Swine Flu Information!

[webishqiptar 0]

I am sure that health, will not be disregarded and this is why you should be careful and take care about these things. I know from microbiology that some kind of flu virus killed millions of people worldwide in the years 1900. Hopefully a new vaccine will be available in october this year, I heard about this in the news.

[wuglr 0]

nol, as of May 29th there have been 15 reported deaths in the US from this outbreak, and there are 8,975 confirmed cases. Not everyone with symptoms of influenza like illness is being tested, mostly those with severe illness, those requiring hospitalisation and those in high risk categories.

http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/update.htm

 

It is true that America has better health care, but there are many factors which have to be taken into account. For example, the number of US citizens without health insurance, staff shortages in health care professions and ICU surge capacities, combined with hospitalization rates and average age of hospitaizations.

 

We must also take into account the potential mutations that have yet to surface. Seasonal flu is resistant to the main antiviral currently in use against the new H1N1, Tamiflu. It is winter in the southern hemisphere now, and one of our greatest concerns should be the high possibility of new H1N1 reassorting with seasonal flu, taking it's Tamiflu resistance with it and rendering it untreatable. H5N1 is also endemic in Egypt and other middle eastern countries. A reassortment with that would be worst case senario.

 

There is definitely more to this than we are being told by the 10 o'clock news.

[frozen.fish 0]

lets just all pray and hope for the best.. like i said not all country is clean and have good healthcare..

[wuglr 0]

I think I'll share with you a humorous comment made by a member at PFI Forum when the Mexican outbreak was first being reported: this gives new meaning to the Mexican wave..

 

Yes, many poor and developing countries will be hit very hard by this outbreak. They are relying solely on the WHO to gage when to increase security and employ more strict mitigation strategies (restrictions on travel, public gatherings and events as well as quarantines, school closures and triage). But if the WHO are willing to delay changes of alert for richer countries, these poorer countries are placed at an even lower disadvantage. Not to mention, richer countries hording antivirals and signing contracts for very large percentages of vaccine production. This gives new meaning to survival of the fittest (those with the most influence).

 

Hope may be important for morale, but it only exists to compensate for fear (which causes panic). In emergencies we should be as level headed and clear minded as we can. Therefore, do you not think that we must consider preparing for the worst while hoping for the best? When we buy a car, or learn to drive, do we hope we won't get hit, and speed off down the motorway? Sure. But we buy insurance first. Would hope and prayer remove all chance of uncompensatable injury or damage due to accident? Natural disasters are similar, and many governments recommend preparing. The UK government advises to prepare a couple days supply of emergency food and water in the event of flood, power outages, storms etc, as well as an evacuation pack of some other essential items. I recently learnt Virginia has a tax holiday for hurricane supplies. There are many many more examples.

 

A pandemic is a natural disaster too, we are just more familiar with hurricanes, floods, storms, earthquakes and fires because they occur more frequently. Pandemic should be on the list; we should be informed, unafraid and as prepared as possible. No matter what happens.

 

As before:

To keep informed, PFI Forum is an excellent site. Look for a thread with today's date, or area/region of interest for relevant news.

getpandemicready.org is the resource for preparing.

Edited June 3, 2009 by wuglr (see edit history)

[shaks786 0]

accorring to BBC news, the UK has now had its first critical case

[harrison858 0]

Thanks for the info.I, too, believe that swine flu is a little overrated. Aure is a bad case of flu, but the media and general population are making a big deal out of it. Healthcare in Mexico does suck, and they need to improve on it greatly.The flu virus mutates quickly which makes it extremely complicated for a vaccine to be developed. At least, an effective vaccine.You cannot weaken your immune system by simply washing your hands.