Swine flu pandemic fears

[lthigham]

Also, Finland and Denmark are ordering Relenza. UK, US, Korea planning to order from the news reports.

 

[Bushman]

Isn't the power of the media amazing?

The pandemic stories do get people excited. How many have we had now - Ebola, SARS, bird flu, mad cow disease? It just shows how deeply entrenched the fear of a 'pandemic' is in our collective psyche. That or Michael Crichton has a wider readership than he deserves.

Dunno; all I do know is that I am very lucky to have survived that little menagerie of doom to date. Maybe the swine is the one that will finally mean I am carted off to a mass grave a la Mozart?

 

[Prospector]

Give a pig a bad name. In Egypt they are going to cull all their pigs. Talk about hysteria. Luckily it wasn't called Mexican flu

It is in Europe because the Pork Industry is worth billions!

 

[Calliope]

A mexican.. from mexico..

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,27574,25407487-5018988,00.html

No doubt this was the trigger for WHO to raise the alert level to 5. i.e. deaths in two countries

 

[investorpaul]

This is unbelievable, how many people in total have been confirmed to be infected possibly 1000??? probably not even that.

We have a population of over 6bn and because 1000 people or less contract a flu the media is acting like it is the end of the world.

At this stage there is nothing to worry about. Caught early the medication works, all countries are now aware of the potential and screening people as they arrive.

Why Egypt is culling pigs I have no idea, I feel for the pig farmers who will face financial ruin.

Obviously it is very sad that people have died but I dont know how it can be classed as pandemic yet

 

[Julia]

This is unbelievable, how many people in total have been confirmed to be infected possibly 1000??? probably not even that.

We have a population of over 6bn and because 1000 people or less contract a flu the media is acting like it is the end of the world.

At this stage there is nothing to worry about. Caught early the medication works, all countries are now aware of the potential and screening people as they arrive.

Why Egypt is culling pigs I have no idea, I feel for the pig farmers who will face financial ruin.

Obviously it is very sad that people have died but I dont know how it can be classed as pandemic yet

Agree, Paul. I'm also mystified by the pig cull. The authorities have been repeatedly saying it's entirely safe to continue eating pork. The pork farmers must be frustrated and angry.

 

[MrBurns]

This is a clear case of media induced pandemic.

If between 250,000 and 500,000 people die of flu each year anyway this is not serious yet.

 

[Aussiejeff]

This is a clear case of media induced pandemic.

If between 250,000 and 500,000 people die of flu each year anyway this is not serious yet.

Great stuff for media companies eh!? Think of the extra revenue, man!

It's nice to know someone profits from this beat-up.

 

[Agentm]

i cooked a pork meal last night.. tasted great.

this morning i woke up with a slight cold.

anyone got some tamiflu ?

 

[metric]

Crunching Some Swine Flu Numbers

By Leva Cygnet Published 04/29/2009 Editorials Rating: Unrated



Leva Cygnet

View all articles by Leva Cygnet

I've been seeing comments around the blogosphere to the effect of "it's a mild flu" , and "only 150 out of a population of 110,000,000" are dead in Mexico. I thought I'd do some analysis on the reported swine flu numbers regarding what they might be showing,

http://firefox.org/news/articles/2756/1/Crunching-Some-Swine-Flu-Numbers/Page1.html

 

[metric]

nearly every country on earth has the swine flu. check this map..http://healthmap.org/swineflu

 

[Uncle Festivus]

Great stuff for media companies eh!? Think of the extra revenue, man!

It's nice to know someone profits from this beat-up.

Everyone can now? Tracker of global infections as disclosed by the WHO.

 

[Uncle Festivus]

Police finally catch the culprit??

 

[Glen48]

Chanel 7 were reporting on their banner this morning about swine Flue any one ever seen one I was sure the pigs flue was curly???

 

[Calliope]

And the pigs flue overhead.

 

[Calliope]

ABC Medical Editor Calms Down Media's Flu Coverage
By Julia A. Seymour | May 1, 2009 - 16:08

;
After days of media alarm regarding the H1N1 virus, or "swine flu," ABC "World News with Charles Gibson" provided a calmer analysis on April 30.

Medical editor Dr. Timothy Johnson told anchor Charles Gibson the "good news" about this flu virus and admitted that "sometimes we as the media" "do overreact."

"In an amazing feat of modern science Charlie, they've been able to send out this sequence for scientists to study and they've found a couple of interesting things. One - there's an amino acid that's missing in this virus that is found in more lethal viruses suggesting that this may not be, at least in its current form, as lethal as some had feared," Johnson told ABC viewers.

"There's also a suggestion that its enough like past flu viruses, particularly the 1957 virus, that is may have produced immunity over the years especially in older people. Which may, and I stress the word may explain why older people do not seem to be getting it yet," Johnson continued.

 

[awg]

Hi all,

havnt read thru the thread but FWIW.

My wife was at a major hospital on Thursday for a big new opening in the Immunology area.

She works with and knows various Immunoligists, and was talking with a very senior Professor from a major OS Uni.

She was saying that Swine Flu outbreaks were an issue as recently as the 1960s, and that is why older people may have immunity.

I dont think they were overly concerned

 

[Aussiejeff]

Police finally catch the culprit??

The dirty swine!! :angry:

Stone him!!

 

[Agentm]

listening to the aussie journo who has the swine flu in the UK, she tells of a cough, runny nose and that it was nothing really, hardly noticeable, but she has been confirmed as swine flu case.

i think this one can be buried now, as yet another case of hysteria..

now that the WHO conditioning and misrepresenting the planet with these false flu pandemics, i hope that the consequence of fooling the world and playing in this emotive manner with peoples genuine feelings of fear is understood.

imho the WHO faces becoming the laughing stock of the planet, and credibility will be lost, and in light of that its a shame to know that what was once highly regarded world health authority, has now become something that many will not want to believe again,

crying wolf with world health imho will prove disastrous in the future

this sham deserves a proper response, across the board immediate reform, terminations of the upper management and a complete restructure, and imho needs to be done publicly and immediately

 

[MrBurns]

listening to the aussie journo who has the swine flu in the UK, she tells of a cough, runny nose and that it was nothing really, hardly noticeable, but she has been confirmed as swine flu case.

i think this one can be buried now, as yet another case of hysteria..

now that the WHO conditioning and misrepresenting the planet with these false flu pandemics, i hope that the consequence of fooling the world and playing in this emotive manner with peoples genuine feelings of fear is understood.

imho the WHO faces becoming the laughing stock of the planet, and credibility will be lost, and in light of that its a shame to know that what was once highly regarded world health authority, has now become something that many will not want to believe again,

crying wolf with world health imho will prove disastrous in the future

this sham deserves a proper response, across the board immediate reform, terminations of the upper management and a complete restructure, and imho needs to be done publicly and immediately

I too am really suprised that the WHO could have got it so wrong.

The most boring story on earth was aired on 60 Minutes last night, big panic over swine flu and end of the world stuff, they really looked stupid, by the time it went to air I think there were only 12 confirmed deaths, more deaths on the roads in that time.