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Swine Flu

How Worried Are You About Swine Flu?

  • Very Worried (taking precautions)

    Votes: 5 10.4%
  • Slightly Concerned

    Votes: 21 43.8%
  • In The Middle (neutral/unsure)

    Votes: 10 20.8%
  • I Don't Care (no interest/no action)

    Votes: 12 25.0%
  • Other

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    48
You compared this to bird flu earlier, Zyph, and that is not a good comparison. WHO never elevated the threat level to 4 in either of those illnesses, and they are on the verge of lifting it to 5 right now over this flu.

To put that into perspective, the level system was introduced because of the bird flu, and has never topped 3 since that time over the bird flu. That means that those who know about these things believe this strain is a far more significant risk than the bird flu ever was.

Instead of using the media's idiocy to gauge the threat level, you should be using the people who never really freaked out about bird flu as your gauge.

The biggest difference being human-to-human transmission. This is not occurring with the bird flu at high rates, but is with swine flu.

Reasonable precautions would be appropriate in this scenario. For example: I would normally not seek immediate medical attention if I had flu-like symptoms. I would rest and take fluids. Now, If I have flu-like symptoms I will seek medical attention. I will also replace my normal friendly handshake with an Obama-approved terrorist fist-bump and wash my hands more often after contacting other people.

I'm not about to stockpile surgical masks or anything, but I think reasonable precautions are warranted in this scenario.

And I guess this is actually a better representation of what I'm thinking when I say that I'm not really that worried about it. I'm not completely and utterly thinking its all made up, and yes I probably will find myself washing my hands a bit more often or being a bit more observant to flu symptoms. But then, if this was getting even half the type of media coverage its getting I'd probably do that simply because there's some truth to the fact that its out there and may as well take a few extra basic precautions.

Its the people that are now forgoing eating pork because they think they'll get it. Its the people that think they need to walk around with surgical masks on. Its the people that are acting like this is the next coming of the black plague that bother me.

There's taking reasonable precautions to a disease that legitimatelly is real, just like bird flu or sars or whatever is real and just like the normal flu is real, and then there's going over the top and blowing it out of proportion to great lengths.

I guess when I talk about my "worried" level I do it relative to the general atmosphere I see around me.

I'm keeping an eye on it out of curiosity, but as you say, I'm doing so through slightly more reputable sources than our idiotic ratings driven loves to stir up fears media.
 
And I guess this is actually a better representation of what I'm thinking when I say that I'm not really that worried about it. I'm not completely and utterly thinking its all made up, and yes I probably will find myself washing my hands a bit more often or being a bit more observant to flu symptoms. But then, if this was getting even half the type of media coverage its getting I'd probably do that simply because there's some truth to the fact that its out there and may as well take a few extra basic precautions.

Its the people that are now forgoing eating pork because they think they'll get it. Its the people that think they need to walk around with surgical masks on. Its the people that are acting like this is the next coming of the black plague that bother me.

There's taking reasonable precautions to a disease that legitimatelly is real, just like bird flu or sars or whatever is real and just like the normal flu is real, and then there's going over the top and blowing it out of proportion to great lengths.

I guess when I talk about my "worried" level I do it relative to the general atmosphere I see around me.

I'm keeping an eye on it out of curiosity, but as you say, I'm doing so through slightly more reputable sources than our idiotic ratings driven loves to stir up fears media.

If they elevate all the way to 6 and I have still not come down with it, then I'll be walking around in a mask.

And either way, when the vaccine becomes available, assuming I haven't caught it by then, I'll be getting that shot. But I should add that this is in no small part due to the fact that I take care of someone who has a compromised respiratory system.
 
And I guess this is actually a better representation of what I'm thinking when I say that I'm not really that worried about it. I'm not completely and utterly thinking its all made up, and yes I probably will find myself washing my hands a bit more often or being a bit more observant to flu symptoms. But then, if this was getting even half the type of media coverage its getting I'd probably do that simply because there's some truth to the fact that its out there and may as well take a few extra basic precautions.

Its the people that are now forgoing eating pork because they think they'll get it. Its the people that think they need to walk around with surgical masks on. Its the people that are acting like this is the next coming of the black plague that bother me.

There's taking reasonable precautions to a disease that legitimatelly is real, just like bird flu or sars or whatever is real and just like the normal flu is real, and then there's going over the top and blowing it out of proportion to great lengths.

I guess when I talk about my "worried" level I do it relative to the general atmosphere I see around me.

I'm keeping an eye on it out of curiosity, but as you say, I'm doing so through slightly more reputable sources than our idiotic ratings driven loves to stir up fears media.

I think i am more in agreement with Zyphlin.

I believe this is a serious problem and precautions need to be taken in order to stop the spread. However, I do not think the media hype is doing any good for the well-being of people, especially on a psychological level.

The dichotomy of human ailments is quite interesting. That there are cases where the illness can, practically, be cured by making the patient think they are getting better (basically the placebo effect).
I feel that this can also have an opposite effect if the headlines fear-monger and headline "you gonna get sick". Never, never, never is panic a good course of action.

People drown in swimming pools all the time, and I do believe (though lacking source) that swimming pools, at the time, have claimed more victims than the Swine Flu.

To us, death happening in a small time-span scares us almost ****lessly, and I think that is why we are over reacting.

Bottom-line:
Take precautions, Don't Panic, and Stop the scaring.
 
Eh.

People should be more worried about heart diease. Not to say that you shouldn't be aware of people coughing around you excessively, but you're far more likely to die from mundane things then stuff like this. And that avoid airports if you can.:2wave:
 
Eh.

People should be more worried about heart diease. Not to say that you shouldn't be aware of people coughing around you excessively, but you're far more likely to die from mundane things then stuff like this. And that avoid airports if you can.:2wave:

Imminence is a factor in fear. People don't fear something that is in their distant future, but they do fear something that can strike in the near future.

For example, at 31, in reasonably good shape, with excellent cholesterol numbers and average blood pressure readings, I don't fear heart disease all that much. I take minimal precautions and go to my doctor once every year or two to get a check up, but if I were to die form heart disease in the next year or two, it'd be pretty much amazing.

Whereas, I can catch the flu next week and be dead in three.

For me, heart disease is much less fear-worthy.

But I do understand your point. I saw this woman on TV who was so fat I expected to see propeller scars criss-crossing her back and she was talking about how scared she was over this flu.

Seriously, bitch, if you feared Krispy Kreme as much as the flu you might actually live to 60!
 
Eh.

People should be more worried about heart diease. Not to say that you shouldn't be aware of people coughing around you excessively, but you're far more likely to die from mundane things then stuff like this. And that avoid airports if you can.:2wave:

Good point.

People should also be afraid of that uncertain, plausibly problematic, second that may or may not crush them with a bus/car/motorcade when they are crossing the road.

We try to fight death. But even the Ancient Greeks knew that Death is partially a God, and the only real way to defeat a God is to ignore her.
 
They pump us so full of vaccines and immunity meds that I don't worry about such things. Just this morning I got Typhoid.

Haha.

Robot much?

I hear cyborgs are the real deal.
 
Haha.

Robot much?

I hear cyborgs are the real deal.

Oh it's humerous. They actually call it a "Shot Exercise." They line everybody up and start sticking. Even if you are good and your next shot isn't due for another few months, they will jump ahead...."just to be safe."

I guess it would have sucked if September 12th, 2001 saw half the Marine Corps with the flu or something.
 
Swine flu is the least worrisome disease Marines at 29 Stumps need to worry about coming back with, from their little trysts into Tijuana.

Tijuana has been off limits for a looooong time. Coming back with the "cold" or being robbed in an alley way was becoming routine.
 
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Tijuana has been off limits for a looooong time. Coming back with the "cold" or being robbed in an alley way was becoming routine.

Man, looking back I am beginning to realize I have been out for a while now, even though it seems like it was yesterday I was getting my leave chits signed. They were keeping all the transient units out of Tijuana at all the bases I deployed to for training excercises, but permanent duty members could still go.

Even though it was off limits to our units, young Marines would still go(and get caught), tempted by the allure of Tijuana, Mexico. What was so alluring? I'm not sure, but it never seemed worth it. Whores are nice in theory, but in practicality, your likely to end up paying for it in more than just a simple cash transaction.

But we give the Corpsmen good stories I guess.
 
Oh it's humerous. They actually call it a "Shot Exercise." They line everybody up and start sticking. Even if you are good and your next shot isn't due for another few months, they will jump ahead...."just to be safe."

I guess it would have sucked if September 12th, 2001 saw half the Marine Corps with the flu or something.

I did something like that in middle-school for Hepatitis, and some bull**** disease they made up just to watch the squirm as the air gunned my arm.
 
They pump us so full of vaccines and immunity meds that I don't worry about such things. Just this morning I got Typhoid.

Typhoid Gunny.
 
Imminence is a factor in fear. People don't fear something that is in their distant future, but they do fear something that can strike in the near future.

And they tend to improperly weigh the likelihood of each event.

For instance, after 9/11, roughly 1,000 people died unnecessarily by driving over flying.

Regional Effects Of 9/11 Attacks On Driving
aem.cornell.edu/faculty_sites/gb78/wp/fatalities_120505.pdf

If people had objectively done the risk weighing instead of emotionally making decisions, those 1,000+ people wouldn't have died.

For me, heart disease is much less fear-worthy.

True, however, most Americans are overweight, many obese. For them, they should be focusing far more on those kinds of dangers. Furthermore, cancer is still in the top 10 killers and some cancers are exceedingly fast and hard to catch.

But I do understand your point. I saw this woman on TV who was so fat I expected to see propeller scars criss-crossing her back and she was talking about how scared she was over this flu.

Seriously, bitch, if you feared Krispy Kreme as much as the flu you might actually live to 60!

It's pretty amazing how some people really can't figure out what's the biggest threat to them.
 
I personally understand that there is a level of seriousness to this but not to which everyone else is taking it.

From what I've seen it is a slightly more lethal version of the regular flu.
As much as everyone wants there is pretty much zero chance of avoiding contracting it unless you isolate yourself.

The media knows what gets peoples attention, particularly old people.
That is thunderstorms and crisis'.
 
From what I've seen it is a slightly more lethal version of the regular flu.

I don't think "slightly more lethal" is an accurate depiction of this flu at all.

For people in the normal "lethal" zone for a flu (very old, very young, and compromised immune systems), it is actually less lethal than the normal flu.

For people in the normal "safe" zone, it is dramatically more lethal than your average flu. Normally, healthy people have only a very, very small chance of dying form the flu, whereas with this strain, there is a relatively large chance or at least a dramatically increased chance.

If the normal flu has a .1% chance of being lethal to a healthy person, and this one has a 2.5% chance of lethality, that would be 2400% increase in lethality for that demographic.

While a 2.5% does not seem all that daunting, when taken as "1 out of 40" otherwise healthy people who contract the illness will die from it, it means that, odds-wise, if this thing goes fully pandemic, we will all probably know someone, or be someone who dies from it.

That puts it into perspective for me. How many people do you know that have died from influenza in your lifetime? I don't know anyone. I hope that next year, or the year after, I can still say that.


(2.5% number is taken from the Spanish flu pandemic which had similar characteristics to this one)

As much as everyone wants there is pretty much zero chance of avoiding contracting it unless you isolate yourself.

On this I pretty much agree (although I think you can decrease the amount of the virus you are exposed to by taking certain steps as well as make sure that you infect as few as possible if you do contract it).

And what you can do is seek medical attention you otherwise wouldn't have if you do contract it. Normally, I wouldn't even think about going to a doctor over the flu, but if I do contract this one, I'm going to do whatever I can to minimize it's lethality.

Granted, this doesn't mean people should flood emergency rooms when they get the sniffles (although they will), but they should call their doctor and ask them what they should be doing when symptoms develop.
 
I don't think "slightly more lethal" is an accurate depiction of this flu at all.

For people in the normal "lethal" zone for a flu (very old, very young, and compromised immune systems), it is actually less lethal than the normal flu.

For people in the normal "safe" zone, it is dramatically more lethal than your average flu. Normally, healthy people have only a very, very small chance of dying form the flu, whereas with this strain, there is a relatively large chance or at least a dramatically increased chance.

If the normal flu has a .1% chance of being lethal to a healthy person, and this one has a 2.5% chance of lethality, that would be 2400% increase in lethality for that demographic.

While a 2.5% does not seem all that daunting, when taken as "1 out of 40" otherwise healthy people who contract the illness will die from it, it means that, odds-wise, if this thing goes fully pandemic, we will all probably know someone, or be someone who dies from it.

That puts it into perspective for me. How many people do you know that have died from influenza in your lifetime? I don't know anyone. I hope that next year, or the year after, I can still say that.


(2.5% number is taken from the Spanish flu pandemic which had similar characteristics to this one)

I don't really know (like friends) 40 people but that isn't really important.

I don't think that people, that normally die of the regular flu, will be less likely to die of this flu.

That doesn't make any logical sense in any way.

Me love you long time Tucky but I'm not sure that is true(not calling you a liar though).

Please explain it so it makes sense because this really doesn't.

On this I pretty much agree (although I think you can decrease the amount of the virus you are exposed to by taking certain steps as well as make sure that you infect as few as possible if you do contract it).

And what you can do is seek medical attention you otherwise wouldn't have if you do contract it. Normally, I wouldn't even think about going to a doctor over the flu, but if I do contract this one, I'm going to do whatever I can to minimize it's lethality.

Granted, this doesn't mean people should flood emergency rooms when they get the sniffles (although they will), but they should call their doctor and ask them what they should be doing when symptoms develop.

I know that some people may do it for about a week and that a few die hards will do it for longer but natural human ticks over rule eventually.

If I get it, I'd probably go to the doctor to if I'm sure I could die.

So far I've seen a frenzy of panic mongers who only influence people to do things that won't make a difference.

They might as well tell them to stop, drop, and roll or to duck and cover to prevent the flu.
 
I don't really know (like friends) 40 people but that isn't really important.

I don't think that people, that normally die of the regular flu, will be less likely to die of this flu.

That doesn't make any logical sense in any way.

Me love you long time Tucky but I'm not sure that is true(not calling you a liar though).

Please explain it so it makes sense because this really doesn't.

Just look at the vast majority of the fatalities. Aside form the little boy in Texas, the vast majority of fatalities are in the 20-40 age range in otherwise healthy people.

At best, the risks for younger folks is about equal to any flu, whereas the risks in that 20-40 range are astronomically higher than normal.


Mexico on edge as reports of swine flu cases climb - washingtonpost.com

Those teams noticed something strange: The flu was killing people aged 20 to 40. Flu victims are usually either infants or the elderly...

...Asked why there were so many deaths in Mexico, and none so far among the U.S. cases, Cordova noted that the U.S. cases involved children _ who haven't been among the fatal cases in Mexico, either.

The stats speak for themselves.

Part of the reasoning for this is that the problems are caused by an over response of the immune system to the new illness. The weaker the immune system, the less likely it will be that there will be an over response.




I know that some people may do it for about a week and that a few die hards will do it for longer but natural human ticks over rule eventually.

If I get it, I'd probably go to the doctor to if I'm sure I could die.

So far I've seen a frenzy of panic mongers who only influence people to do things that won't make a difference.

They might as well tell them to stop, drop, and roll or to duck and cover to prevent the flu.

I think the problem here is that most people are not capable of thinking long-term. They see the hype, and expect immediate impact. If they don't see immediate impact, they tend to ignore the hype.

Remember, just because the boy who cried wolf is telling you that there is a wolf standing outside the town, it doesn't mean that he's not telling the truth this time.

The problem is not that this flu is not a potential threat -because it is- it is that the media has hyped illegitimate threats in teh past so often. They didn't wait until sustained human to human transmission was observed before going over the deep end.

I'm not saying it's time to panic, but I am saying the threat should be taken seriously, even if the people telling you about it are known for being sensationalist assholes.
 
Went to Phoenix Children's hospital last evening to visit a grandchild that just had a brain tumor removed, had to wade thru the emergency room as it was late and the main entrance was closed. The place was packed with people bringing their children in to make sure that they don't have the flu. I doubt many of them actually have the flu, if so, it will be on the local news soon enough.
The media is making a mess of this....
Today the hospital is limiting visits with admitted patients due to the panic.
 
Went to Phoenix Children's hospital last evening to visit a grandchild that just had a brain tumor removed, had to wade thru the emergency room as it was late and the main entrance was closed. The place was packed with people bringing their children in to make sure that they don't have the flu. I doubt many of them actually have the flu, if so, it will be on the local news soon enough.
The media is making a mess of this....
Today the hospital is limiting visits with admitted patients due to the panic.

Crazy. If the kids don't have it I imagine the ER is the best place to try to catch it.
 
Then again catching it during the first wave is probably beneficial as future waves are likely to be worse.
 
Then again catching it during the first wave is probably beneficial as future waves are likely to be worse.

Hopefully a vaccine will be available before the second wave strikes. One of the pharmaceutical companies (I forget which one) said that they should have it available by the end of the summer.
 
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