Dark Lord
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Swine FluIf this is considered political (or becomes so) then punish me accordingly.  
But dammit I just had to calm down a friend of mine who has an infant and a toddler. She's watching all this crap about swine flu and falling into a panic.
So I'm gonna drop a little knowledge here and encourage anyone who reads this to do the same. I'm betting a lot of the people here (smart folks, mainly) know this stuff already, so to them I encourage them to spread the word to counter the balls out panic going on out there.
Also, I'm using Wikipedia; if you don't like it, sue me...
Swine Flu: refers to influenza caused by any strain of the influenza virus endemic in pigs (swine).
Symptoms:According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in humans the symptoms of swine flu are similar to those of influenza and of influenza-like illness in general. Symptoms include fever, cough, sore throat, body aches, headache, chills and fatigue. The 2009 outbreak has shown an increased percentage of patients reporting diarrhea and vomiting.
Treatment:...the majority of people infected with the virus make a full recovery without requiring medical attention or antiviral drugs.
Prevention:Influenza spreads between humans through coughing or sneezing and people touching something with the virus on it and then touching their own nose or mouth. Swine flu cannot be spread by pork products, since the virus is not transmitted through food. Recommendations to prevent spread of the virus among humans include using standard infection control against influenza. This includes frequent washing of hands with soap and water or with alcohol-based hand sanitizers, especially after being out in public.
So in short. It's the damn flu. What makes it so different? It's a flu virus they don't have a vaccine for yet...operative word is YET! THAT'S WHAT THIS INDUCED PANIC IS ALL ABOUT! So when they do have a vaccine people will go mad for it.
Oh and one other tidbit cable news is not reporting. The number of CONFIRMED deaths due to swine flu is: 8. (At least in my current count)
Number of deaths from the regular flu? Well in America 36,000 people die each year, on average, from complications from the flu. So by the end of April the death toll should be near 12,000!!! 
OMG!!! Everybody panic!!!
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brownrob
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Yeah, its crazy isnt it
A lot of people I know are saying it is Flu x3
As far as I know, the swine flu has a 2.5% mortality rate, while recently SARS had almost 10% mortality rate
Same thing happened with BSE here in the UK, smoke filled skies with animal pyres yet (Im being controversial here) believe it or not, it was rife in the Republic of Ireland, but it was covered up, heck its been in Argentina for years.
I think its a problem with the press.
Now if we really want to get political... how many coalition forces have died whilst on duty in Iraq and Afghanistan? 
Its good to keep an eye on it, but people are going crazy with it...
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Magic Dave
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I love the way the Sun call it Pig flu for the chav's! 
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Dark Lord
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MidniteXpress
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actually this strain of swine flu is a mutated form of bird flu. the reason all the boffins are panicking is because if it continues to mutate then any vaccine or treatment developed may become useless.
having said that, it seems strangly deadly to mexicans...and oddly only mildly annoying to everyone else. nearly 20 people in the uk have contracted this strain of swine flu and very few of them had any treatment at all before making a full recovery.
moral of the story? stop panicking without facts...and don't eat tacos
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Dark Lord
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Well when you are experiencing diarrhea in Mexico and the treatment is bed rest and lots of fluids you don't have a chance.
And it makes people mad when I say it but if you really believe in evolution I think it's silly to be so in favor of vaccines. Aren't we weakening the species by trying to beat Mother Nature with vaccines?
Not that I am a 100% anti-vaccine person...but then I am not a 100% believer in evolution either.
I guess what I mean is that I would rather just get the swine/avian/horse flu, survive it and be stronger for it, than get a vaccine that may or may not actually protect me, and may give me the very thing it's trying to prevent (or maybe worse if some people are right). If I were to die from it...well then that's weak genes out of the pool isn't it?
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MidniteXpress
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| Dark Lord wrote: | Well when you are experiencing diarrhea in Mexico and the treatment is bed rest and lots of fluids you don't have a chance.
And it makes people mad when I say it but if you really believe in evolution I think it's silly to be so in favor of vaccines. Aren't we weakening the species by trying to beat Mother Nature with vaccines?
Not that I am a 100% anti-vaccine person...but then I am not a 100% believer in evolution either.
I guess what I mean is that I would rather just get the swine/avian/horse flu, survive it and be stronger for it, than get a vaccine that may or may not actually protect me, and may give me the very thing it's trying to prevent (or maybe worse if some people are right). If I were to die from it...well then that's weak genes out of the pool isn't it? |
vaccines work by giving you a small inert dose of the disease, thereby forcing your body to produce antibodies against that disease. so vaccines are taking advantage of nature. disinfectants and anti-bacterial soaps generally have the effect you're talking about though.
as for the evolution versus religion thing, don't get me started because my views have had me thrown out of science classes and churches lol
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Thom
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Any case of flu is potentially dangerous, people can and do die of the flu every year. I know this from firsthand experience.
And yet, for most people it is a minor annoyance, hardly worth any kind of panic, we all experience the flu at some point.
In the case of the swine flu (Also can be contracted and carried by birds though it is not "Bird Flu") there are more deaths that with the more common varieties. People who are weakened are at much greater risk, so it is something that cannot simply be blown off.
Paranoia has a life of it's own though and can be nearly as dangerous (Or at least as annoying) as the (Insert variety name here) flu. . .
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Dark Lord
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Oh I am not suggesting we blow it off. I am just suggesting that the numbers tell the story. And take a measured and logical approach to it.
Confirmed Deaths from Swine Flu in Mexico as of May 1st: 15
Confirmed Deaths from Swine Flu in the US as of May 1st: 1
Last year the seasonal flu took the lives of 83 children and an estimated 36,000 adults in the United States, according to the CDC.
There is no reason to be reporting this on the news as if it is going to kill us all and bring about the end of the world. And that's exactly what they are doing.
The treatment for Swine Flu is still the same as normal flu. Get some rest and recover from it. That should be what they are telling the public! Not handing out doctor's masks at airports!
They know how powerful those images are and they are doing it to scare people for ratings. It's sick.
And as far as the other stuff
| Quote: | | so vaccines are taking advantage of nature. |
You say taking advantage, I say fooling. Tomato - Tomato
That is not all that's in vaccines either, and there is definitely been a sharp increase in the number of vaccines we are giving kids lately, as well as an increase in health problems. I'm not saying we should get rid of vaccines but do we really need to vaccinate 3 year olds against Ebola? We can't hang on to that until there is an outbreak? Maybe we should take it down a notch and see what happens, no?
We're all so afraid to get sick, but in the process we could be making things worse for us down the line.
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MidniteXpress
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| Dark Lord wrote: |
We're all so afraid to get sick, but in the process we could be making things worse for us down the line. |
don't forget about all the additives they put in food to make it "appeal" more to consumers and make the food cheaper, plastics leaching into bottled drinks etc. which has been proven to reduce human immune systems and in some cases cause cancer.
you are definately right about the numbers though. compared to normal flu this is a mild and fairly unimportant outbreak. but of course the press do like their doom stories.
unfortunately people tend to be like sheep. a few people panic, so the herd starts to panic. once they get bored of swine flu, they'll begin a panic about something else....my bet is on radioactive frogs lol
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Dark Lord
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Well I don't disagree with the food thing either. I shop as much as I can from local markets.
I firmly believe that we have weakened ourselves by centralizing so much of our food production. Did you know during the gas price increase last year that some chicken farmers were slaughtering their chickens here, and then shipping them to China to be butchered and packaged and then having them shipped back! ACK!
Also, if everyone bought locally when things did happen (like salmonella in tomatoes) we could contain it in a hurry!
But none of that is reason to inject kids with Ebola vaccines. That's about money.
And at any rate, we're mostly on the same page. I just started this thread to counter some of the silly doom and gloom.
We should start a list of past diseases we were all supposed to be scared of! I'll start:
Lyme Disease
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Mephisto
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Well, as with the bird flu this is the same.
The numbers as DL put, are ridiculous. But they are giving it so much advertisement... the questions are why and who would benefit from it? The pharma firm who sells the vaccune. With the bird flu, one of the Bush administration members, don't remember if it was Cheney or one of the Penthagon "Falcons" was member of a pharma industry who sold the vaccune.
That in Mexico so "many" people have died is probably the following: Those that die are probably living in not so healthy environments and do not have acces to a good health...
I would no worry about this flu. Driving kills a lot more people... 
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MidniteXpress
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mrsa (it's still around but people don't seem to be getting sick anymore)
that chicken packaging thing is ridiculous! i thought the uk was bad for things like that.
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Purdindas
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I wouldn't be surprised if the media companies are in cahoots with the pharmaceutical companies on this one. The media whips everyone into a frenzy then the demand for drugs goes up...
Sounds plausible to me but am I paranoid?
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Darkson
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| Purdindas wrote: | | Sounds plausible to me but am I paranoid? |
Perhaps.
Doesn't automatically make you wrong though.
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Dark Lord
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Paranoia is just reality on a finer scale. 
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skatingtortoise
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just because youre paranoid doesnt mean there isnt someone trying to kill you.
true or false: bill cosby was the first black man.
false! the first black man was ofcourse, sidney poitier.
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Dark Lord
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| Purdindas wrote: | I wouldn't be surprised if the media companies are in cahoots with the pharmaceutical companies on this one. The media whips everyone into a frenzy then the demand for drugs goes up...
Sounds plausible to me but am I paranoid? |
| Quote: | | WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives will seek passage in coming weeks of $94.2 billion in emergency money for [censored] including $2 billion more to prepare for an influenza pandemic. |
Thar she blows!
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Purdindas
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I knew it. I bet the politicians will get their cut too
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Dark Lord
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| Purdindas wrote: | | I knew it. I bet the politicians will get their cut too |
Oh yeah, cuz you know most of that 2 billion is going straight to pharmaceutical companies for "research." Their lobbyists will treat those Congressmen real nice, I'm sure. 
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Babs
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| Quote: | | but then I am not a 100% believer in evolution either. |
What? Dark Lord critically thinking again? Quick - call in the 're-education' department. 
Completely in agreement on this thread (especially the quote) - except the US political stuff which I'm not up on.
But here - normally in a year they sell 10,000 units of a Roche Pharmaceuticals product called Tamaflu (a flu vaccine). They have called a ration on it, as they have been selling 20 times that a WEEK since the alert.
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