SWINE FLU?

[WezV]

i am getting really miffed with the reporting on it

here is a nice map from the BBC
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/8021547.stm

currently we have 7 confirmed deaths from swine flu in mexico - that was 20 yesterday.

watch any other news channel and its more like 150-170 deaths from swine flu.  just swapping words like 'suspected' or 'confirmed' around to create a panic

[Adam.M]

Glad to see that logic is prevailing here.

It's sometimes frightening to see how the "public" falls so easily for the media's scare tactics.

And it is the media. I think the govt. is basically just responding in a "reasonable" way - which is usually as "belt and braces" as they can be in these sort of situations. It's the media that hypes it up out of all proportion by never publishing or broadcasting any of the many rational voices out there which are saying "hang on a minute, this isn't really so bad".

There was someone interviewing people coming back from Mexico yesterday and there was one fella, when asked if they are doing enough to stop it coming here he said they definitely were and i swear the silence felt like a whole minuite. The reporter clearly wasn't expecting someone to be rational on TV!

[Will]

First birds, now farm animals. What's next, tree flu? wait no best not give them any ideas!

Birds are farm aminals :?

[hamfist]

First birds, now farm animals. What's next, tree flu? wait no best not give them any ideas!

Birds are farm aminals :?

The ones who drink down my local certainly are !

[Will]

What I meant was: I had to have a flu jab last autumn as they were afraid of human flu mixing with bird flu and going nuts (kind of what swine flu is doing?). I think DEFRA sent out lots of letters to people that work closely with birds to send them for flu jab. Its a shame really, have had to keep all our ducks, geese, and chickens inside which isn't ideal for them.

DEFRA itself should be able to put its usual restrictions down on movement, as long as the PM doesn't get involved and decide he knows better (eg.Foot and Mouth crisis).

Farming rant over :D

[ailean]

The governmant can't win in a situation like this. If they react quickly and on a large scale then they contain a dangerous situation, so there is no 'pandemic' and then get accused of over reacting and wasting money. If they fail to contain it and thousands catch it, and lots of people die, then they should have done more.

While I agree the risk to the public is remote, if this sort of thing isn't brought to the public awareness then people will just assume they have a cold, spread it around, and then by the time everyone is aware you have potentially hundreds of cases and a very hard job to contain it.

If it is highly contaigous then it should be treated as such, something like this gets loose in a hospital? Not good.

I remember a few years ago, 1 person at work caught the Norovirus (stomach bug). Within a week a third of the company was off sick with it. Thats in a population of about 400 at the time. Now even if that had a mortaility rate of 1% (it's non leathal) then chances are 1 or 2 people would have died from that 1 index case.

Yes the media overplay these things (they overplay EVERYTHING), but it should be taken seriously.

[Elliot]

In 28 days time few of you will be here and those that are will be zombies coming out at night looking for rats to eat.... :D

[Jonny]

The governmant can't win in a situation like this. If they react quickly and on a large scale then they contain a dangerous situation, so there is no 'pandemic' and then get accused of over reacting and wasting money. If they fail to contain it and thousands catch it, and lots of people die, then they should have done more.

The government's our little bitch, so to speak but that's being ignorant and not looking at what good they have done. It's a simple matter of it being easier to criticise than compliment.

While I agree the risk to the public is remote, if this sort of thing isn't brought to the public awareness then people will just assume they have a cold, spread it around, and then by the time everyone is aware you have potentially hundreds of cases and a very hard job to contain it.

If it is highly contaigous then it should be treated as such, something like this gets loose in a hospital? Not good.

Surely it'll be the other way around- there will be panic if someone sneezes and they'll all be like OMG SWINE FLU- GTF AWAY FROM ME! AGGGGGGGGHHHHH WE'RE ALL GONNA DIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEE!

And probably half the time people think they have it or think they are getting it, they don't.

I remember a few years ago, 1 person at work caught the Norovirus (stomach bug). Within a week a third of the company was off sick with it. Thats in a population of about 400 at the time. Now even if that had a mortaility rate of 1% (it's non leathal) then chances are 1 or 2 people would have died from that 1 index case.

Yes the media overplay these things (they overplay EVERYTHING), but it should be taken seriously.

As above.

[Denim n Leather]

A lot of questions are answered here:

http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/04/30/ep.swine.flu.questions.answers/index.html

[Roobubba]

Far be it from me to stand up for Pharmaceutical companies, but I would like to point out that the amount of money it costs to discover and develop a marketable drug is mind-blowingly huge. It typically takes 10 years from the start of a programme to a successful drug making it to the clinic, and there are SO many more drugs which fail to make it to the clinic than those which are successfully marketed.
A lot of people have apparently got a big beef with Big Pharma, but I for one believe that view if often unfounded and third-party in nature.
Now, I'm not going to try to defend the decisions Pharma companies make on what targets they decide to go for - especially when antibacterials are so neglected at large (I speak as a scientist who did a PhD with an antibacterial drug discovery theme who has since moved to a leading cancer research institution, so perhaps I'm being a little hypocritical in saying this!), but ultimately the money that Pharma makes from successful drugs is ploughed back in to new projects working on new therapeutic areas which - almost by definition - help people!

Rant over.

Now, back on topic... Swine 'flu - yeah whatever. This is not 'the one'. It will come, an influenza strain of similar virulence and pathogenicity as the 1914 'flu, but this is not it.

Roo

[Jonny]

"11. Could this new swine flu virus have been manufactured by bioterrorists?"

I actually smiled.

[MrBump]

There was a good one in the paper yesterday, something along the lines of:

"When bird flu came out I wasn't worried, given that I'm a bloke.  Now I'm shiteting myself, given that I'm something of a male chauvinist pig..."

Mark.

[ailean]

Surely it'll be the other way around- there will be panic if someone sneezes and they'll all be like OMG SWINE FLU- GTF AWAY FROM ME! AGGGGGGGGHHHHH WE'RE ALL GONNA DIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEE!

And probably half the time people think they have it or think they are getting it, they don't.

Oh yeah, I'm not saying that isn't going to happen, my point was that if you down play this sort of thing, and everyone takes the attitude that they are fine, then it can quickly become a problem.

This is the sort of thing I actually don't mind people over reacting to. Better that than the alternative.

Roo's right this isn't 'the big one', but I read today that London's worst case scenario is 94,000 deaths. Even if the odds are small, that's still a scary number.

[Johnny Mac]

NOT!

My dear Jonny... though I fear for the big J-MAC..

He is a as we all know, a delicate little flower...

He is, 2nd week back at work from the steel door tear up and i got a cold yesterday and now feel like cr@p! Is it or isn't it swine flu  :lol:? Well if the Koch jokes stop then send round the government quarantine swat team to suppress the viral threat!

[Muttley]

I phoned the Swine Flu hotline earlier, but all I got was crackling.