Swine Flu

[KeeeeeeeBaaaaaaab]

There's been a shutdown of Northampton tonight, after the football club's relegation. The reaction was sparkedby a post match interview in which the manager described his team as "feeling pig sick".

[Montreal Wanderer]

From the "getting our own back" department. A Canadian farmworker recently returned from Mexico has managed to infect a herd of pigs.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8031309.stm

[superjohnmcginlay]

How do you know which type of flu you've got? Im coming down with summat but I cant tell if its a cold, onset of flu or a remnant of sunday's hangover which I thought Id shook off yesterday.

[Prufrock]

How do you know which type of flu you've got? Im coming down with summat but I cant tell if its a cold, onset of flu or a remnant of sunday's hangover which I thought Id shook off yesterday.

Are you a pig?

[superjohnmcginlay]

Ive been called one before.

[Prufrock]

Ive been called one before.

Ho sh*t , it's the fuzz.

[davroduk]

Best way I have heard to decide if you have the Flu or not is......

Look out of the window and you see a suitcase full of £20 notes.

If you couldnt get outside to grab the money, you have the Flu.

[bobo the clown]

Best way I have heard to decide if you have the Flu or not is......

Look out of the window and you see a suitcase full of £20 notes.

If you couldnt get outside to grab the money, you have the Flu.

I've had flu once. It was donkey's years ago, but I couldn't missuse the word now, after that. So when people with bad colds say "I've got flu" I snort at them.

In line with the above, seriously, I wouldn't have moved to pick up a £1,000 note. Weak, aching, sweating ... yet cold. Concious of every joint. Not so much a case of wanting to die than simply not caring. So lacking in any will to move that you'd stall for hours to have a slash rather than go & have one.

Now ... whether the flu is swine flu or a more mundane version ? See if you can take the smell of bacon.

[Montreal Wanderer]

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.

Now rated a pandemic with over 800 confirmed cases in England and even more suspected cases. On the bright side the mortality rate is still fairly low.

[Hoboh]

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.

Now rated a pandemic with over 800 confirmed cases in England and even more suspected cases. On the bright side the mortality rate is still fairly low.

any chance it might make Newcastle?

[William the White]

Best way I have heard to decide if you have the Flu or not is......

Look out of the window and you see a suitcase full of £20 notes.

If you couldnt get outside to grab the money, you have the Flu.

I've had flu once. It was donkey's years ago, but I couldn't missuse the word now, after that. So when people with bad colds say "I've got flu" I snort at them.

In line with the above, seriously, I wouldn't have moved to pick up a £1,000 note. Weak, aching, sweating ... yet cold. Concious of every joint. Not so much a case of wanting to die than simply not caring. So lacking in any will to move that you'd stall for hours to have a slash rather than go & have one.

Now ... whether the flu is swine flu or a more mundane version ? See if you can take the smell of bacon.

totally accurate description of one of the most horrible illnesses i've ever had - the relationship to the bad cold is as remote as the south pole on a chilly night in the southern hemisphere...

[Lord Kangana]

Pah, well down the list after Labyrinthitis. Bring it on.

[Montreal Wanderer]

No, not at all. I said there was no reason for panic in the Western world until deaths started occurring in places other than Mexico, not that the lives lost in Mexico were less worthy than our own. I thought that was quite clear by the tone of my comments, that it was the hysteria and pandemic warnings that I was railing against, not the loss of life.

I was not being callous as to a serious outbreak of illness, merely pointing out that the over the top reaction by those in the UK media was unwarranted seeing as there were (and still are, as far as I know, as I've not seen the news today) only two people who have contracted this version of the flu in the UK, neither of whom are thought to be in any way near life-threatening. Talk of 30 million doses of life saving anti-virals, closing of borders and suspension of air travel seems a might bit trite when two people in Scotland have a fever and the sniffles.

It's a public health tragedy in that part of the world, and they are doing the necessary to combat it as effectively as they can. I wouldn't wish illness on anyone, and not that I'm heading out there, but I'll heed the warnings and avoid Mexico while the outbreak is going on. That's about as much as I'll be doing about it, though, and don't buy the scaremongering that's going on in this part of the world to what is, ostensibly, a public health disaster the best part of 10,000 miles away.

Is it time to worry now, blurred. 14 deaths in England including the first without underlying health problems. Hundreds of thousands more cases expected.

[davroduk]

Well I dont give a T0ss.
Me and Mrs Duk are of to Mexico for a couple of weeks at the end of August.

[Montreal Wanderer]

Well I dont give a T0ss.
Me and Mrs Duk are of to Mexico for a couple of weeks at the end of August.

There should be no problem - just wash your hands, drink bottled water and no intercourse with the locals (human or livestock).

[Prufrock]

Two at (new) work got it and sent home. 1/3 supposedly will catch it over the winter. Doesn't sound fun. Is the death rate any higher than normal flu? Worrying winter for sick pensioners, like both my gramps.

[BWFC_Insane]

Two at (new) work got it and sent home. 1/3 supposedly will catch it over the winter. Doesn't sound fun. Is the death rate any higher than normal flu? Worrying winter for sick pensioners, like both my gramps.

You are more at risk of dying if you are aged between 20 and 40.

Pensioners will likely get it, and pass it on rather than being in any serious trouble.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Two at (new) work got it and sent home. 1/3 supposedly will catch it over the winter. Doesn't sound fun. Is the death rate any higher than normal flu? Worrying winter for sick pensioners, like both my gramps.

You are more at risk of dying if you are aged between 20 and 40.

Pensioners will likely get it, and pass it on rather than being in any serious trouble.

Like the two "healthy" folk that died the other day? A near-pensionable GP and a girl the same age as my two?

Pretty obvious the government hasn't got enough Tamiflu to go round and is carrying out a very risky experiment. If either of my kids dies in it, expect to see the children of ministers die too.

[BWFC_Insane]

Two at (new) work got it and sent home. 1/3 supposedly will catch it over the winter. Doesn't sound fun. Is the death rate any higher than normal flu? Worrying winter for sick pensioners, like both my gramps.

You are more at risk of dying if you are aged between 20 and 40.

Pensioners will likely get it, and pass it on rather than being in any serious trouble.

Like the two "healthy" folk that died the other day? A near-pensionable GP and a girl the same age as my two?

Pretty obvious the government hasn't got enough Tamiflu to go round and is carrying out a very risky experiment. If either of my kids dies in it, expect to see the children of ministers die too.

Woah there DSB.

Two points that I'll answer.

1) Yes of course old people and children will die, like they do with seasonal flu. And yes if you have asthma (I do) or you are a heavy smoker and have chest problems or cardiac risk then yes you are at risk if you catch it. But that risk is just the same with any flu (not comforting I know but there is little panic every year and only a small percentage of people eligible take up their free flu jabs).

2) Tamiflu is only effective really if given within 2 days of contracting the virus. Which is tricky with flu as you may be symptomless for that time or may exhibit symptoms of a cold and not of course realise you have flu. So unless people come forwards in time its impossible to do much with tamiflu. Also it only reduces the severity of the symptoms so severe cases even if treated with tamiflu may still be at risk. Furthermore there are already tamiflu resistant strains of this detected so giving it out to everyone with a sore throat is a very bad idea indeed.

Thing is DSB nobody can do much about this. Apart from the public being sensible and doing what they can to protect themselves, ie hand washing, not coming into close contact with people who may be infected etc etc there is little that can be done by the government.

Vaccines should be available in October for those at most risk.

[Prufrock]

Can someone explain this people between 20 and 40 thing? And surely the fact my grandparents are both ill and will both by winter have had surgery in the last few months affect that? Thing with this is there is so much hysteria on one hand, and understatement designed to reduce panic (whether or not there is reason to) that it's difficult to know what's going on. A feature on the news this evening said that the figure at the moment was roughly 1 in 200 diagnosed at the moment die, but essentially that is absolutely no guide since christ knows how many are symptomless, undiagnosed, confused for other things, plus there's only a small sample at the moment. How do they know which is swine flu as opposed to normal flu? I assume they check? Gutted if you had normal flu. Finally once you've had it, are you antibodied up? Or are there enough strains that it won't make a difference?