal ours…
I am not sure how is the situation for USA but I would assume that they have slightly worse preparation than Europeans (knowing general level of their healthcare, etc.) but still more than adequate.
Really, us in the rich countries don’t need to care about this. But imagine if this disease began spreading in India, China or similar countries with massive amounts of poor people. Death tolls would be very large in those countries.
True, but we encourage saying otherwise. It’s great poking fun at people who are scared to death of swine flu.
You should already be prepared for a flu pandemic. If you are, you shouldn’t be scared. If you’re not, you’re not using common sense.
Preparations recommended by most government types: Well-stocked medicine cabinet, hygiene training, and two weeks’ worth of food and water.
In my case, replace “two weeks’ worth of food and water” with “relatives who are willing to drop groceries on your porch and let you pay them back later” and I’m covered.
Much as it drives me crazy sometimes, there are situations where it’s nice to have them this close by. When I’m sick is one of them.
My only real worry with the swine flu is, I got knocked out for two weeks by the regular flu last fall. It’ll suck if I miss two weeks of work/pay again.
At least you’ll still be around to complain about it.
can’t you only get the flu once? or at least on type of flu once? in wich case i think i’m fine pneumonia plus an asthema attack now that really sucks but i out grew my asthema so no worries eh?
am i overly optimistic? heck ya
Yes, and that was also true for the bird flu, but it also didn’t happen. If there were something to be gained from worrying about what could happen, it would be one thing, but as a poster above said, all we really can do is wash our hands and go about our business.
And my grandfather was a country doctor who died during the 1918 flu, so I’m not unmindful of the problems.
The bird flu isn’t over, the media has just forgotten about it.
Or maybe it wasn’t the global crisis the media had initially made it out to be.
Maybe it was just another strain. You know, like all the other strains that claim thousands of lives a year, but don’t have catchy, easy-to-remember names.
If yout hink about it, we are WAY overdue for a decrease in the surplus population. There arn’t any good wars going on. It’s been a while since we’ve had a real plauge.
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Seriously, fewer than 5,000 soldiers dead from the Iraq war… and AIDs isn’t killing people off fast enough. Anything that clears some space in the slums sounds like a good idea to me.
So let me ask what I ask everyone who makes the claim that there are too many people on Earth now — are you volunteering?
I think you missed my point… since I do not live in a cardboard box I’m not one of the people that need to hurry up and die.
The point of a good plague is to kill off the dredges.
Are you really trying to say that everyone living below the poverty line should “hurry up and die”? That’s harsh, man.
it’s very harsh.
why don’t we kill all rich people and use their money?
lolz theres a plan, not sure how we would get away with it though
Kill the police too?
bad idea
very very good idea
yes kill the rich please, and i mean all of them, if you have access to more than 100k you die
maybe if we cleaned up death row? thats a waste of money the best way to deal with them is a swift bullet to head(wich we do) or something slow and painful for the sickening murderous ones make them suffer for what they do to theyre victims familys and usualy their victims
Most of those “dredges” would probably be vastly more upstanding members of society if they got the help they need to get out of whatever vicious cycle they’re caught in. The relatively few that this doesn’t apply to (e.g. those with severe and untreatable psychological disorders) are such a tiny resource drain that killing them off would accomplish nothing.
Even if you were correct that the poor are nothing but a drain on the rest of us, and even if it were not true that they are people and deserve to be respected as such, plagues do not go after only them. You’ll be among the victims as well.
By the way, there are several good wars going on—Afghanistan, Iraq, and Sri Lanka, to name a few. Moreover, living conditions in rather large swaths of the planet’s surface, like Somalia and Burma, are so atrocious that they’re probably killing people at a rapid pace too.
Finally, evolution does not select for deadly plagues. A parasite that kills its host will kill itself in the process. Successful parasites have to survive in their hosts but avoid interfering with their hosts’ ability to survive.
israel palistine colombia russia uganda
lots of much-spoken of wars that people seem to overlook just because it’s not happening in their own back yard.
I was thinking the same thing
lol, “AIDS isn’t killing people off fast enough”. Seriously?
Keep in mind that although US casualties were relatively low, many Iraqis died during the invasion and subsequent occupation. Estimates vary widely, but it is probably in the hundreds of thousands.
USA has plenty of same meds as Finland.
what about had it, recovered
i caught it and I was totally fine…
oink?
Win
truth.
Completely the truth.
Actually, not really. This is highly contagious, and it’s better to be over-protective than sick and a chance at dying. I’m not a germ freak, but the swine flu just reached my state, and could become a big epidemic. Common sense would tell you that if it reaches across the country in less then a week, then it might be a slight issue.
You do realize that the FLU kills 35,000 people in this country every year, right?
Now explain to me why something that has killed one, I repeat, ONE, person in the U.S. (and that a sickly, two-year-old Mexican boy) is causing mass hysteria? I’m far more likely to die in a car accident than to contract “H1N1″… even less likely to actually die from it. Nevertheless, emergency rooms in AZ are now having to tell parents to quit bringing their kids in the first time they cough.
Actually, it’s not the flu itself that kills people. It’s the pneumonia, which is derived from the flu that kills people. But otherwise, yes, I did know that. The only difference about swine flu is the fact that it lasts longer and is highly more contagious. It is new to the US, that is why people are making such a big deal of it. I wash my hands AMAP and stay away from sick people. That’s how I deal with this.
BTW, it travelled from California/New Mexico to NEW YORK AND VIRGINIA in less than a week. That’s pretty fast, man.
Because people in New York and Virgina never visit Mexico, New Mexico, or California, getting stuck in germ filled planes, right?
Uhhh…. you just proved that it spreads fast. Going on the planes is one of the biggest causes. I don’t see how your comment “defended” your thought.
Anyhow, people go on planes all the time and don’t come back with anything. Example – ME.
His point wasnt that it doesnt spread fast, the point is that EVERYTHING can spread from AZ to NY in five hours – the time it takes for the guy with the flu who needs chicken soup to get there. And ur argument makes absolutely no sense. MY mom is way smarter than that.
There’s some talk that this flu killed all those people in Mexico by way of cytokine storms. But it only happened in Mexico. Strange…
You realize that a good portion of new york city is mexican immigrants right?
And definitely Virginia, too…
I’m not saying I’m freaking out about it – it’s definitely more of a show case than it needs to be. It just spreads fast!
THIS is why this mass panic is a bad thing. It’s not bad to be cautious. It is bad to succumb to panic and start giving in to racism and hatred. Swine flu is not inherently Mexican; someone with Mexican heritage who has not been there recently (or ever) is no more likely to have swine flu than someone with Irish heritage. I’ve heard of really horrible examples of blatant racism recently against latino/as because some people feel like it’s somehow merited now that a disease has started in Mexico. And yes, someone with Mexican heritage may be more likely to travel to Mexico than someone without that tie, but Mexico has a lot of tourism and a lot of international travelers pass through. I feel like we could just as easily call this Spring Breaker flu. Let’s not make assumptions and propagate hate.
I don’t think anyone was implying that mexicans that haven’t recently been in mexico are any more likely to have H1N1 than anyone else that hasn’t recently been in mexico.
Your mom,there were different people that went from mexico back home with it,so it did’nt actually “travel” it was just just brought to different places by people who probably had no contact in life (unless they met eachother in mexico!!!)
Because is if you think about what you are talking about, the answer is just around the corner. People who die from the flu every year don’t actually die from the “flu”. Just like people get HIV, they dont die from it, they die from AIDS. People who die from the flu die from follow up effects. 92% of these ppeople are above the age 65. It is almost considered a natural death. This flu here is unknow to us, we have absoulutly NO immunity to it because none of our ancestor ever had it. I am pretty sure that atleast once in your family line someone was infected ny the commmon flu. If you get this flu, you cajn’t really treat it or fight against it.
Of course you can fight against it. The human immune system isn’t limited to dealing with known pathogens; if it were, it’d be useless, as viruses in particular tend to mutate rapidly. There’s a reason you can get a cold or a flu more than once, and usually survive them all.
aren’t aids and hiv the same?
Not to be a nerd but people don’t die from AIDS they die from AIDS-related complications like Karposi’s Sarcoma and such
No, HIV is the virus. AIDS is the disease. You can carry the virus and not have the disease.
There’s not really a “common flu.” Every year, slight permutations of the flu spread (usually from the tropics outward). Any flu that you’ve had in the past, your body knows how to fight in the future. The problem is that the flu mutates. The flu shots every year are an attempt to guess which mutations are going to be the dangerous ones that season and get people immunized against them. Any flu you catch is one that you haven’t had before.
Agreeing with Stoutdog
The Flu alone kills thousands upon thousands a year! Further, the folks that are most likely to DIE are the very young, the elderly, and those with immunity disorders. So whatever you do to protect yourself during regular flu season – do that. Or, we can all do what we learned to do when we were little:cover your cough/sneeze and wash your hands. It’s really that simple.
Media hysteria at its finest.
This disease causes death through immune system over reaction. So it mostly kills those with very strong immune system (people between 18 and 40). The very young, the old and those with immune disorders are quite safe (only an annoying flu for them)…
And that’s why the only recorded US death from it so far was someone very young.
That Person in the states was a Young Mexican Child that was treatment. Get your FACTS RIGHT before you post
I can certainly follow your reasoning
“There have been over a hundred deaths but because the only one that happened in my country was 2 years old Mexican baby that didn’t get the treatment in time, this can’t target mostly the healthy people…”
But well, I posted a link with citations further down. Read and educate yourself a bit, okay?
Actually, honey, I HAVE done my research. The immune response of which you spoke is a characteristic of Spanish Flu, yes, another H1N1 strain, but there are a lot of strains. They tout the immune response, in this case, as only one of the possible reasons this is affecting everyone (not just healthy people, and not just the old/very young/sick).
Besides, my mention of the 2-year-old’s death still applies. You claimed those who are very young or very old are “quite safe”. Obviously if the very young are also dying, that sort of falls short, does it not?
They’re already finding out that the number of cases was much higher than they first thought, and the rate of death much lower.
Most of the deaths so far, as I understand, have been in Mexico where it is thought to have originated – a country where of course it would also affect the healthy because the healthcare system there isn’t all that great compared to ours (else why would that two year old have been sent here for treatment instead of staying there? generally you only send somebody outside your own country for treatment if there’s no options back home).
As far as “hundreds of deaths”, I haven’t looked up the count worldwide, but death toll in Mexico as of 5/2/09 was 17, according to the Associated Press (Alexandra Olson, Associated Press Writers – Sat May 2, 6:00 pm ET).
I still find it cute that my mention of the two-year-old automatically means I think all healthy young adults are safe as well.
Sorry, sweetie, you said the very old and the very young are
“quite safe” – your own words. I gave you a counter example showing that they might not be.
you just OWNED him or her
[CITATION NEEDED]
Oh god
Wikipedia protesters
If you catch the reference
I’ll love you forever
xkcd. an awesome site
All types of flu kill by immune system overreactions. “Deadly” kinds of influenza, like this Swine Flu, can be treated by treating the symptoms (fever, nausea, etc.) and just waiting for it to pass. Anyone who dies from this just didn’t get proper health care, for whatever reason.
You, my ignorant human, need to do us a favor and stop talking. It is people like you that are the reason so many people panic over nothing.
actually it kills people between 23-49 pfft.
this is more pointing towards problems of poverty and hygeine more than killing everyone this happens a lot its just the first time the news has been covering the evolution of a virus in real time which is why everyone s freakin out… sure ittle kill you…. if you have a weak immune system i agree with stoutdog
If this is so “highly contagious”, why didn’t the entire families those infected also get sick?
Maybe it didn’t reach them yet. I’m not a frikin’ doctor, but, I’m just expressing what I know, in the least. It does spread quickly, though. Across the US in a week, to be exact. Quicker than regular flu and lasts longer. Everyone is just making a big deal out of it because it is something unheard of, until now. I’m just saying that it’s not something you should just blow off – it could become an issue. Just saying.
How fast does regular flu travel? I bet it’s the same speed as the “current” swine flu. Sick people will get on planes and cough their viruses all over the place, whatever the strain.
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It gave me the heebie-jeebies when I heard it was an H5N1 (like the Spanish flu) though.
lolwut
.
I mean H1N1. Sorry for the avian flu flashback.
Also, I should have read gamingkitty’s post below, re: Spanish flu.
Um… yeah… you do understand that modern aircraft can take a sick person from California to New York in just a few hours, right? Let’s not get all worked up by how “quickly” it has spread.
Yes. Everybody at my school have all gone crazy over this swine flu thing.
WIN!!!
It’s like when SAARS or whatever it was came around and everyone freaked out about it.
worthless news people.
word
Several Words, in fact. With Punctuation, and Capital Letters.
It’s called a sentence (and I spelt that wrong the first two times I tried to write it…)…
…and yet didn’t realize it’s ’spelled’ not ’spelt’.
good try though imo.
actually, “spelt” is correct, or is one of the correct options
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/spelt
win @ rob. i stand corrected and gracefully withdraw ^^ comment.
(for the record, i re-read and i sounded rude. was actually trying to help, not hinder. eeek!)
You can’t do that. This is an internet thread. You need to stick to your guns and deny you are wrong no matter what the facts say. Then call him names.
Terrific post.
Same with Bird Flu. I don’t remember us dropping like flies from that.
it is bird flu lol H1N1 is a combination of bird proteins pig proteins and the last peice human proteins lol its quite funny
ManBirdPig?
it came from a pig… hence *swine flu*
No. It did not. Get your facts straight.
PROTIP: Sensationalist media is not a reliable, peer-reviewed source of information.
H1N1 is a subtype of Influenza A. The strain that’s all over the news comprises a reassortment of influenza proteins. Please tell me what’s funny about that.
god these names are worse halo weapons
SARS and this swine flu are so different. SARS had a mortality rate of 20% and it was no joke, which is what this flu seems to be right now… Scientists are saying that the mortality rate for this flu is low, and it seems to be seeing that the amount of deaths doesn’t change by much or at all per day. I guess it wasn’t that serious in places that weren’t in Asia (actually it wasn’t serious in most of Asia either -.-) but SARS was definitely not comparable to this flu.
I agree completely…except since my school year is almost over so in that case I would be annoyed but otherwise I agree completely
They forgot the extreme top metric: “SLAUGHTER ALL PIGS!!!” and the extreme left metric: “Lives in Egypt”.
*sighs*
I live in Madison, AL, where we may or may not actually have any H1N1 outbreak.
dude I live in bham
me 2
I don’t see why people are panicked anyways. They’ve confirmed that H1N1 isn’t even as strong as the regular flu.
And this is a virus with less than 200 deaths world wide, that’s way less than the normal flu does in one country.
What. Do. You. Mean. Less virulent than H3N2? Less than 200 deaths worldwide in one months vs. more than 200 in “one country” over an unspecified length of time?
.
Don’t be scared of actual numbers and place names and stuff.
You seem to completely contradict yourself.
I didn’t really say anything, I was just taking a cheap shot at RL. Where’s the contradiction?
Seriously — The swine flu is the flu out of season. WTF is everyone sofa king panicked?!?
No, it’s a different flu. We don’t have immunity and there’s no vaccine, so it could be a problem. Whether it will be is still up in the air.
they already made a vaccine.
just fyi. i’ve never gotten one flu vaccine in my life and i’ve never had a real flu. just the 24 hour flu, probably food poisoning.
only old people and babies need vaccines.
False statement. There is no guaranteed effective vaccine for the H1N1 virus, and they say it could take up to 6 months for them to develop one.
Until then, though, we all ought to go about our business as usual. It’s just like this guy is saying: if we use common sense, we’ll all be fine.
We have a vaccine for the seasonal flu. Sorry I can’t be arsed looking up the literature regarding whether it’s expected to be effective against H1N1. Antivirals should stop it from progressing, though, if they’re taken early enough.
If you’ve never had “a real” flu, it’s because you either haven’t been infected with a virulent strain, or because you happen to be immune to the strains you’ve encountered. Plenty of healthy adults get a bout of the flu that knocks them out for a few days. You’re just lucky.
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Healthcare workers should (moral judgement on my part) get the annual flu vaccine for the sake of the very old and very young people that they’re likely to be in contact with.
healthcare and any others who work with elderly and children (such as teachers)
Good call.
That’s funny, because I read Wikipedia and said, “No biggie.”
I’ll admit my ears perked up when I heard the current virus is H1N1, because I’m a history buff and the 1918 “Spanish Flu” (so-called because it was first detected in Kansas, USA) was also H1N1. But from what I’ve read, the 1918 virus wouldn’t have been quite the killer it was had there been decent nursing care available for the ill. Ergo, while I will be annoyed if someone deliberately coughs in my face, I’m not worried.
Yes, most likely if there are problems, they’ll come from having too many people sick and not enough working, overloaded hospitals, broken supply chains, etc. The disease itself isn’t the big deal it would’ve been in 1918 (it’s not exactly the same virus, BTW, just the same family); it’s the social disruption that could cause problems, maybe a worsening of the current recession. Well, that’s the way I see it now; it’s really too early to do anything but guess.
I’m not scared of it.
It is weaker.
It’s not resistant to flu treatments…
whats the bfd?
Something else is going on that they want us to be distracted about…
why do we americans always do that_ 43000 people die in car accidents every year, and we are supposed to be afraid of a flu that has killed just 100, and in another country_
looks like we arent the land of the brave as much as we are the land of paranoid ninnies.
word
Actually someone just died in my state, I believe.
But, maybe it was just a confirmed case, instead of a death. I haven’t been paying attention because I just don’t care.
Likely confirmed case… unless you live in Texas… In which case that one doesn’t even count as it was a 2 year old Mexican boy who was sent to the US for treatment and died before he was able to be helped.
This is one monster America will be able to destroy with Sprite and Chicken Soup.
The panic this silly thing has caused it utterly absurd!
ah, sprite and chicken soup…
and little house on the prairie and the price is right.
childhood memories that make me smile (even if i was sick ALL THE TIME! lol)
people! stop freaking out. 38,000 people die from the NORMAL flu each year.”Never waste a good crisis.”lol
Can I still use bacon lube?
Use all the bacon lube you want.
you can’t contract the swine flu from eating it (not sure about raw) and i bet your lube is well cooked… so it must be safe! let me know if you get inflamed sensitive parts…
I very much doubt those “inflamed sensitive parts” will be from the flu…
For all those in the United States: Wash your hands and you’ll be fine. There have only been, what, 141 known cases in the United States, only a few of them proving fatal? Some 36,000 die every year from common flu each year. Just stop freaking out; it’s not the “aporkalypse.”
Oh man, I hadn’t heard the term “aporkalypse” before. Nice.
Uh… one death… not a few… and that was a mexican child who was brought to texas for treatment.
oh my god have you heard? over 12 people have died already!!!!!!!!!!
ITS THE END OF THE WORLD!!!!!!!!!!!!11!!!!!!!1!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1!
Using common Sense after all options, (wikipedia, webistes)
Common sense should be first as common sense has no sense and should not be relied on for anything beyond normal everyday life and even then it to has allot of problems.
The Swine Flu has already reached pandemic levels (pandemic is defined as “Epidemic over a wide geographic area and affecting a large proportion of the population” the Swine Flu has reached that). The regular Flu mainly kill the very young, old and already sick, the Swine Flu can kill otherwise healthy young individuals (like the 1918 flu pandemic). Saying “the Swine Flu has only killed a few people” is not only stupid, its insane, it is not flu season and hit has not been around that long, it has not had the chance to do its damage yet.
An estimated 50,000,000 died of the 1918 Spanish Flu between 1918 and 1919. The global population at the time was around 1,980,079,020, it has since risen by 3.43 times (currant population 6,790,062,216), If the Swine Flu is anything like the 1918 Spanish Flu around 171,500,000 could die.
Cause there have been no medical advancements that would make this scenario slightly less likely in the 91 years since it happened…nope…none at all.
Dude. None of that is common sense.
872 confirmed cases is 0.00001284% of the population. How is that a large proportion? WHO defines it as an outbreak, not a pandemic. You’re about 400 times more likely to die from the measles than from swine flu.
I do hope English is not your first language.
i agree. give me a hug of truth? because your logic is irrefutable and anyone who disagrees must be a paranoid news fanatic.
Woo, hug of truth!
Lone wolf, I am cautious about this outbreak — due to its transmissibility, we might be in for more sick people than usual, especially in the southern hemisphere, where we’re coming into flu season. But you’re making me look like a nutter.
Bully auroch says; Commom sense is as scarce as hobby horse muk, Say IT as IT is!
More to follow if MODS will print Meh
Know what I think, I don’t care. I’m not exposed to the government panic, so i’m not worried about it.
Ugh this is just TOO true. Seriously, with all the panic you’d think this was the plague! There’s less than a 1% lethality rate… and that’s in MEXICO. In case people didn’t realize it, Mexico’s health care isn’t quite as good as ours. It’s only killed ONE person so far in the US: a 10 month old child. Now that’s certainly a big deal for that child’s family, that much is true, but it’s NOT going to kill everyone!
And that child was, get this, FROM MEXICO, and had been brought *to* the US for treatment!
10 deaths from 331 cases* = 3% mortality when healthcare is poor
.
*CDC
Swine flew = Pigs might fly
People are bitching about this swine flu, but not one person is raising any questions about the 1918 Spanish influenza that they’re recreating right now.
Huh? Who’s recreating it, and where?
When will we die from Swine or Bird flu? When pigs fly.
I saw a pig fly today, but I don’t think launching a pig into a lake counts as flying.
lol I’m worried, I actually got sick………. with mono….. damnit i wish i had flu thingy….. seems much more plesant…….
Be careful what you wish for. Having mono AND swine flu would probably be bad.
“Shh, my common sense is tingling!”
Common Sense:
So rare, it’s a god-damned super power.
I am a young child, and i’m scared of catching the swine flu. My mom works at the hospital and i am a HUGE germ aphobe. I wash my hands almost constantly I have hand sanitizer in my purse ect. I have been trying to keep my distance from people, but I am a hands on type of person. I don’t know what to think about this swine flu…
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
…get help kid.
That’s not OCD; it’s simple phobia. And it’s not even diagnosable simple phobia if it doesn’t interfere with your life.
if you wash your hands almost constantly, it can easily be categorized as obsessive-compulsive disorder.
A too good hygiene weakens the immune system (or prevents it from getting stronger). Also, the skin is covered with good bacteria and acids that help protect it so washing your hands (or showering) too often weakens this protection. However, showering and washing hands is also a good thing. The trick is to do it enough, but not too much.
If you think you might be washing too much and avoiding germs too much, to the point where it is bad for your immune system, I STRONGLY suggest you see a psychiatrist to try to solve this problem, otherwise you will end up sick very often. VERY VERY sick.
Your immune system is like an army: the soldiers need training, and germs are what your immune system can train against. This is how vaccines work by the way (a bit of the virus is injected in your body so that your immune system can learn to fight it). I can not stress enough how phobia of germs can be a serious danger to your health. Get help to get over this, otherwise you might die of the flu at 30.
By the way, it’s important to strengthen your immune system while you are young. This is the period of your life where your immune system will learn the most from “training”. So don’t wait!
^ ridiculous scare tactics ^
Sorry, dude, you’re not going to scare a germophobe into treatment. That’s counterproductive. Be realistic. The biggest risk from dirt/disease/contamination phobia is the risk of isolating yourself, of missing out on life because you’re too scared. That’s the real problem. To not get exposed to enough germs, you’d have to grow up in a bubble. Just being in a normal household is enough to “train” your immune system.
You’re going to be exposed to germs no matter how much you wash your hands. Exposing yourself deliberately is stupid; get the flu vaccine instead. The biggest danger with hand-washing is actually damage to the skin itself from scrubbing too hard and drying your skin out. This can result in infection the same way a cut or scratch can get infected.
So yeah. If you’re scared of germs and it’s messing up your life, get help. It’s a solvable problem and it doesn’t take years of therapy–in fact, it can be solved in weeks if you work at it. Phobias are some of the simplest disorders to work with, and they’re extremely common.
did you miss the part where washing too often can get rid of bacterias on your skin that could actually help your body..
Just don’t use antibacterial soap. Grrr.
.
Also, bacteria is plural.
.
Two pet hates: dealt with.
My bad. I didn’t think about my posts before I started using PK, now I feel the need to comment with all due respect to the language at all times.
It’s not going to kill me. But if it does, why would I care, I’m dead…
LOL
It’s not the killing you part that’s the big deal. It’s the moments just before that. They are, to put it politely, not comfortable.
It’s the damn FLU, people! The flu. People die from the regular flu too, so what’s the big deal?!
If this one starts infecting everyone and their brother in law and then kills most of them, like the Spanish flu of 1918, then there are Problems™. That’s what everyone’s worried will end up happening.
For the most part, this new strain seems much milder than the extremely virulent and deadly Spanish flu.
http://www.doihavetheswineflu.com/
Is this like the large hadron collider one?
.
Oh, winner
in case you’re worried:
http://www.doihaveswineflu.org
I was watching the local news earlier today. The big Cinco de Mayo parade was today, so they wouldn’t have to close roads for it during the work week. From the coverage, you’d think the current virus was being handed out as party favors there.
::sigh::
honestly, if it was going to be as bad as ‘they say’, cinco de mayo gatherings would not be aloud. large gatherings would be banned (like the empty soccer stands). and the permission for holding the ‘day without an illegal’ marches would have been revoked!
Allowed.
Aloud is another way of saying “out loud” and makes your sentence (though read aloud, logical) sound really quite stupid.
Its just an elaborate marketing plan to instill fear based trust of the government(s) for their control of the human race. I don’t pay attention to it, just like “reality tv”
If this is part of a government-sponsored brainwashing campaign, they are doing it so incompetently as to make the Iraq invasion seem carefully planned.
Makes me almost wish you were right, just so I could laugh at them for screwing it up so badly. But you aren’t. Now get off the computer and get some psychiatric help; you seem to need it.
Oh no, no one can call it the swine flu anymore. It has to be H1N1 Influenza A…due to the Egyptian Government killing pigs.
In Egypt, 10% of the population is Christian. These people are the ones who own the most swine farms.
The Egyptian government is mostly Muslim, so they have ordered that all pigs be killed in order to harm the Christian Egyptians. Killing pigs is useless, the virus doesn’t really transfer from pig to man.
oh, a good one! didnt’ the president say something about not closing the mexican border because it would be like closing the barn door after the horse escaped? ( in relation to stopping the spread of the swine flu)
it’s true enough, if there were only a few cases, and they were already in the u.s. with no more to follow.
it’s more like what i heard second hand from someone: you have to shut off the water main to repair the line so that the basement can be drained and cleaned.
at any rate, the border should have been sealed ages ago. aren’t we on our 3rd amnesty? burning billions of illegals… weee
just noticed something…
EDIT: burning billions on illegals.
not burning them…
but it’s a thought!
Hah! I was about to say dude, that’s a bit harsh.
I’m crying from laughter, that is one awesome Freudian slip you racist bastard!
Before anyone freaks out on me I would like to point out that I am kidding and if you are insulted by this joke you need a sense of humor.
my sense of humor is in season!
was a bit upset at my mistake though… i would hate to see anyone put through the torture that the pigs in Egypt were subject to. i think the Egyptians were trying to get back at Christians in a round about way.
That analogy would work except that the basement is neither dirty nor flooded. Mexico isn’t exactly teeming with this disease either, despite what sensationalist media would have you believe.
As to this nonsense about “amnesty” and “burning billions of [sic] illegals”, I have two words: citation needed.
i hope the citation is for the people employing illegals
and anyways, mexico is a 3rd world country… so a good cleaning would be in order at any time!
People are freaking out about it because they believe anything and everything they see on the news, even if all the facts aren’t there. And there more it’s covered = the more people are going to believe it. The swine flu is just a good story, and the scare of a pandemic keep veiwers watching.
They canceled some proms in the schools around where ONE case was found. I’d be pissed if my prom was canceled by something less deadly than the common cold.
The school is probably aware the flu is not deadly. But they know how students and parents are paranoid about this flu, and they don’t want to get sued if they don’t close and another kid gets it. Paranoid people tend to overreact so it’s very possible parents could sue a school over this.
So basically, the school is just protecting itself against crazy misinformed paranoid parents.
definitely crazy people out there too
Get real folks IF H1N1 was genuinely a serious threat to mankind will or would it not be called WOMEN flu…..tee hee
Pigs dont fly O.R. (OFF RHODA) BACON would go up!
Even my look alike mystical AUROCH wont wear his mask over his face ..BULL..IT?
???
If I get the H1N1, I’m just gonna sit on my hini and rest. Take lots of fluids and it will pass quickly.
cj says: “If I get the H1N1, I’m just gonna sit on my hini and rest.”
very good
It’s JUST the flu. There’s no need for a flu vaccine of any kind. If more people had exposure to harmless germs on an ongoing basis and actually ate healthy food their immune systems would be strong and would be able to fight off illnesses like the flu. 70% of the immune system in located in the digestive tract. If people constantly eat crap food and try to take supplements like fiber pills, their digestive tract will not be healthy and they will have a weak immune system.
I haven’t gotten sick at all in over a year ad the only reason I got sick the last time was because I as pregnant and my immune system was weaker than normal. I don’t sanitize anything in my house, I eat food off the floor and I don’t wash my hands more than once or twice a day. My immune system is incredibly strong because it constantly fights off little germs and I never take antibiotics. My 6 month old daughter also has a strong immune system and has never been sick. She didn’t even get sick when my husband had a really bad cold a few months ago. How many adults these days can go 6 months without getting sick?
There’s really no reason people should die from the flu, it’s really not that terrible. The only symptoms that could potentially be life threatening are vomiting and diarrhea, but if sick people stay hydrated, take a vitamin and eat some healthy food, they should be fine.
Some diseases, apparently including the 1918 Spanish flu, can effectively turn a strong immune system against you. In this case, having a strong immune system can kill you, while having a weak one may save you. Search Wikipedia for “cytokine storm”.
And while people are freaking out that this is why these people are dying, it’s obviously not the case or more americans who have contracted the flu would have died by now compared to the 0 who have.
Ah, BUT the flu can cause other serious respiratory complication in people with say, asthma or COPD. But still. Everyone gets the flu, maybe next time I get the flu I’ll go to the doctor and say something like “Oh no Doc, I think I gots the Equine Flu!!!”
No, go for something better… like the Pinetree Flu… it sounds scarier because OMG I GOT IT FROM A TREE!!!
RAWRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!
WE”RE ALLLLL GONNA DIE!!!!!!!!!!!! xDDDDDDDD
Pandemic simply means a lot of people have it…I’m not really afraid of a pandemic of tummy aches. Right now, if you get it, you’re FINE. If it survives the summer however and mutates into something more lethal is the problem. All I have to say is don’t buy into anything the government tells you, they’re pushing for universal healthcare (socialism, loss of freedom) I swear I’m not a conspiracy theorist, but don’t brush your teeth too often, the flouride makes you complacent.
I’m afraid you are indeed a conspiracy theorist, and also a right-wing nut. Go away and stop wasting my oxygen.
I’m far more terrified of our push towards socialism than swine flu. If that makes me a right-wing nut, then so be it.
We’re not pushing towards socialism, thus yes it makes you a right-wing nut.
they called FDR a socialist too. And who’s ass did he kick? Oh yea, Hitler…
who’s FDR again? I cant remember… but dont forget Indie he kicked nazi ass too…sorry had to say that
on a differnet subject the schwaztica isn’t a bad symbol hitler coruptted it it’s actually a hindu good luck symbol
Depending on the angle of it. FDR is Roosevelt. And I’m Australian, why do I know this??
The government is pushing for universal healthcare? I wish.
I would like to apologize on behalf of all non-crazy Republicans for conspiracy theorists like this, and would like it to be known that his toothpaste will be overdosed with fluoride at the earliest opportunity.
“I swear I’m not a conspiracy theorist, but don’t brush your teeth too often, the flouride makes you complacent.”
LOL!!!!
do not, under any circumstances, go to your pharmacy and ask for Tamiflu over the counter.
Is relenza ok? Wait, reasoning first, please.
I should ask my aunt if people are actually doing that (she’s a pharmacist) because I would laugh horribly if so
It’s time we all realized that we are utterly doomed. Take me Jeebus.
who would want to visit Mexico anyway? >. >
lets all go to mexico
As a Realtor I am darn glad the media has something else to focus on. With this silly swine flu maybe house sales will increase again.
You can certainly hope so. Then again no one except companies who manufacture flu medication can make money right now…
Maybe this is part of the big government bailout! Everyone buys flu drugs so they can pay off debt!!
Just kidding =D
Are we all dead yet?
USA Population – 304, 059, 724
Mexico Population – 109, 966, 400
annual NORMAL flu deaths USA – 36,000
annual NORMAL flu deaths Mexico – 12,000
Can we all calm down now?
Message 4 Andrea; Are u up to speed yet honey???
if not, mods permitting; Google http://www.66servicestation.com. an reply ere, believe me babe this is just the begining.Say IT as IT is.
Andrea if there r any words contained in my messages/threads ???? u do not understand GOOGLE em except of course this years weirdest thread/april 1st joke RHODA tee hee………Quote we r accountants soliciters etc and a non profitable org..an we r nice people! Meh
dare u Mods 4 free!
Print or bar me they did 4 times and once 4 ever tee hee. Now whos sorry? never say never, daddy AUROCH on da bike tee hee…………..
Not done this one tee hee
Keep the media honest tee hee ur anger makes me happy, possibly wrongly but I think I have maybe two hundred witnesses on film ; showing pigs dont fly swine flew days before u started this thread MATE the difference being Ime doing this 4 nowt, u a non profitable org 2 ? cmon lets rock….PAYBACK.Meh
Meh big Frankie says u wont talk eh, fatfarmeh now on twitter, Meh followin u followin me. Whos the leader? no contest MATE follow ur leada…………..
or get a life…….:-)iJustine an Steve. WE r the internet……….. hairy or scary………tee hic hee….
who cares………..Dont u just love IT when plan cums..TWO GETHER…………
Well done that man : N ow lets rock……. dude…Get ready………………….RYDALE RIDERS..ur next 4 visit! GUINNESS is easy 2 spell wen u av can in hand…tee hic hee……….
This thread is far too long now dude! ITs too boring to ROCK close IT lock IT b constructive and GROW….
somewhere else TWO gether……….iJustine knowS these things Steve told me……….|JOB……..vacancy…
Dont worry i vill b back SO HOLD onto ur helmets and watch the RHODA
Thanks again to all………….Just in time eh….
Its just a flu. Why are we all going to die again?
People die more often from the common flu than they have of swine flu. People can die but there stress is focused in the wrong direction.
Life is a FAIL!!!!!!
No, only YOUR life is a fail
HEY ow u duin, BIN abit busy last few days BUTT iJUST thought ide pop across an say HIGH….. looks like the bird might BEE abowt to fly the NEST/COOP
eh………buzz.. buzz………….
anyone for tennis tee.. hee..
calm as cucumba…….good luck today..mate.
were rootin for ya… 26-06-09
yeah yeah, swine flu is just like every other flu, but the reason people are afraid of it is because it’s deadly and there is no medication for it.
I live in Victoria, Australia which had the highest concentration of swine flu in the country. My friends and I kept getting emails from people over-seas asking if everyone was wearing masks or if anyone we knew had died yet. The answer was always ‘Lol, no’
About 10 or so people in my year level got swine flu and were quarantined for a week, once they got back to school the only thing those people had to deal with was being repeatedly asked ‘was being quarantined boring?’.
At one stage I, myself, showed symptoms of swine flu but I still went to school (unfortunately) and no-one even cared, some people need to calm themselves
I just lost a friend to swine flu. She was young (29, that’s twenty-nine) and vigorous, got swine flu and accompanying pneumonia. Her doctors tried everything to save her, but she died three days ago after a month in the hospital unconscious on a respirator.
When the H1N1 shots come out here, I plan to be one of the first in line.
Quick everyone get to Madagascar before they close the ports!!!!
lol epic Pandemedic 2 reference!
I was really hoping swine flu would take off…
Damn I’ll have to sit and wait for the next epidemic.
I’m not a fan of overpopulation.
hi im courtney im 13 and i have had swine flu all week at first i had lemsips because i had a high and low temp and i was getting really dissy and i couldnt sleep i managed to sleep for an hour but have night mers also i had stomach ach and head achs also sour throughts stinging nose and lots more pain i keep being sick but the lemsips do help alot they last 5 hours u can take 4 a day they doooo help but yesterday i was put on tamiflu witch helped BUT i am only left now with my dissynes i CAN sleep i dont get fever and i just have sour throught nose feel sick and really sour tummy and i no that might sound like haha .. just. but considering how bad it was before im kinda better but ppl are scaring me saying ther are really bad side effects and things like that an im also realllyyyy scared my mum dad and big sister will catch it i am scared if they die coz my dad smokes an my sister does and my dad isnt really that healthy he says he is coz he plays squash but his teeth are kinda bad to i just need to know should i be this worried about it i have been crying over the thought that my coughing will give it them and they will die :’( or i might get somthing from tamiflu because i started to get heart burn :’( pleasee reply
no sense
I live in Mexico and i have never seen an infected person. The people who died here only died because they lived in rural areas and there wasn’t hospital nearby. There had only been like 90 deaths because of the swine flu in all the world and everyone is eager to wear a mouth mask, millions of persons have died because of AIDS and many people don’t wear condoms.
Let’s see, about 26,000 children a year die from the effects of starvation. So far, how many people TOTAL have died from swine flu? Now, which one is the pandemic?
Class is dismissed.
You’re right, people are blowing H1N1 out of proportion. Well over 200,000 people around the world die annually from the NORMAL (aka seasonal) flu; some estimates put it at around 500,000. Confirmed H1N1 deaths so far are around 7,000. H1N1 is a pandemic because of how widespread it is, not because of severity. People hear “pandemic” and think it means something it doesn’t. My wife, child and I just got over a flu which, by the sounds of it, was probably H1N1. Meh, no biggie.
This is not funny. I almost died of swine flu.
Dude… I got the swine flu… like 30 people at my school got the swine flu… it’s NOT THAT BAD…