Swine flu 2009

[Raisin Ham]

Re: Swine flu outbreak in Mexico

Meh, I feel fine.

 

[Inky_Wretch]

Re: Swine flu outbreak in Mexico

How's Obama feeling?

The outbreak coincided with the President Barack Obama’s trip to Mexico City on April 16. Obama was received at Mexico’s anthropology museum in Mexico City by Felipe Solis, a distinguished archeologist who died the following day from symptoms similar to flu, Reforma newspaper reported. The newspaper didn’t confirm if Solis had swine flu or not.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aEsNownABJ6Q&refer=worldwide

 

[BYH]

Re: Swine flu outbreak in Mexico

How's Obama feeling?

The outbreak coincided with the President Barack Obama’s trip to Mexico City on April 16. Obama was received at Mexico’s anthropology museum in Mexico City by Felipe Solis, a distinguished archeologist who died the following day from symptoms similar to flu, Reforma newspaper reported. The newspaper didn’t confirm if Solis had swine flu or not.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aEsNownABJ6Q&refer=worldwide

Obama brought it here. [/lunatic fringe]

 

[greenlantern]

Re: Swine flu outbreak in Mexico

Yeah, I read that they might consider closing the border if it gets bad enough.

I guess this is a reason it sucks to live in Texas.

They've been trying to shut down the border for years.

 

[Football_Bat]

Re: Swine flu outbreak in Mexico

Yeah, I read that they might consider closing the border if it gets bad enough.

I guess this is a reason it sucks to live in Texas.

They've been trying to shut down the border for years.

Yeah, no kidding. Good luck with all that.

They canceled all the futbol matches in Mexico today. Wonder if it got really hairy in Texas, if the UIL would cancel all the baseball and softball playoff games as well as the state track meet.

 

[writing irish]

Re: Swine flu outbreak in Mexico

I'm ready to make like Jesse James and take to the Canadian River valley, where I'll live the life of a ramblin' flu-avoider.

 

[Angola!]

Re: Swine flu outbreak in Mexico

Yeah, I read that they might consider closing the border if it gets bad enough.

I guess this is a reason it sucks to live in Texas.

They've been trying to shut down the border for years.

Yeah, no kidding. Good luck with all that.

They canceled all the futbol matches in Mexico today. Wonder if it got really hairy in Texas, if the UIL would cancel all the baseball and softball playoff games as well as the state track meet.

That would be nuts, but it would save our paper a bunch of money!

 

[2muchcoffeeman]

Re: Swine flu outbreak in Mexico

The governor who a few weeks ago wanted to refuse the federal stimulus money and talked about seceding from the United States is now requesting assistance from the federal Centers for Disease Control for the swine flu outbreak.

http://www.sanmarcosrecord.com/local/local_story_115145845.html

Help the Texans, not their hypocrite governor.

 

[Batman]

Re: Swine flu outbreak in Mexico

I'd guess it's more of the former, although it certainly sounds serious. The ones who have gotten it in the U.S. have recovered without any problems it sounds like.

There are probably about 11,245 things that are more likely to kill me before swine flu. But I will avoid my uncle's pig farm next time I'm home.

And for the flu killing people, every year we hear that something like 30,000 people die from flu each year. That's always astounded me. Is that primarily elderly? And if it's true, why would a particular strain be anymore dangerous? I ask that as someone with little medical knowledge.

I don't have a ton of medical knowledge either, so forgive me if I'm wrong on this.
What makes the flu so dangerous is it's always mutating. So each year you basically end up with a new disease, some much more serious than their predecessors. That's why, when a new strain like this or the bird flu surfaces, there's always a brief period where it's extremely dangerous because there's no vaccine or cure for it. The CDC is basically doing educated guesswork for the next vaccine.
It's also why a flu shot is not 100 percent effective. If you get vaccinated against Strain A, and then Strain B infects you, you can still get sick. There are probably enough common antibodies in both strains that you won't die unless your immune system is weakened by age or some other illness. But a particularly nasty strain can overwhelm even healthy immune systems.
What makes this one scary is, it seems particularly strong; it's in an impoverished country where living conditions can help the disease spread (lots of people in close, unclean conditions); and it's close to the U.S., which scares us for obvious reasons but could also facilitate a rapid global pandemic. Since the flu spreads from person to person, if you get 100 infected people flying around the country and then the world, you could spread the disease globally in a matter of days.
Even though it's fiction, read the first couple hundred pages of Stephen King's book "The Stand". It'll give you an idea of how something like this can spread from one or two people to one or two billion in a hurry.

 

[Wenders]

Re: Swine flu outbreak in Mexico

Two confirmed cases in Kansas: <a href=http://www.kansas.com/690/story/787839.html>via Wichita Eagle</a> Businessman and his wife. He went to Mexico for business and brought back a souvineer, but neither needed to be hospitalized, so that's positive.

That's just a liiiiiiiiiiittle too close to home for me. Thank god I don't live there anymore but yowza. There's a 95 percent chance that I know these people.

 

[Armchair_QB]

Re: Swine flu outbreak in Mexico

Anybody else feel like this is being blown out of proportion?

 

[BYH]

Re: Swine flu outbreak in Mexico

Anybody else feel like this is being blown out of proportion?

I'm sure hoping it is.

 

[NoOneLikesUs]

Re: Swine flu outbreak in Mexico

Anybody else feel like this is being blown out of proportion?

Perhaps a bit, but truthfully I think it's receiving the right amount of coverage. Thankfully it hit during the weekend so we didn't have to hear the talking heads droning on about it. Come Monday that may change.

 

[BYH]

Re: Swine flu outbreak in Mexico

I'm just waiting for my mother-in-law to emerge and tell me that I'm doomed b/c I eat ham, and that my wife--nursing a cold--is probably carrying the Swine flu.

 

[Trouser_Buddah]

Re: Swine flu outbreak in Mexico

I'm just waiting for my mother-in-law to emerge and tell me that I'm doomed b/c I eat ham, and that my wife--nursing a cold--is probably carrying the Swine flu.

Luckily, you need more than 8 seconds of exposure to contract it...

 

[imjustagirl]

Re: Swine flu outbreak in Mexico

Anybody else feel like this is being blown out of proportion?

Perhaps a bit, but truthfully I think it's receiving the right amount of coverage. Thankfully it hit during the weekend so we didn't have to hear the talking heads droning on about it. Come Monday that may change.

kleeda is kind of an alarmist, so I was willing to write it off as crazy talk...until it led the NBC News Friday night and until it DOMINATED CNN today.

 

[waterytart]

Re: Swine flu outbreak in Mexico

I'd guess it's more of the former, although it certainly sounds serious. The ones who have gotten it in the U.S. have recovered without any problems it sounds like.

There are probably about 11,245 things that are more likely to kill me before swine flu. But I will avoid my uncle's pig farm next time I'm home.

And for the flu killing people, every year we hear that something like 30,000 people die from flu each year. That's always astounded me. Is that primarily elderly? And if it's true, why would a particular strain be anymore dangerous? I ask that as someone with little medical knowledge.

STG, little medical knowledge here either, but the "normal" flu deaths are the elderly, people with chronic health issues and some children. One of the things the experts worry about with a new pandemic is that, like the 1918 flu, it would hit the 20 - 45 demographic hard.

Apparently, the 1918 flu triggered an unusually strong immune response in those infected, to the point where your own immune system could kill you. The young and healthy have the strongest immune systems and were, therefore, at greatest risk for such a reaction.

At least, that's what I remember from a PBS documentary a few years ago. Take it for what it's worth.

 

[BigSleeper]

Re: Swine flu outbreak in Mexico

Anybody else feel like this is being blown out of proportion?

<Raises hand.> I think we were all supposed to die from SARS a few years back. Or maybe it was the flesh-eating virus. Or maybe that was avian flu. It'll be something new and sexy for CNN to get people freaked out about again next year, too.

 

[ScribePharisee]

Re: Swine flu outbreak in Mexico

Doesn't matter. The fitness report on the banks is due Monday and the aftermath of that will make us all wish we'd get swine flu as the corporates push millions to the edge of disaster, one way or the other.

 

[Football_Bat]

Re: Swine flu outbreak in Mexico

This thing sure did blow up quickly, considering it was the weekend.