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On a side note, California is now in a state of emergency due to Swine Flu.

I thought California was a state of emergency.

Quote from: DaClock on April 29, 2009, 10:59:39 AM

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30471035/?GT1=43001

I guess we're all going to die so we probably shouldn't go outside or talk to anybody... ever.

Thank goodness Al Gore invented the internet!

You're forgetting his other great invention.

It can be a pandemic, yes, but I'm not convinced it will be serious/fatal in most places.  The only death reported in the US so far was a kid who came up FROM MEXICO for treatment.

It's serious like The SARS (tm) was serious, but I also expect that it will come and go with very little impact like The SARS (tm).

1.  because it is not prevented by flu shots
2.  We don't have a cure/prevent for it.  It will take 2 months for the 1st beta drug to be ready.

It can be a pandemic, yes, but I'm not convinced it will be serious/fatal in most places.  The only death reported in the US so far was a kid who came up FROM MEXICO for treatment.

It's serious like The SARS (tm) was serious, but I also expect that it will come and go with very little impact like The SARS (tm).

You can never say that about the flu and not feel a modicum of worry. Just look back at 1918-1919, where the flu killed millions around the world. Even if there is only one death recorded in America, look at the death toll it has had in Mexico. With such weak border control, it would not take much for the Swine Flu to run loose on Americans. What is scary about the Swine Flu is that, unlike the common Flu which kills victims with weak immune systems, this form seems to target and kill victims with stronger immune systems.

In all seriousness, how is this different from any other virus? They show up, do some damage, but eventually our bodies adapt and build up immunities to them and we move on. Why is Swine Flu different?

I would not be so quick to assume that our bodies build up immunities to these things. Sometimes it takes millions of deaths to wait out a virus or disease. The scary thing is, humans are less likely to build up immunities to viruses which cross the species barrier and to viruses which are prone to mutate. The Swine Flu, like the Bird Flu, is one of these viruses. For moreof an explaination, see my above statement.

2.  We don't have a cure/prevent for it.  It will take 2 months for the 1st beta drug to be ready.

Actually, it will take aprx. 6 months to generate a vaccine.

I think the big surprise here is that the current strain has shown to be communicable between humans, whereas before you could only get it from the swine itself.  That and it's killed a hundred people in Mexico already, although doctors are noting with interest that for whatever reason, people here in the States just aren't dying from it at this point.  The symptoms are still treatable with Tamiflu, though, so

All it takes is a mutation/immunity to the treatment to render this Tamiflu useless.

yep, advanced....... http://www.radionetherlands.nl/currentaffairs/090429-flu-vaccine-mc

Just to save you from worrying too much

There was a similar scare about the Swine Flu back in 1976.  People then also pointed back to the problems from 1918.  But it turned out to be nothing, and hundreds of people died from the Swine Flu cure compared to only 1 person actually dying from the Swine Flu itself.

Details can be found here.

Just to save you from worrying too much

There was a similar scare about the Swine Flu back in 1976.  People then also pointed back to the problems from 1918.  But it turned out to be nothing, and hundreds of people died from the Swine Flu cure compared to only 1 person actually dying from the Swine Flu itself.

Details can be found here.

That is an interesting find... still, we should not overlook the fact that the alert level for the Swine Flu has risen to 5 (the second highest), as the number of victims increases beyond the 90 mark during this current Swine Flu "scare." (With its first death, it seems to be somewhat harmless. However, only yesterday, my city recieved its first victim and that is a bit unsettling, even if the death toll is so low in America.)

This is just another case of the media hyping some tiny risk factor to scare people enough to sell papers / advertising and get attention.

It happened with school shootings.
It happened with shark attacks.
It happened with child abductions.
Now it is happening with Swine Flu.

All of these things put together probably kill less people a year than are killed by bathtub accidents.  But the media plays it up and everyone thinks that they are in great danger.

I've heard some cool things about Swine Flu in the past couple days.

"Swine Flu was created by Al-Qaeda and is the beginning of biological warfare."
"Barack Obama is the Anti-Christ and Swine Flu is the beginning of the plagues."
"The media isn't sensationalizing anything about Swine Flu."

Look on the bright side, this will open up more jobs.