Swine Flu outbreak

[WildCat]

Riiight, Mexico shut the whole country down over 8 deaths.

Do you know more about this than WHO does? Because WHO says there have been 8 deaths. So yes, Mexico is also engaging in hysterical overreaction. 8 deaths would be a slow night in Juarez.

Well that's sounds like a reliable rumor.


"They" ????

Well, we've narrowed down "they" to "on the radio".

Feel free to post some numbers refuting it whenever you like...

 

[Dymanic]

Is all this fear and panic necessary if the problem can be solved with simple hygiene?

Studies of previous pandemics strongly indicate that those communities that fare best are those which implement "non-pharmacological interventions" early, and with a multi-layered approach. Schools are influenza heaven. Wait until all the kids are sick to close them, and it's too late.

Call me crazy, but I'm not scared of anything that can be defeated by soap and handi-wipes.

I'm betting that you've never actually experienced a good dose of the flu.

 

[WildCat]

Just heard on the 11 o'clock news: First case of swine flu confirmed in south Florida. A 17 year old girl who goes to a high school a few miles from my house. She is "recovering" at home with the sniffles, but they shut the school down.
This type of hysteria is so typical of the American media. Is all this fear and panic necessary if the problem can be solved with simple hygiene?
Call me crazy, but I'm not scared of anything that can be defeated by soap and handi-wipes.

But but but... a girl has the sniffles!

Run for your life!1!!!11!

Won't you think of the children?

 

[WildCat]

Studies of previous pandemics strongly indicate that those communities that fare best are those which implement "non-pharmacological interventions" early, and with a multi-layered approach. Schools are influenza heaven. Wait until all the kids are sick to close them, and it's too late.
I'm betting that you've never actually experienced a good dose of the flu.

Yeah, let's shut down every school in the US until 100% of the children are free from all diseases.

School resumes... never.

 

[MikeSun5]

I'm betting that you've never actually experienced a good dose of the flu.

Betting isn't your thing, is it? Avoid casinos.

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

Do you know more about this than WHO does? Because WHO says there have been 8 deaths. So yes, Mexico is also engaging in hysterical overreaction. 8 deaths would be a slow night in Juarez.






Feel free to post some numbers refuting it whenever you like...

Oh pluuuease, I've posted plenty and you haven't even cited a source for your 'speculation on the radio' evidence, let alone posted any actual evidence.

Re the WHO confirmed case count, I can't help your inability to process information.

 

[GreNME]

blah blah blah blah blah...

And it's back to the semanticizing. Have fun playing with the other kids. You're not going to even consider changing your arguments and are instead going to try to bury it in semantic arguments.

To everyone else: what everyone knows right now, with the collected data available out there, is that this is a flu outbreak whose main threat is that it spreads just as quickly as seasonal influenza, which is remarkably fast. Taking the same measures you do to avoid seasonal influenza-- washing hands and such-- will do a great deal in keeping you relatively free of the infection. In the case you or someone you know does catch it, you should take the same steps you would to get rid of seasonal flu, which means plenty of rest, stuff to treat the symptoms, and it's best to have a doctor check you out and determine whether antivirals are necessary-- all pretty much the same as as with seasonal flu.

Based on all the cases so far, you should be concerned to the same extent you should be concerned about the normal flu. That doesn't mean nothing, but it means that every report you see on television is blown way out of proportion to the actual danger.

 

[MikeSun5]

Based on all the cases so far, you should be concerned to the same extent you should be concerned about the normal flu. That doesn't mean nothing, but it means that every report you see on television is blown way out of proportion to the actual danger.

EXACTLY.

 

[WildCat]

Oh pluuuease, I've posted plenty and you haven't even cited a source for your 'speculation on the radio' evidence, let alone posted any actual evidence.

Re the WHO confirmed case count, I can't help your inability to process information.

Here's the latest from WHO:

1 May 2009 -- The situation continues to evolve. As of 23:30 GMT, 1 May 2009, 13 countries have officially reported 367 cases of influenza A(H1N1) infection.

The United States Government has reported 141 laboratory confirmed human cases, including one death. Mexico has reported 156 confirmed human cases of infection, including nine deaths.

The following countries have reported laboratory confirmed cases with no deaths - Austria (1), Canada (34), China, Hong Kong, Special Administrative Region (1), Denmark (1), Germany (4), Israel (2), Netherlands (1), New Zealand (4), Spain (13), Switzerland (1) and the United Kingdom (8).

My god, at this rate the entire population of the earth will be wiped out in just 6 billion years or so!

 

[Dymanic]

Yeah, let's shut down every school in the US until 100% of the children are free from all diseases.

School resumes... never.

Are you familiar with the logical fallacy known as the "false dichotomy"?

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

[snipped drivel based on inability to read and or process what I posted]

Based on all the cases so far, you should be concerned to the same extent you should be concerned about the normal flu. That doesn't mean nothing, but it means that every report you see on television is blown way out of proportion to the actual danger.

Of course you should be concerned about all influenza. That goes in the D'uh category.

And I already said it, very clearly, so why you're telling me is bizarre.

http://www.internationalskeptics.com/forums/showthread.php?postid=4672819#post4672819

All influenza disease has the POTENTIAL to kill thousands including less pathogenic strains.

 

[KoihimeNakamura]

.. t his thread moved fast.

No, I cannot, and I work in a gas station, which means either way I am bound to get it. (... Well, maybe that's TOO fatalistic.)

I just figure that if washing my hands every once in a while won't do it I'm uh.. doomed. (Of course, I realized today that if it got to the point where I started manifest influenza like symptoms.. I could probably get a doctors note.... )

 

[The Atheist]

Call me crazy, but I'm not scared of anything that can be defeated by soap and handi-wipes.

That's actually not right - a huge number of 'flu transmissions are from breathing infected air. Pretty hard to defeat that with soap.

 

[Oliver]

This is getting ridiculous: Swine genocide in Egypt ...

http://us.cnn.com/video/#/video/world/2009/04/30/lister.egypt.pig.slaughter.cnn

 

[The Atheist]

This is getting ridiculous: Swine genocide in Egypt ...

It's ridiculous alright, but it's a case that swine 'flu has given the muslims the excuse to kill off pigs and piss off christians at the same time.

You can't blame media or anyone else but religious stupidity for that one.

 

[WildCat]

Are you familiar with the logical fallacy known as the "false dichotomy"?

Are you familiar with the term "hysterical overreaction"?

Did they shut down the school when a kid got any other kind of flu?

I can understand such a measure for, say, meningitis. Not the flu. Keep the sick kids at home, everyone else should be in school.

This is more about avoiding lawsuits by parents buying into the media hype than actually protecting health.

 

[WildCat]

Got that demographic breakdown yet skeptigirl?

 

[WildCat]

In Texas all high school sports have been banned until May 11.

Brought to you by the same science-illiterate governor who twice appointed creationist Don McLeroy as school board president.

 

[Dymanic]

Did they shut down the school when a kid got any other kind of flu?

If I had my way, they would. Most schools in the U.S. shut down during the summer, a tradition which is a legacy of a bygone era when kids were needed to help work the farms (a fact I have reminded my kid of many, many times, usually when the garbage needs to go out or a load of laundry needs washed). Reserving a block of that time so as to allow the shutdown to take place during the local peak of the flu season could probably go a long way toward reducing prevelance of seasonal flu. But if you still haven't grasped by now why this isn't "any other kind of flu", then I'm not sure what more can be done for you.

Keep the sick kids at home, everyone else should be in school.

Keeping "the sick kids" at home won't work any better than "keeping sick people from crossing the border". The problem is that the damn thing is contagious before the onset of symptoms.

This is more about avoiding lawsuits by parents buying into the media hype than actually protecting health.

Oh right. Good luck suing the school district because your kid caught the flu at school (being prepared to prove it would be good start).

 

[WildCat]

But if you still haven't grasped by now why this isn't "any other kind of flu", then I'm not sure what more can be done for you.

Go ahead, show why this particular flu is the OMG killah flu eleventy!11!!!111!!

Because all evidence to date is that it is quite ordinary as far as flus go.

Keeping "the sick kids" at home won't work any better than "keeping sick people from crossing the border". The problem is that the damn thing is contagious before the onset of symptoms.

Not nearly as contagious.

Oh right. Good luck suing the school district because your kid caught the flu at school (being prepared to prove it would be good start).

You don't even have to prove it in our court system. Just pursue it enough to make settling more cost effective than fighting it. Mo money, mo money, mo money!

eta: the lawsuits are already flying:

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) A lawsuit has been filed by the parents of two elementary school students who want to take their children out of school for the remainder of the school year because of the swine flu scare.

http://www.newschannel9.com/news/school-977919-montgomery-scare.html