Swine Flu

BWFC_Insane · Post by **BWFC_Insane** » Tue Apr 28, 2009 1:52 pm

Ok, so after a couple of days of hysteria, the WHO has raised its pandemic alert status to 4. This is the highest it has been since 1968.

So is anyone worried/concerned? Or do you think its OTT panic?

Montreal Wanderer · Post by **Montreal Wanderer** » Tue Apr 28, 2009 1:59 pm

Nothing wrong with going somewhat OTT to prevent the spread of the disease IMHO. We were not ready for SARS but are hopefully better prepared for this.

keveh · Post by **keveh** » Tue Apr 28, 2009 2:01 pm

Bacon and sausage fajitas all round!

BWFC_Insane · Post by **BWFC_Insane** » Tue Apr 28, 2009 2:01 pm

Montreal Wanderer wrote:Nothing wrong with going somewhat OTT to prevent the spread of the disease IMHO. We were not ready for SARS but are hopefully better prepared for this.

Some of the similarities between this and the 1918 H1N1 outbreak are concerning.

However, there is no evidence of how well this flu will spread outside of hot crowded conditions (Mexico) or whether it really has enough "punch" to cause death on a wide scale, especially with early intervention of anti-virals!

Verbal · Post by **Verbal** » Tue Apr 28, 2009 2:08 pm

Reminds me of this

http://www.crazymonkeygames.com/Pandemic-2.html

blurred · Post by **blurred** » Tue Apr 28, 2009 2:12 pm

It all depends on the likelihood of death - granted there's over 100 died in Mexico, but when similar numbers start dying in the Western world then I'd agree it's time to take it seriously. It could just be a flu that's particularly contagious and a lot of people end up catching. Big deal.

knobpolisher · Post by **knobpolisher** » Tue Apr 28, 2009 2:46 pm

Ran out of petrol this morning, thought they said don't go to Texaco

clapton is god · Post by **clapton is god** » Tue Apr 28, 2009 2:49 pm

They'll soon come up with an oinkment that gets rid of it.

Good job its not bird flu though 'cos there's no tweetment for that.

Athers · Post by **Athers** » Tue Apr 28, 2009 2:59 pm

There snout to worry about.

a1 · Post by a1 » Tue Apr 28, 2009 3:12 pm

http://www.southparkstudios.com/clips/104245/

Prufrock · Post by **Prufrock** » Tue Apr 28, 2009 3:33 pm

Tis a difficult one. On the one hand you have the media hysteria which told us we were all going to die from BSE, then SARS, then bird-flu, and Ebola chucked in there somewhere as well. Well, we didn't. I am also loathe to trust media reports of health scares after seeing Newsipe with that guy who wrote Bad Science, forget his name, but where he said the whole autism-MMR thing came from a journalist noting a report which said some kids got autism, some kids had the MMR jab. Some of the kids who got autism also had an MMR jab. The papers then turned that into a massive scare because that's what sells papers. On the other hand, a hundred people have died in Mexico, and when it comes to health, and the spread of infectious diseases, safety is surely the best policy?

BWFC_Insane · Post by **BWFC_Insane** » Tue Apr 28, 2009 3:47 pm

Prufrock wrote:Tis a difficult one. On the one hand you have the media hysteria which told us we were all going to die from BSE, then SARS, then bird-flu, and Ebola chucked in there somewhere as well. Well, we didn't. I am also loathe to trust media reports of health scares after seeing Newsipe with that guy who wrote Bad Science, forget his name, but where he said the whole autism-MMR thing came from a journalist noting a report which said some kids got autism, some kids had the MMR jab. Some of the kids who got autism also had an MMR jab. The papers then turned that into a massive scare because that's what sells papers. On the other hand, a hundred people have died in Mexico, and when it comes to health, and the spread of infectious diseases, safety is surely the best policy?

Indeed.

I think the worrying thing is, that this is out.

If it passes efficiently enough a lot of us will get it. If it mutates it could become more dangerous.

TANGODANCER · Post by **TANGODANCER** » Tue Apr 28, 2009 4:18 pm

Is it likely to head for Trotters?

ratbert · Post by **ratbert** » Tue Apr 28, 2009 4:41 pm

At least there's headlines in it for this weekend's match preview and report...

bobo the clown · Post by **bobo the clown** » Tue Apr 28, 2009 4:47 pm

blurred wrote:It all depends on the likelihood of death - granted there's over 100 died in Mexico, but when similar numbers start dying in the Western world then I'd agree it's time to take it seriously. It could just be a flu that's particularly contagious and a lot of people end up catching. Big deal.

... I'm amazed at those words coming from you !!!

Worthy4England · Post by **Worthy4England** » Tue Apr 28, 2009 4:48 pm

bobo the clown wrote:
blurred wrote:It all depends on the likelihood of death - granted there's over 100 died in Mexico, but when similar numbers start dying in the Western world then I'd agree it's time to take it seriously. It could just be a flu that's particularly contagious and a lot of people end up catching. Big deal.
... I'm amazed at those words coming from you !!!

You know, I thought the same thing...

Prufrock · Post by **Prufrock** » Tue Apr 28, 2009 4:54 pm

Worthy4England wrote:
bobo the clown wrote:
blurred wrote:It all depends on the likelihood of death - granted there's over 100 died in Mexico, but when similar numbers start dying in the Western world then I'd agree it's time to take it seriously. It could just be a flu that's particularly contagious and a lot of people end up catching. Big deal.
... I'm amazed at those words coming from you !!!
You know, I thought the same thing...

And me, I hopefully correctly assumed that when Blurred said Western world, he meant in terms of our temperate climate, or in terms of if it got to the western world it would mean it is particularly virrulent, and not an unfortunately large spread case of flu localised to Mehico?

blurred · Post by **blurred** » Tue Apr 28, 2009 4:55 pm

bobo the clown wrote:
blurred wrote:It all depends on the likelihood of death - granted there's over 100 died in Mexico, but when similar numbers start dying in the Western world then I'd agree it's time to take it seriously. It could just be a flu that's particularly contagious and a lot of people end up catching. Big deal.
... I'm amazed at those words coming from you !!!

When talking about how seriously we should take the threat of a global pandemic and the imminent threat of doom from this swine fever it's as well to note that despite 100 and however many odd deaths there have been in Mexico (149 on last night's news, could be up to 200 now), we're yet to see deaths on any similar scale in any other country in which the disease has been found. Put another way, 1 in 100,000 people in greater Mexico City have died of this disease. Would I be scared of an outbreak of a flu virus which'd killed 15 people in Munich? I don't think so. It's the same scale, and it's incredibly localised.

Is this because of the conditions in Mexico City being more disposed to the disease spreading (warmer temperatures, pollution, densely populated, poorer medical facilities/access to antivirals or even a genetic pre-disposition to it) I don't know, but I'm not going to get my knickers in a twist about a relatively small number of people dying in Mexico City, comparative to the population, when it's not proving to be anywhere near as deadly in any other place in the world as of yet.

I'm not buying into the doom-mongers predictions of global catastrophe just yet. The same way I didn't with SARS. Or Bird Flu. Those killed scores, even hundreds in Asia, but hardly anyone anywhere else copped for it. I imagine it'll be largely the same case here.

Montreal Wanderer · Post by **Montreal Wanderer** » Tue Apr 28, 2009 5:15 pm

blurred wrote:
bobo the clown wrote:
blurred wrote:It all depends on the likelihood of death - granted there's over 100 died in Mexico, but when similar numbers start dying in the Western world then I'd agree it's time to take it seriously. It could just be a flu that's particularly contagious and a lot of people end up catching. Big deal.
... I'm amazed at those words coming from you !!!
When talking about how seriously we should take the threat of a global pandemic and the imminent threat of doom from this swine fever it's as well to note that despite 100 and however many odd deaths there have been in Mexico (149 on last night's news, could be up to 200 now), we're yet to see deaths on any similar scale in any other country in which the disease has been found. Put another way, 1 in 100,000 people in greater Mexico City have died of this disease. Would I be scared of an outbreak of a flu virus which'd killed 15 people in Munich? I don't think so. It's the same scale, and it's incredibly localised.

Is this because of the conditions in Mexico City being more disposed to the disease spreading (warmer temperatures, pollution, densely populated, poorer medical facilities/access to antivirals or even a genetic pre-disposition to it) I don't know, but I'm not going to get my knickers in a twist about a relatively small number of people dying in Mexico City, comparative to the population, when it's not proving to be anywhere near as deadly in any other place in the world as of yet.

I'm not buying into the doom-mongers predictions of global catastrophe just yet. The same way I didn't with SARS. Or Bird Flu. Those killed scores, even hundreds in Asia, but hardly anyone anywhere else copped for it. I imagine it'll be largely the same case here.

No one is seriously predicting a global catastrophe. However, there is nothing wrong in attempting to limit the deaths through prudent action. SARS killed 44 people in Canada (mostly Toronto) by the way. Answer me this - if we don't get our knickers in a twist about a couple of hundred Mexican dying, why do we bang on about Hillsborough year after year with less than 100 deaths?

Worthy4England · Post by **Worthy4England** » Tue Apr 28, 2009 5:22 pm

Montreal Wanderer wrote:No one is seriously predicting a global catastrophe. However, there is nothing wrong in attempting to limit the deaths through prudent action. SARS killed 44 people in Canada (mostly Toronto) by the way. Answer me this - if we don't get our knickers in a twist about a couple of hundred Mexican dying, why do we bang on about Hillsborough year after year with less than 100 deaths?

Thanks Monty, that's where I was with it.

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