Swine flu and CP

Walt said:

Every time a new infection is found, a local health board holds a news conference. Really? It's like swine flu is one of those bioweapons on 24 that kill entire towns within hours.

I think thats the biggest reason for this "panic." Everyone has seen on TV and in books the last few years that these designer viruses and bioweapons are so easy to make and spread, that the public is running scared at anything that seems to be similar.

Notice I said public and not just everyone, the group mind is easily scared and not rational, but there are individuals who are keeping track of this and know how dangerous it really is, and taking those precautions that they find necessary.

See you can say it is not the media all you want... but at the end of the day some form of media is helping spread the news out there. Yes it may not be the best source..someone still watches it though. Then after those people watch that not quite what it should be news cast.. they take it and run with it.

Then you have people who are not well informed spreading their own version of the news by mouth as well. I myself heard 5 different variations of the same story while I was out today.

I would say it is a equal issue between the general news viewing society/uninformed public and the media.

The SARS coverage was just as big, if not more so.

The problem is not "the media," it's people who make no effort to collect information and assess it for themselves.

The coverage may have been just as big, but not the government's response. I don't remember school closings, states of emergency, or mass cancellations of athletic events.

According to an article in my local newspaper, 36,000 Americans die each year from the "regular" flu. Last time I heard there was only one death in the USA from the swine flu.

When was the last time you saw any of the broadcast networks' news programs or the 24-hour news channels carry a story of a death resulting from the "regular" flu? How can any of us say that the media isn't hyping this story?

With the media providing so much coverage and broadcasting fear, the government has to do something.

What I find funny is that while there had not yet been any reported deaths in the United States, the "experts" predicted that there would eventually be some fatalities. Today the headline is, "Swine flu may be less potent than first feared." I guess the experts were wrong.

one minute,it's sars,the next minute, it's the "cruise ship flu"(was it the norovirus or somethin?), now this. all we can do is to be consistent on what we all should be doing in the first place--wash the hands,cover the mouths,take our c vitamins,disinfect, and steer clear of sick folks. the only thing that can keep me from traveling to cedar point or wherever, will be my empty pocketbook and job situation; not a "scare"!

And remember, the word Pandemic just means that the virus is not isolated, that it has or can spread throughout the world. It does not describe how severe the virus is. This is a relatively mild strain of flu, and scientists have said that it lacks a protein needed to reproduce aggressively. Basically you can expect this thing to fizzle very soon, at least for the summer.

By the time CP is in full swing this year the swine flu probably won't even be an issue anymore. I'm not worried about it.

Referring to "the government," Walt, is almost as bad as "the media." Because some yahoos on a school board in Billings, Montana closed schools doesn't mean "the government" is full of reactionary fear-mongerers. I'm not suggesting you're implying that, but it could be taken that way.

I think the response has been about right if you don't count the random school closings. When hundreds of people in a concentrated area die, there's reason for caution until you know what you're dealing with. I think most of what we've seen has been caution.

One thing everyone seems to forget about this flu though that, while a new strain is still influenza.

And guess what happens to influeza every summer? It goes away, sure it will be back in the fall but we are at an end of the flu season and there is so far no evidence to suggest that H1N1 is not going to die down as the temps go up.

I think everyone needs to take a step back and relax, thankfully this strain appeared in the spring and hopefully come fall the new flu vaccine should protect us from this virus.

^ Why thank you, Doctor. Do you have a source for that? Or is it just your opinion.

^Its not my opinion, influenza is extremely rare in the summer time it is the natural progression of this disease. Also, there are no reports that suggest H1N1 is any different. Nor is there any reason to think otherwise at this time.

I said "the government," but failed to elaborate on individual agencies. I didn't mean to imply it was a widespread government issue. However, there are specific areas that are not reacting proportionally. School closings are being based on CDC recommendations. The Vice President made some rather reactionary comments. Governors are declaring states of emergency.

Where has there been hundreds of deaths in a concentrated area?

ahh, yes good ole swine flu. i am not worried about it cos i am always heathy and have major OCD when it comes to cleaning. i will not wear a mask though. i am vegetarian as well.

I'm not going to blame "the media" or "the government," but this isn't a healthy reaction:

Walking well flood hospitals with -- or without -- flu symptoms

"The situation is that people get the flu all the time," said Dr. NickJouriles, president of the American College of Emergency Physicians."H1N1 flu is just a bad strain of that. If you have flu symptoms andyou ordinarily see the doctor for that, go ahead. If you would notordinarily go to the doctor, don't."

I know many people are very worried right now, but this too will calm down and there will always be another strain of a virus around the corner! Our best defence is to just keep our selves clean and to think twice before putting our hand on our faces and wash before you eat!

The whole thing is just stupid and if it wasn't for the fact I get really bored at work at night, I wouldn't even waste my time reading about it. It's the freaking flu. The reason Mexicans are dying from it (in my non-expert analysis) is because their immune systems haven't been exposed to influenza like other cultures have. I don't think the news media or government are entirely to blame for all the hype, it's mostly just people panicking and overreacting. I work at a distribution center for a major drugstore, and our shipments on Friday were up 60% from usual. That extra 60% was all Tamiflu, hand sanitizer, and surgical masks. People are crazy.

With hundreds of thousands of people dieing from the regular flu worldwide, and only 19 people dieing from the bird flu, this is crazy. With SARS, there wasn't as big of a reaction with 744 deaths, and most likely, you don't have it. Just do what you should do in a normal circumstance, wash your hands after touching a handrail and before you eat.

To drag this all back on topic...

At the rate things are moving, the whole swine flu pandemic will be over and forgotten about before Cedar Point opens for the season.

I haven't really kept up with the latest, but on the way home this morning I saw a headline that indicated that the two suspected cases here in Columbus were tested as not being a/H1N1, which takes the number of confirmed cases in central Ohio back to 0.

I think there is more overreaction to this than there was to SARS (and there was overreaction to SARS) because for this one there are actually cases in the United States, and even one death in the US. Of course, the kid who died was a Mexican toddler who had symptoms that were so severe that he was taken to Texas for treatment, so honestly I am not sure that should even count as a US death. He just happened to be in a US hospital when he died; he didn't get or spread the disease here. Kind of like someone dying from a heart attack while standing in line for a coaster, which then gets reported as a ride-related death.

The infection period for this flu variant is about ten days. So by trying to keep the sick people away from the healthy people for about ten days, the new infections can be stopped. Now that everybody knows that this thing is making the rounds, stepping up perfectly ordinary precautions should be enough to limit or even stop the new infections. The result is that within a couple of weeks the spread of the disease will stop, and a couple of weeks later it will be practically gone. The question will then become one of where did it come from in the first place, and how do we keep it from coming back next winter.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.