Swineflu - Problem or not?

[The Sandcat]

Swineflu - Problem or not?

First it was SARS, then bird flu, and both were a damp squib. They both caused a media feeding frenzy for months on end.And people killed millions of chickens to prevent birdflu from spreading. Now this pig flu has suddenly appeared,with little warning, and has already passed the stage where it could be brought under control.Which shows that a virus that spreads between people is near impossible to control.I am wondering how nasty this virus actually is.It is clearly more dangerous than bird flu.What do you think?

 

[jel]

Re: Swineflu - Problem or not?

First it was SARS, then bird flu, and both were a damp squib. They both caused a media feeding frenzy for months on end.And people killed millions of chickens to prevent birdflu from spreading. Now this pig flu has suddenly appeared,with little warning, and has already passed the stage where it could be brought under control.Which shows that a virus that spreads between people is near impossible to control.I am wondering how nasty this virus actually is.It is clearly more dangerous than bird flu.What do you think?

Uh I don't like that the media have reported it has arrived at Europe, which never happened to Sars or bird flu, at least not in a way where I felt anyone around me could have the disease, this really frightens me, as I'm afraid it's also pretty dangerous otherwise there wouldn't be any reason to isolate otherwise.

I really hope this will be brought under control soon and a cure will be forced forward through gene manipulation or something similar, anyway it's not very conformtable to be close to people when thinking about this, I guess it'd be a good idea to avoid, unless you've to of course as I don't think you should change your life style, areas with large crowds of people, don't scratch yourself when there's an itch as you may have it on your hands, wash your hands before eating, after using the toilet and when coming home.

Anyway this has made me pretty uncormfortable, especially at a public library, or any other place where a computer can be used from.

I wish there'd be something I can do to help.

Edit: On the other hand it kind of sets your life in perspective, you really have to be prepared for the worst possible scenario. Which then again makes computer games and debates with no actions involved kind of pointless.

 

[The Sandcat]

Re: Swineflu - Problem or not?

I really hope this will be brought under control soon and a cure will be forced forward through gene manipulation or something similar,

Normally they make a vaccine, but it takes 6 months to be ready.That would be November. By then it is probably too late.

Edit:

Replikins Ltd. has found that the Replikin Count(TM) of the H1N1 strain of influenza virus has recently increased to 7.6 (plus/minus 1.4), its highest level since the 1918 H1N1 pandemic (p value less than 0.001). A rising Replikin Count of a particular influenza strain, indicating rapid replication of the virus, is an early warning which has been followed consistently by an outbreak of the specific strain

( from medicalnewstoday.com).

So this may well get nasty.

 

[Lazer LXXVII]

Re: Swineflu - Problem or not?

Potentially dangerous, yes definitely.

But in all reality, i dont see whats with all of the panic. Its curable, there is medication that helps with it as long as the person does not wait weeks before getting treatment. We have known about the disease for 40ish years, and chances are that it will not evolve into something worse.

Could it get worse and then do some serious damage, oh yeah. But if you read some of the facts about swine flu, then you realize the media is trying to scare everyone. SARS was potentially more dangerous, because it was a new strand that had never been seen before.

I seriously think the media needs to scare people as of lately. It seems like non-stop they are filling people with garbage to keep them on edge, why, i dont know. First the economy, we well go into a huge depression and the whole world will suffer. Then the Conflicker computer virus, infected tons of computers so far but doesnt take any action until April 1, has infected government and security computers and could completely screw some of the systems of the United States. Now swine flu.

Whats next?

 

[jmervyn]

Re: Swineflu - Problem or not?

What I find interesting (I would have said amusing, but it ain't) is the mis-reporting associated with the original outbreak in Mexico City. Apparently there's nearly 150 dead as of this morning, yet only 1600 or so reported cases.

THAT MEANS A 10% MORTALITY RATE!

Can you imagine just how screwed everyone would be if that was even remotely true? Apparently the 1918 pandemic had like a 2.5% mortality rate. Moral of this story is, Mexico's public health infrastructure sucks rocks.

EDIT - @ Lazer: Never let a good crisis go to waste.

This isn't identical to the previous swine flu outbreak, you know - every one is a special little snowflake, unique in its own way. The other item that was interesting was that the 1976 vaccination program apparently killed off around a score of people while the disease itself only claimed one.

 

[The Sandcat]

Re: Swineflu - Problem or not?

I seriously think the media needs to scare people as of lately.

You are right. I saw that BBC reporter this morning with a face mask on! Ridiculous.

Whats next? They will think of something, but they willl stick with global warming for a few more years, before they finally notice it is a scam to sell green ( read expensive and useless) technology.

But this virus may be nasty. see my last edit.

 

[Johnny]

Re: Swineflu - Problem or not?

Oh well with Mexico eradicated the US will save a lot of money on that wall they wont have to build now.

 

[The Sandcat]

Re: Swineflu - Problem or not?

Oh well with Mexico eradicated the US will save a lot of money on that wall they wont have to build now.

And how many Mexicans cross El Paso border post in a day? 1000's .So you guys will last only a few days longer.And don't rely too much on this Tamiflu stuff either.

 

[Johnny]

Re: Swineflu - Problem or not?

And how many Mexicans cross El Paso border post in a day? 1000's .So you guys will last only a few days longer.And don't rely too much on this Tamiflu stuff either.

It's not that I don't want to take medical advice from you or anything but the fact that your country is having a harder time contain a blood borne disease than any other country in the world has with an airborne one does make me question your nations education on the matter.

 

[Lazer LXXVII]

Re: Swineflu - Problem or not?

I wonder how the media does this though. Do they like organize it and say we will act horribly dramatic over everything, we need to wear masks while doing reports, and genuinely act really concerned.

Or do they just keep telling people the stories over and over until they start to believe them.

 

[TheOgreMan]

Re: Swineflu - Problem or not?

Actually the media are all part of a massive hivemind. They all hear the same thing when they see any kind of "news" and sensationalize it. Apparently the only kind of news that keeps people interested is really, really bad news.

Why can't there be more reports of puppies and rainbows?

 

[The Sandcat]

Re: Swineflu - Problem or not?

It's not that I don't want to take medical advice from you or anything but the fact that your country is having a harder time contain a blood borne disease than any other country in the world has with an airborne one does make me question your nations education on the matter.

The aids-education is good,everybody has heard the whole advice a 100 times.The trouble is that many african men here have a culture of having more than one woman at the same time , and many refuse to use condoms. Many people still do not believe in aids, especially in small villages. To them aids is caused by witchcraft. Ex pres. of South Africa Mbeki and his health minister did not believe in aids either.He chose to believe some rubbish theories by Duesberg and other nutters who deny that aids is caused by a virus.

 

[jmervyn]

Re: Swineflu - Problem or not?

The aids-education is good,everybody has heard the whole advice a 100 times.The trouble is that many african men here have a culture of having more than one woman at the same time , and many refuse to use condoms. Many people still do not believe in aids, especially in small villages. To them aids is caused by witchcraft. Ex pres. of South Africa Mbeki and his health minister did not believe in aids either.He chose to believe some rubbish theories by Duesberg and other nutters who deny that aids is caused by a virus.

Nice to hear some confirmation, "from the field", as it were. Looks like machismo isn't the sole domain of South America...

There was a follow-up discussion by some right-leaning American types discussing the concept (right-leaning primarily because they rejected the "not just a g*y/druggie problem" reaction from those studying AIDS as having caused massive harm by obscuring the disease vectors). Their hypothesis was that because there's a near-complete lack of contraceptives or interest in using them, anal sex was the preferred method of contraception with the direct result of increased infection.

 

[jel]

Re: Swineflu - Problem or not?

Apparently the only kind of news that keeps people interested is really, really bad news.

Combined with:

I seriously think the media needs to scare people as of lately. It seems like non-stop they are filling people with garbage to keep them on edge, why, i dont know.

Here's my 2 cent, if you disagree, please comment:
Medias have gone a long way since back when their purpose was to tell the "truth", inform the people of what happened in the world and slowly growing into a fourth power (the three powers, or what you call them, government (opholding the laws), judges (convicting according to the law), and those who make the law, sorry if I got the order wrong), as the media has evolved into the information, or to say, the mentality of the world.

Because many believes what the media tells us, however the medias aren't any different than any institution in their end goal, profit, and the more papers they sell the more profit, and they only sell a lot of paper when mentality needs to be changed, which happens during catastrophes, where people wants to keep informed, wants to know what to think about this, I remember when I was younger and read a lot of newspaper, I was happy because the opinion of the text was clear from the start it wasn't objective in any way and I knew how to think to still be "friends" with the guy who'd written it. Now when I've a lot of stances myself I do not care if I agree or disagree with the media, and thereby my interest have developed from very high to pretty minimal, the only reason I follow the news is to check for that no accidents are happening in the area where those I love live.

However the media is still a fourth power of society and the way to change the view of the medias, so they know scaring us isn't okay, is like what you'd do if a politicer had given a promise he/she didn't make come through, you don't vote for the person the next time, likewise what we can do is to refuse to buy the newspapers, not giving in to the medias, giving them low ratings on the television, and low amount of people checking their websites, as they'll respond as a coorporation and try a different tactic to get people back, as their goal is still profit. That's the way to change the situation with the media, and it requires a large amount of the population to not only realise this, but also act upon it, it actually need some kind of media to spread the word, like in the past time when we needed the medias to spread information about what happened in the world, where the medias would help with revolutions and what not through easy information spreading.

It's not that I don't want to take medical advice from you or anything but the fact that your country is having a harder time contain a blood borne disease than any other country in the world has with an airborne one does make me question your nations education on the matter.

Hey give him a break, maybe they just really like blood, I mean I like to dance naked in public places, and I'm sure you also have some minor weirdness you tend to do.



But seriously, I think it's important to take this serious, for nothing else than because it's better to be safe than sorry!

 

[TheOgreMan]

Re: Swineflu - Problem or not?

The whole purpose of the media, now, is to make money. It is no longer about exposing the truth, or relaying information to the masses, or anything noble like that. The whole point of the news, newspapers, CNN, or whatever is to sell advertisements and make money. The more people watch, the more they make. To keep people hooked they overblow everything.

People don't like to hear good news. They never have. Gossip has never been about good things. "Did you hear the John volunteered at a homeless shelter and helped out kids?" No...in school you always heard, "Did you hear that John got into a fight and was kicked out of school?" People enjoy hearing about other people's misfortunes, tragic events, and death. Bad news sells, and media sells advertisements. Too bad all us regular folk suffer from hearing nothing but biased, over sensationalized crap.

As far as the AIDS thing in Africa and contraceptives: I had always heard that condoms are actually widely given throughout Africa, for free. The problem is that African men don't like the feel of latex so choose not to use them and the natural (intestines?) condoms are far too expensive to hand out like that. I'm not in Africa though, so I may be wrong.

 

[Diak]

Re: Swineflu - Problem or not?

I wonder how the media does this though. Do they like organize it and say we will act horribly dramatic over everything, we need to wear masks while doing reports, and genuinely act really concerned.

Or do they just keep telling people the stories over and over until they start to believe them.

Network (1976)

 

[jel]

Re: Swineflu - Problem or not?

The whole purpose of the media, now, is to make money. It is no longer about exposing the truth, or relaying information to the masses, or anything noble like that. The whole point of the news, newspapers, CNN, or whatever is to sell advertisements and make money. The more people watch, the more they make. To keep people hooked they overblow everything.

But wasn't that something you got out of my text already? It was a part of my point.

People don't like to hear good news. They never have. Gossip has never been about good things. "Did you hear the John volunteered at a homeless shelter and helped out kids?" No...in school you always heard, "Did you hear that John got into a fight and was kicked out of school?" People enjoy hearing about other people's misfortunes, tragic events, and death. Bad news sells, and media sells advertisements.

I disagree, you're doing to too general, I can only say for myself, but here's what gives me a feeling of enjoyment (and disgust)
When I hear bad news of someone in the same line of activity which I've been in or am in, which I've not been taken seriously enough and therefore aren't doing very well myself. Death will never be a part of that. The only thing I can relate to there is the adreneline pump you may get when you imagine yourself saving all those people, again it's also a feeling that brings up disgust, as it's like endanger someones life just to be famous, famous for someone you don't even know or care about.

I like good news, but I don't like good news about others, if they aren't someone I care about or if they're someone I'd like to do better, while I'm doing worse, though that's the feelings I get, how I respond to these are that I think it's great when someone does something good, and I really like it when someone I care about are doing well in something, no matter how I do, and it's not the feeling, but the response that's important as that's what we control, and not the signals that goes through our body creating feelings. Though there's some kind of good news I like, with feelings as well, and that's in areas where I wish to progress, but it really doesn't need to be me who makes the big discovery, etc. so when there's evolution in the parts of science I like, especially immortality research, I really like to read about good news in that section.

So I think you're being too general, though I agree with your main point.

 

[TheOgreMan]

Re: Swineflu - Problem or not?

When dealing with a population as a whole you have to be general; it's the only way to incorporate as many people as possible. For specifics, yes, there are many exceptions. I, for one, look for as much good news as I can find. I try to avoid all the doom-and-gloom if I can, but even I get sucked into some of it.

 

[Amra]

Re: Swineflu - Problem or not?

But in all reality, i dont see whats with all of the panic.

Who is panicking? :scratchchin:

To be sure, there is a ton of coverage which I don't really care for. But I guess better safe than sorry. But the media coverage I've seen has been almost all "don't worry, be happy". :coffee:

 

[Ariadne]

Re: Swineflu - Problem or not?

UK looked panicking to me this morning when I watched the BBC. Germany wasn't all that flipping and just showed a map where it's been spread to so far.