Swine Flu news and updates thread

i sweat the flu like nobody's business . . . it's a historic killer of, well, historic proportion.

but until someone in the u.s., or any other country with a decent medical system, dies of this flu, then it's simply not a flu that merits the panic i'm reading on ATS.

it merits a good watching, that's about it. it appears that an active screening system and a basic round of tamiflu is enough to control the progression if you've caught it.

outside of mexico, this flu doesn't seem to be a killer strain.

yet.

Originally posted by blupblup
81 dead and 1300 infected in Mexico??

That's a lot of infected.

A mexican doc contacted the BBC and said it is over 200, so its
worse than they are admitting too.

The reason given is to prevent mass panic.

reply to post by Ex_MislTech


Fair enough..... does seem a little odd the way this story is taking off..


Hmmmmm

Yeah but we look at how the media has been reporting on the economy and how our government (USA) has handled the current financial crisis. I wouldn't trust the government with anything related to health and safety. Hell it takes them weeks to figure out a salmonella outbreak. And you would put your faith into their handling of a major flu outbreak?

I do agree I've see nothing yet that would cause me to freak out. Skeptically concerned right now. But this could get ugly.

By the way it's not front page on Yahoo yet

Mexico, United States, New Zealand, possibly Israel and France too according to the BBC News site.

news.bbc.co.uk...

If this reaches the Middle East or Africa, which i feel it inevitably will, then no doubt it will spread like wild fire. I don't really have much faith in the Zimbabwean health system for example, infact there is probably no such thing.

Is it not better to play it safe and take this whole thing seriously, before people start dropping like flies? Will it get that bad? Hopefully not, because then its game over.

reply to post by SecretGoldfish


Its seems that the flu is not as effective in US but consider the impact if it hits Asia, particularly densely populated areas like Japan, India or China.

Originally posted by SecretGoldfish
it merits a good watching, that's about it. it appears that an active screening system and a basic round of tamiflu is enough to control the progression if you've caught it.

outside of mexico, this flu doesn't seem to be a killer strain.

yet.

If case load remains small you are right, if it blows up into the millions
of cases which is likely then we do not have enough mechanical
ventilators or course of tamiflu to treat the majority of the populace.

Also another vector of spread COULD be the mosquito.

Good Luck to you all !


[edit on 26-4-2009 by Ex_MislTech]

any knowing of the incubation time? if it is long than we have a serious problem...

Originally posted by Kram09
Is it not better to play it safe and take this whole thing seriously, before people start dropping like flies? Will it get that bad? Hopefully not, because then its game over.

I'm still not buying the whole thing at the moment...

I dunno.... something doesn't seem right.


We're either being lied to about the severity of the "outbreak" and it's potential impact on the world....I.E. It's worse than they're admitting.

Or

They're blowing it out of all proportion and it's nothing more than a ploy to get everyone to get vaccinated for no reason...or more sinister reasons...


Or (i suppose)

It could be exactly as it's being reported and they have only our best intentions in mind when they're warning us about it and only erring on the side of caution.



Time will tell....



[edit on 26/4/09 by blupblup]

Originally posted by Ex_MislTech

Also another vector of spread COULD be the mosquito.

Oh God....source??

Originally posted by ressiv
any knowing of the incubation time? if it is long than we have a serious problem...

Incubation time is incredibly longer than normal past flu.

Some have said up to 5 - 7 days where 1 -2 days is the norm.

Originally posted by ressiv
any knowing of the incubation time? if it is long than we have a serious problem...

i was just going to ask this exact question---how long ago were the people in mexico who came down with it?-- had good friends return from cancun on the 14th---- i seriously didnt go to church this morning because of this (these friends are always hugging my kids) i hope i am not being ridiculously paranoid here.....

after the contry name is the # of cases


Azerbaijan 8 11-Mar-2006
Bangladesh 1 27-Jan-2008
Cambodia 8 28-Nov-2008
China 38 23-Jan-2009
Djibouti 1 23-Apr-2006
Egypt 67 18-Apr-2009
Indonesia 141 23-Dec-2008
Iraq 3 15-Mar-2006
Lao PDR 2 26-Feb-2007
Myanmar 1 21-Nov-2007
Nigeria 1 16-Jan-2007
Pakistan 3 21-Nov-2007
Thailand 25 24-July-2006
Turkey 12 5-Jan-2006
Viet Nam 110 12-Mar-2009
Total 421 18-Apr-2009

the link to keep you update even if last updat was like the 8 apr 09


www.who.int...

I must admit that this news has my heart beating just alittle faster.

Anyway, I thought I would post this as some members may be interested, but this Tamiflu appeared to be a Rumsfeld baby at one point

Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld has made more than $5 million from selling shares in the firm that discovered and developed the flu drug Tamiflu.

He also retains shares worth $25 million or more. Tamiflu is bought in mass quantities by the government in order to treat a predicted outbreak of avian flu. The drug was developed by Gilead Sciences. Mr. Rumsfeld was on the board of Gilead between 1988 and 2001, and was chairman starting in 1997. When he left to join the Bush administration, he retained a large shareholding .

In 2003, the year before concerns about bird flu began, the company took a loss. But in 2004, Tamiflu sales nearly quadrupled, and then nearly quadrupled again in 2005. Divestiture of his stocks in the corporation is not required by the Office of Government Ethics or the Department of Defense Standards of Conduct Office.

Source

Bush wants to give (has given?) about seven billion dollars to Rumsfeld's old company to purchase Tamiflu- patented by Gilead, a Bay Area pharma company. Donald Rumsfeld was the Chairman of the Board of Gilead (i.e the owner) from 1997-2001, interestingly enough, and still holds stock in the company. Their share price, last I checked, went from $35 to $47 a chair - nice jump, especially for those who had the insider line. Maybe Mr Rumsfeld got upset about the fat handouts Cheney's Halliburton has received from the government, and has put the pressure on to get a little cash flow headed his way. Gilead owns the intellectual property rights to Tamiflu but has licensed them to Roche, the manufacturer of the drug.

Source
A drug company profiteering after the Bird FLu scare - interesting that Donald Rumsfeld himself gained from it.

If this has already been posted, apologies. If not, I'll look more into this, but interesting to note that Companies with direct links to the Government always profit after a war, disaster or emergency!

Muckety Map

Tamiflu Useless?

Originally posted by Ex_MislTech

Originally posted by ressiv
any knowing of the incubation time? if it is long than we have a serious problem...

Incubation time is incredibly longer than normal past flu.

Some have said up to 5 - 7 days where 1 -2 days is the norm.

right.....when confirmed. its a disaster...:-(

reply to post by Kram09


Yes, your powers of observation are correct. If the flu has a lethal effect in Mexico, imagine the consequences of its destruction across Africa.

Two cases in Israel. This has the potential to implement chaos across Palestine, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Egypt as well.

even if they find a cure...how to protect billions of humans worldwide..in such a short time.....
and the virus can mutate again...

BBC

200? I thought the figure was 17

mosquitoes can't transmit flu. it's not a blood-borne virus.

that's at least one thing you can stop worrying about.

regarding the u.s. mortality rate being driven up (potentially) by the sheer number of victims of this flu . . . how is that different than any other flu?

again, not saying don't worry, just saying don't panic.

yet.

reply to post by SecretGoldfish


Western health care is dealing with the outbreak, but Mexico is struggling. That is why others have raised the question of Africa and Asia, not universally known for their quality of health care.

[edit on 26-4-2009 by infinite]