Swine Flu
#22
Banned
Joined APC: Feb 2007
Posts: 461
The threat level is rated on transmission, not fatalities.
The threat of spreading is very high, the threat of death from the Swine Flu is low for now.
Mutation is the wild card here. It's mild now and may always be, but it IS an unknown.
I'll worry when they call it Captain Tripps.
CE
The threat of spreading is very high, the threat of death from the Swine Flu is low for now.
Mutation is the wild card here. It's mild now and may always be, but it IS an unknown.
I'll worry when they call it Captain Tripps.
CE
#24
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Jun 2006
Posts: 103
150 cases in 11 countries confirmed. About 2500 suspected cases as of now according to CNN. About 150 dead and a vast majority of those are in Mexico. The one death in the US was a Mexican boy that was already sick when he came here.
Normal flu kills about 30,000 in the US alone every year. 250,000-500,000 worldwide.
This has a long way to go before it's that bad. Superpilot has it right. Media Hype. Just like SARS (that was an epidemic that killed about 700 in one of the most densely populated parts of the world), West Nile, and Bird Flu. Remember those?
Normal flu kills about 30,000 in the US alone every year. 250,000-500,000 worldwide.
This has a long way to go before it's that bad. Superpilot has it right. Media Hype. Just like SARS (that was an epidemic that killed about 700 in one of the most densely populated parts of the world), West Nile, and Bird Flu. Remember those?
#26
I was just talking with a friend back home. He said a doctor told him this really isn't that bad, it's just a slow news week. That one cracked me up.
Take the extra precautions and you shouldn't have a problem
#27
We were all going to die from SARS, we were all going to die from West Nile, we were all going to die from Bird Flu, we were all going to die from Mad Cow...
#28
Then why is the WHO making such a big deal of this raising a pandemic threat level to a 5 on a 6 point scale. That is quite significant.
I understand the media wanting to get ratings, but the WHO is not the media.
I am somewhat on the fence about the severity of this, and what you guys say makes sense. But I just wonder why this is such a big event with the WHO. Maybe they are just trying to cover their ass just in case.
I understand the media wanting to get ratings, but the WHO is not the media.
I am somewhat on the fence about the severity of this, and what you guys say makes sense. But I just wonder why this is such a big event with the WHO. Maybe they are just trying to cover their ass just in case.
A year or two ago a researcher called out the UN/WHO on the stats they'd been giving out about HIV infections, transmissions, etc. They pretty much admitted that they'd overstated things to get the funding and the support that they wanted for their programs. I'll look for a news source on that.
Any disease going around deserves to be taken seriously. This one is an influenza and is transmissible from person to person. You are going to be exposed sooner or later--there's not much we can do about that. Going overboard will not solve any problems--listen to your doctor, not the damn government.
WW
#29
#30
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Jun 2006
Posts: 103
A little common sense goes a long way. Something the media, and apparently the general public, have very little of.
We were all going to die from SARS, we were all going to die from West Nile, we were all going to die from Bird Flu, we were all going to die from Mad Cow...
We were all going to die from SARS, we were all going to die from West Nile, we were all going to die from Bird Flu, we were all going to die from Mad Cow...
If you don't trust the news, go to the CDC, WHO etc websites, or if you don't trust those, read "The Great Influenza" by John Barry. Its kind of a slow read, but interesting.
I haven't heard anyone claiming that "were all going to die", they are mainly saying they are concerned and hoping that it won't amount to anything serious.