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Swine Hype

danarhea

danarhea

Slayer of the DP Newsbot
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We just had our first death from swine flu here in Houston. We also had a press conference that lasted at least a couple of hours that was carried on channel 13. My question is why?

A lot of talking heads are comparing this to the 1918 outbreak. Give me a break. The 1918 pandemic killed more than 40 million people, and most people died within 48 hours of coming down with it.

Each year, about 35,000 people die from the flu and its complications. So now we have a few hundred, and eventually it will be a few thousand. Just a blip on the screen.

A few politicians are now talking about mandatory vaccinations for kids before they enter school. I do not believe that any rational comparison can be made between swine flu and, say, polio, or measles, or whooping cough.

So, what do we have? A lot of ****ing scare mongering by the media and the government - Our nanny government which wants to crush us under its weight in its attempts to save us all from ourselves.

I am so ****ing sick to death of this hype I want to throw up.

To the news media - Let me know if there is another 911, a volcano erupting in the middle of Central Park, martians invading the world, or some crazy man setting off a nuclear bomb in the middle of Los Angeles. But please, ****ing please, stop the ****ing hype with this swine flu. Its a flu bug, just like all the other flu bugs. Yes, it will make people sick, and yes, some people will die, just like all other flu outbreaks. It's not the end of the ****ing world as we know it. Report it responsibly or just shut the **** up.

[/rant]
 
Gov Perry just cancelled all high school sports events because of the swine flu.
 
It didn't hurt in getting a quick vote on Sebelius. Always remember, never waste a good crisis. ;)


.
 
I'm so sick of it, I made my dh bbq baby back spare ribs for dinner tonight.

My son came home from school with a notice from school about it. :roll:
 
danarhea said:
To the news media - Let me know if there is another 911, a volcano erupting in the middle of Central Park, martians invading the world, or some crazy man setting off a nuclear bomb in the middle of Los Angeles. But please, ****ing please, stop the ****ing hype with this swine flu. Its a flu bug, just like all the other flu bugs. Yes, it will make people sick, and yes, some people will die, just like all other flu outbreaks. It's not the end of the ****ing world as we know it. Report it responsibly or just shut the **** up.

[/rant]
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It's an issue because the majority of people dying are not the one's who die in normal outbreaks.

And the comparisons to the 1918 Spanish Flu are legitimate.

Both are H1N1 strains. (unlike the asian bird flu, which is an H5. no pandemic has ever been seen with an H5. they are typically H1, H2 or H3)

Both were new strains never before seen at the time that the outbreak began, as in the body does not have natural defenses built up like they do with extant flu types.

Both kill/killed primarily healthy people, not the very young and very old or those with compromised immune systems like the "normal" flu does.

Both are highly transmissible from human-to-human contact.

It is not fear mongering so much as it is preparation for a the potential of a seriously dangerous illness.

The issue is that the media is the boy who cried wolf. But for the first time ever in our lifetimes, the wolf might really have shown up.

If this becomes a pandemic, it could possibly blow away that 35,000 per year number. When will it be time to worry? 350,000 worldwide? 3.5 million?

Ignoring this, or thinking it is "just the flu" because of our ****ty media is serious folly.
 
danarhea said:
Each year, about 35,000 people die from the flu and its complications. So now we have a few hundred, and eventually it will be a few thousand. Just a blip on the screen.
Click to expand...

And you base these numbers on what? Predicting flu pandemics is difficult even for epidemiologists. What makes you think YOUR uninformed opinion of the total number of cases has any validity?

This has the potential to get very, very ugly. I'm not saying it definitely will become a pandemic, but it definitely has more potential than any other flu strain in my lifetime. There is good reason for governments and media to be very alarmed.
 
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I heard something interesting on TV where the reporter said that commonly the second wave of a flu is more dangerous and deadly than the first. And, if you caught the bug in the first wave then you're unlikely to catch it during the 2nd wave as it's unlikely it will change enough so that you no longer have immunity. So all that said, maybe we should be aiming to catch it the first time around? What if it's more deadly in Mexico because they're on their second wave?
 
danarhea said:
We just had our first death from swine flu here in Houston. We also had a press conference that lasted at least a couple of hours that was carried on channel 13. My question is why?

A lot of talking heads are comparing this to the 1918 outbreak. Give me a break. The 1918 pandemic killed more than 40 million people, and most people died within 48 hours of coming down with it.

Each year, about 35,000 people die from the flu and its complications. So now we have a few hundred, and eventually it will be a few thousand. Just a blip on the screen.

A few politicians are now talking about mandatory vaccinations for kids before they enter school. I do not believe that any rational comparison can be made between swine flu and, say, polio, or measles, or whooping cough.

So, what do we have? A lot of ****ing scare mongering by the media and the government - Our nanny government which wants to crush us under its weight in its attempts to save us all from ourselves.

I am so ****ing sick to death of this hype I want to throw up.

To the news media - Let me know if there is another 911, a volcano erupting in the middle of Central Park, martians invading the world, or some crazy man setting off a nuclear bomb in the middle of Los Angeles. But please, ****ing please, stop the ****ing hype with this swine flu. Its a flu bug, just like all the other flu bugs. Yes, it will make people sick, and yes, some people will die, just like all other flu outbreaks. It's not the end of the ****ing world as we know it. Report it responsibly or just shut the **** up.

[/rant]
Click to expand...

Most people that die from "normal" flu most likely had compromised immune systems, such as young children and the elderly. In this case, the reported deaths are perfectly healthy people in their 20s, 30s and 40s. THAT is NOT normal.

Also, in today's world, we have the luxury of better technology, that can inform and educate people much quicker, and more efficiently, than in the past. Perhaps SARS--for instance-- did not spread as it possible could have, because of the ability to inform people to either take precaution, or to get those who had it, isolated from the general public in quick fashion.
 
Kandahar said:
This has the potential to get very, very ugly. I'm not saying it definitely will become a pandemic, but it definitely has more potential than any other flu strain in my lifetime. There is good reason for governments and media to be very alarmed.
Click to expand...

Exactly. The reason the asian bird flu and SARS weren't nearly as serious as this is because they are not highly contagious with human to human contact.

I keep hearing people compare these prior illnesses with this one, and they just aren't comparable.
 
Tucker Case said:
Exactly. The reason the asian bird flu and SARS weren't nearly as serious as this is because they are not highly contagious with human to human contact.

I keep hearing people compare these prior illnesses with this one, and they just aren't comparable.
Click to expand...

I did not know that.
 
Can the violent outbreak wait until after this weekend? I've got tickets to the Quail Hollow Championship on Sunday and I stand a good chance to see Tiger Woods in person(provided he makes the weekend cut).
 
It's important to make an attempt to understand where they are coming from.

They are taking their leads from the politician’s, the CDC, the WHO, etc. When these people and organizations begin use words like 'rapidly spreading, human to human, deadly' then the reporters take note.

I am in no way try to exonerate the media for any wrong doing on the matter. But it is us, American people, who share some blame also. Shocking news sells, it has been proven. In this day and age of sound bites and rolling tickers, you need attention grabbers. It is very unfortunate, but the blame does not solely lie on the media, there is a long chain of responsibility.

Also, another point to take into account is from the politician’s stance. As it goes with pandemics and outbreaks, those who warn too early are alarmist, but once it does break, everyone says they didn't do enough to head it off.
 
Middleground said:
Most people that die from "normal" flu most likely had compromised immune systems, such as young children and the elderly. In this case, the reported deaths are perfectly healthy people in their 20s, 30s and 40s. THAT is NOT normal.

Also, in today's world, we have the luxury of better technology, that can inform and educate people much quicker, and more efficiently, than in the past. Perhaps SARS--for instance-- did not spread as it possible could have, because of the ability to inform people to either take precaution, or to get those who had it, isolated from the general public in quick fashion.
Click to expand...
Hype is not education. Hype is politics.
 
It's the FLU people.... nothing more. Of course this is all media hype. 36,000 people die every year from the flu or it's complications. I refuse to alter my life or my plans based on this nonsense. I continue as always... I stay away from obviously sick people. I continue basic handwashing and use hand sanitizers. If I get sick, and it seems like the flu symptoms, I will stay home, rest and drink lots of fluids. I will get better in 7 days. If I chose to go to the doc for flu medication.... I'm sure I will feel better in one week.
 
The Flu kills and when it gets out of control it can kills millions.
Wash your ass til it shines you can still die from it.
Doesn't even take a cough and by the time you start to take the symptoms seriously it might be too late.

Downplaying one of the most notable mortal diseases humans face as if its nothing is pretty dumb..but whatever.

Everyone reading this has a I'd say Fair Chance of dying to some type of influenza(flu). Its a pretty common cause of death amongst the elderly.

This crud definitely managed to spread out of any chance of control especially in the USA/Mexico. Its especially worrisome because it has more often then not infected Young Adults who are usually the last group to be hit by such things hard.

Panic is unnecessary. Some of the reporting was overblown.
Neither justify the rampant dismissal of the potential of a disease like this.

WHO has stated that while they hope it fizzles out it still has the potential to re-surge.
IOW in a year maybe this will be nothing but something that happened in early 2009..or I could be watching posters here spinning routines trying to find out who to blame for a disease they dismissed as "nothing but the Flu."



Got to look past the Headlines guys.
There is a place between the extreme's.
 
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