Swine Fever - any thoughts?

JohnB · Post by **JohnB** » 15 May 2009, 22:42

Ludwig wrote:I think I saw it suggested somewhere that the swine flu story was blown out of proportion by various government-linked PR machines, in order to deflect attention from the report into torture in US-run prisons. We'll never know, but it's surely not beyond the realm of possibility.

They said that pigs would fly before there was a black president in the White House. What happened when Obama was elected? Swine Flu

Keela · Post by **Keela** » 15 May 2009, 23:03

JohnB wrote: They said that pigs would fly before there was a black president in the White House. What happened when Obama was elected? Swine Flu

Totally_Baffled · Post by **Totally_Baffled** » 16 May 2009, 00:09

Anyone told Snow that he can come out of his bunker yet?

Snow - you can stop stock piling the beans now mate - it looks like another false alarm

(ok ok - spare me the explanation of the 'second wave' in the autumn!)

biffvernon · Post by **biffvernon** » 16 May 2009, 07:58

Or as this week's New Scientist editorial puts it, "Now would be the worst time to kid ourselves that swine fluis nothing to worry about".

snow hope · Post by **snow hope** » 17 May 2009, 20:23

Totally_Baffled wrote:Anyone told Snow that he can come out of his bunker yet?

Snow - you can stop stock piling the beans now mate - it looks like another false alarm

(ok ok - spare me the explanation of the 'second wave' in the autumn!)

hehe

that was funny TB.

I see the number of confirmed cases in the UK has just gone over 100 - with fourteen new cases being confirmed today in England. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8054476.stm

96 cases have been confirmed in Japan and only 3 days ago they had none. So this virus is spreading and it won't surprise me if WHO raise the level of alert to the highest level any day now. They have been persuaded not to raise the level to 6 over the last few days by governments who are scared that panic will follow the announcement.

Dr Dan Jerdigan, Deputy Director for the (US) Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) influenza physician said he estimates there is upwards of 100,000 cases of swine flu in the US alone!

http://www.cdc.gov/media/transcripts/2009/t090515.htm
(do Edit, then Find (on This Page) and type in 100,000 to see the paragraph.

I wish it was a false alarm TB, but by the reckening of the CDC and WHO, they don't think it is. I will be doing some more stocking tomorrow night!!

RenewableCandy · Post by **RenewableCandy** » 17 May 2009, 23:18

Haggis wrote:I just called the NHS help line for information on swine flu, all I heard on the line was crackling...

Not Pork Scratchings, then?

The leaflet arrived here at Chateau Renewable, rather surreally, along with all the Euro-election bumph..."Vote Swine Flu! You know it makes sense..." I'm keeping it, it might save my bacon.

PS_RalphW · Post by **PS_RalphW** » 18 May 2009, 09:13

We haven't received one. We've signed up to the Royal Mail 'No junk mail addressed to 'the occupier' opt out list. As a side effect we don't get official government leaflets either.

What a bonus!

Adam1 · Post by **Adam1** » 18 May 2009, 10:02

RenewableCandy wrote:
Haggis wrote:I just called the NHS help line for information on swine flu, all I heard on the line was crackling...
Not Pork Scratchings, then?

The leaflet arrived here at Chateau Renewable, rather surreally, along with all the Euro-election bumph..."Vote Swine Flu! You know it makes sense..." I'm keeping it, it might save my bacon.

snow hope · Post by **snow hope** » 25 May 2009, 16:34

UK swine flu toll is really 30,000, says leading scientist, 30,000 in Japan and in excess of 100,000 in the US.

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style ... 90130.html

Swine Flu Is Spreading Wider Than Official Data Show

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid= ... HVPFaC5R.M

Folks, this is being kept quiet at the moment, I hope it doesn't come back and kick us in the preverbials.....

biffvernon · Post by **biffvernon** » 25 May 2009, 18:21

Editorial and article in this week's New Scientist in a similar vein.

RenewableCandy · Post by **RenewableCandy** » 26 May 2009, 13:01

Geoff in the Indie wrote:Thirty thousand people in Britain are likely to have been already infected by swine flu, one of the country's leading authorities has told The Independent on Sunday. This would mean that the virus is 300 times more widespread than the Health Protection Agency (HPA) admits.

If that's true, and we know the number of fatalities, then nowt to worry about: all these people caught it and only 3 of them died. Therefore it's about as lethal as being said "hello" to by a Tory canvasser...

snow hope · Post by **snow hope** » 26 May 2009, 13:44

I know you are a very intelligent person RC, so shall assume that comment was tongue in cheek.

I don't think there have been any deaths in the UK ascribed to H1N1 yet.

The problem is not great while the virus is mild and only in 30,000 people. The trouble comes when the virus becomes more virulent (as the normal flu viruses change year on year - which is why there is a new flu injection every year) as this virus is prone to do. Even if it does not become more virulent, we know it has killed close to 100 people in North America. We have no immunity to this new flu virus (which is why it is so contagious), so what happens if it spreads to 300,000 or 3,000,000 people? A certain percentage are going to be bad enough to be hospitalised - these numbers are likely to overwhelm our hospitals.

We know what has happened in the last 4 flu pandemics (3 in the last century), we should not ignore history. Unfortunately this current virus seems most simiar to the 1918 version - it left about 50,000,000 dead - since then we have developed the ability to fly anywhere in the world within 24 hours......

Keep well all.

Totally_Baffled · Post by **Totally_Baffled** » 26 May 2009, 19:50

I will be doing some more stocking tomorrow night!!

That is one hell of hill of beans you are stocking snow!

Haven't you still got the beans leftover from the 2004 Bird flu pandemic that killed billions?

* If a animal related flu is going to wipe us out it better be a more interesting species.

How about Kangaroo flu, or flamingo flu or maybe Aadvark flu or something like that!?

DominicJ · Post by **DominicJ** » 26 May 2009, 21:01

12954 infected
92 dead

Thats 1 in 140 infected die.
Even assuming everyone is infected, thats not enough dead to seriously impact society.

RenewableCandy · Post by **RenewableCandy** » 26 May 2009, 21:35

Tbh I think most of the panic is b****cks but the flying bit is interesting. I would feel much more laid-back (is this possible??) if I knew that there were a mechanism in place for stopping flights from certain places at short notice if need be.

Also, if loads of people are catching the mild form of the virus, then when/if it becomes more severe there'll be loads of people who are immune to it. In fact the cleverest thing to do, for all I know, might be to go out there and get a tan (i.e. some VitD) then sleepover at your flu-infested mate's place and catch it before it gets nasty (and before the winter rush)...