Thread: Swine flu pandemic

Originally Posted by treydampier

The people who are in a dangerous situation are the elderly, or people who are otherwise "immunocompromised", meaning severe diabetes, very young children, HIV, cancer, or other known disorders of immunity.

So the rumors that this one is killing via cytokine storm the way the 1918 flu did are false? The 1918 pandemic killed mostly 20-40yr olds IIRC.

They found the source!!!!!!

Originally Posted by mparker762

So the rumors that this one is killing via cytokine storm the way the 1918 flu did are false? The 1918 pandemic killed mostly 20-40yr olds IIRC.

There is another theory, that the relatively young had not at that point been exposed to sufficient variations in the Influenza virus and were so more prone to it. No one really knows anything at this point.

Originally Posted by mparker762

So the rumors that this one is killing via cytokine storm the way the 1918 flu did are false? The 1918 pandemic killed mostly 20-40yr olds IIRC.

There is not enough information being released even to those who would understand it to tell. You can have a cytokine storm from several causes, of which, the flu is only one. It's an error in the response of the immune system. The exact mechanism is still awaiting discovery.

Originally Posted by mparker762

The 1918 pandemic killed mostly 20-40yr olds IIRC.

One of the theories discussed on the BBC pointed out that many of the 20-40 yr old males had spent years in trench warfare and many were in poor physical shape.

I have been reading some reports by some of the scientists in the field and they are saying that this strain is not like any of the really bad ones. It has also been stated that, unless it mutates, it is not even as bad as most of the strains that we get in the US every year. The panic situation that this is creating is really quite silly, and media driven. The problem with all this "tracking" is that now for the first time science can very quickly, through technology, determine a genetic fingerprint of an organism and thus track it real time. Coupled with the internet and media personnel who are not going to allow science to get in the way of generating a good news story people are going nuts. There are hospitals full of people wanting anti-viral drugs and showing no signs of any disease at all. 32,000 people in the US die every year from the flu, and another 75,000 die of the common cold, get a clue.

Quite scary really, they actually vote for the leaders of this country!


Later,
Richard

Well you know back in 1918 there were all kinds of bugs out there that there were no cures for and death was very commonplace and accepted by the populace. We now live in a world where death is almost unthinkable unless you get cancer or a few other things. People think technology will always come to the rescue to save them.

I agree people are making too much of this but also remember this is a new strain and this is not the flue season and no one knows what will happen in the winter. This thing could just go away or it could come back with a vengeance like the strain did from 1917 to 1918 so it pays to be vigilant.

Also national leaders and others in the know will never tell us the truth for fear of causing a panic so like everything else you have to read between the lines and and interpret what they do not what they say.

Originally Posted by riooso

I have been reading some reports by some of the scientists in the field and they are saying that this strain is not like any of the really bad ones. It has also been stated that, unless it mutates, it is not even as bad as most of the strains that we get in the US every year. The panic situation that this is creating is really quite silly, and media driven. The problem with all this "tracking" is that now for the first time science can very quickly, through technology, determine a genetic fingerprint of an organism and thus track it real time. Coupled with the internet and media personnel who are not going to allow science to get in the way of generating a good news story people are going nuts. There are hospitals full of people wanting anti-viral drugs and showing no signs of any disease at all. 32,000 people in the US die every year from the flu, and another 75,000 die of the common cold, get a clue.
Quite scary really, they actually vote for the leaders of this country!

Later,
Richard

Exactly, I'd like to see how much money this media driven hysteria is costing the health care system (meaning "us"). Meanwhile, CNN and Fox continue to collect their advertising dollars. I hope I don't need ER services in the near future.

Jordan

Face masks? 5 dollars.
Tamiflu shot? 20 dollars.
Rating and readership increases caused by stirring up a scare campaign about a fully treatable variant of type A influenza?


Priceless.

James.