Will the Swine Flu become pandemic?

[escargome]

In the particular case I mentioned, the patient is on life support; hence, the term "life threatening" was used.

I wonder, was this person's immune system already compromised?

 

[Mary]

I wonder, was this person's immune system already compromised?

Don't know.

 

[escargome]

Well as for myself, I don't plan on going out and kissing any piggies. However, I will wash my hands a lot, use hand sanitizer. Won't touch stair well bannisters etc. And will try to stay away from coughing, sneezing germy people.

 

[Mary]

As a piggy valver (not to mention a certified male chauvinist pig myself) I refuse to blame my porcine cousins for this outbreak.

Reminds me of one of my favorite children's poem . . .

And there in the wood,
A piggy wig stood
With a ring at the end of his nose, his nose
With a ring at the end of his nose.

Do you know the rest of the lines?

 

[Superbob]

Reminds me of one of my favorite children's poem . . .

And there in the wood,
A piggy wig stood
With a ring at the end of his nose, his nose
With a ring at the end of his nose.

Do you know the rest of the lines?

I will ask the Piggily Wiggly girls the next time I go to get a latte.

 

[Karlynn]

I just heard a news report that Mexico has not given any of the family members of the people who have died so far any type of anti-viral treatment. They also had an interview with a man who was turned away from 3 hospitals because he was not registered with their socialized medicine program. Yah - this sounds like the US is to blame.

 

[Lisa in Katy]

Reminds me of one of my favorite children's poem . . .

And there in the wood,
A piggy wig stood
With a ring at the end of his nose, his nose
With a ring at the end of his nose.

Do you know the rest of the lines?

It's part of The Owl and the Pussycat, which has been pretty much ruined with words changing meaning! The bong-tree is one example. When my sister was a new teacher, it took her about 3 readings of this poem at bus duty time to figure out why the 4th & 5th graders kept requesting it. 'O lovely Pussy! O Pussy my love, What a beautiful Pussy you are, You are, You are! What a beautiful Pussy you are!'

 

[Christina]

"Flu" Goo Comedy. (Just for fun)

"Flu" Goo Comedy. (Just for fun)

Here is some Flu Goo comedy that Glenn Beck had in his news message today..

http://www.paulenunn.com/FG.html

 

[hensylee]

Karlyn,

The USA gets blamed for everything these days. Many people in this country are bashing the USA for all kinds of things. What they forget to mention is that the USA is the kindest, most charitable country in the world. When there are disasters in any part of the world the USA is the first to send food aid, money, but it is not being reported.
I have lived on two continents and three countries so far in my life and this is the best country by far.
Please keep it that way.

and we never ask for help when we get in trouble! Bless this nation. we've got some bad but who'd want to live elsewhere.

 

[tobagotwo]

And here I thought the Swine Flu was when my wife gets sick of me...

 

[kfay]

Well, my husband's trip has been cancelled. Cuba has evidently closed it's airports to any international flights. PHEW! Now, any ideas on how to cheer up what is going to be a very disappointed husband next week. Ross, you can stay out of this one or before we know it, it will go from swine flu to the upteenth sex thread!!

Kim

 

[Kathy McCain]

Christina,

Yes, the political correctness is out of control. There doesn't seem to be much logic or common sense thinking, particularly with regards to this flu! Right away your a racist! Well, I'm definitely NOT A RACIST. My grandparents were immigrants, but they came here legally. I have very little faith in this administration, or Ms Napolitano to handle this epidemic situation. Still, I am hoping and praying for the best outcome.

 

[COLLEEN S]

My husband is getting ready to fly into Mexico in a little over a week. I really don't want him to go. He is just going to be flying thru the airport to get to his final destination outside of Mexico. He is going to take some Relenza with him and I am going to make him wear a face mask while he is there. He is travelling with two Dr's so that does give me some peace of mind, but not much.

They are saying face masks aren't effective for swine flu.

 

[COLLEEN S]

My husband is getting ready to fly into Mexico in a little over a week. I really don't want him to go. He is just going to be flying thru the airport to get to his final destination outside of Mexico. He is going to take some Relenza with him and I am going to make him wear a face mask while he is there. He is travelling with two Dr's so that does give me some peace of mind, but not much.

We are going to be on a cruise ship soon. If anyone becomes ill with something such as swine flu, it likely would spread through the ship rapidly.

If this whole thing has not quieted by the time we leave, do you think it wise to call my PC and ask for an Rx for tamilfu or relenza to bring with me? Would she be annoyed with me for requesting it and likely think it not necessary? It scares me to think I could be on the ship and unable to obtain meds if I needed them.

JKM, I would ask for it and also ask for tips on how to prevent contracting viral flu.

 

[terodac]

Swine Flu

Swine Flu

I think it is more serious than they are letting us know. There is more to this story about where this has come from. The USA needs to close our borders now. I though I was told valve replacement patients can not take that tamiflu stuff? has anyone else heard this before? That would not be a good thing

 

[Bryan B]

Close our borders?
Sure, and ban all imports from countries that have reported or suspected cases of Swine Flu.
And, if any people are allowed in to the country, quarantine them for a month, to make sure they don't develop the flu.

Let's see -- what else can we do to protect ourselves from the handful of cases that may get in.

Sure -- it's not the ones who travel legally over the borders -- lets erect sentry towers on the unpatrolled areas of the border, and station guards with machine guns, with orders of shoot to kill. Those damned mexicans trying to sneak in to the United States might be carrying swine flu. We should get them before they get us. And building the towers, purchasing guns and ammunition, and hiring armed guards would be good for the economy, right? What a great contribution to financial recovery.

----

Instead of closing our borders and doing other draconian things for this supposed pandemic, why not spend some of the recovery money on

a) Hygiene training (training people how to protect themselves from this or any other flu)
b) Fast detection and testing of people who think they may have the flu - to verify whether it's just plain flu, plain old hypochondria, or the real thing
c) Aid to countries that may actually have the swine flu, in an effort to reduce the incidence and spread of the illness, and to track any known cases to their source.
d) beef up epidemiologic efforts in the U.S. to track the source of infection
e) identification of groups most at risk of this particular flu, and increasing public awareness of groups that are at most risk.
f) work on developing a fast, inexpensive test to confirm that it actually is swine flu

---


Personally, I think this thing is being blown way out of proportion. Although it can be serious, there is no need for panic. I think it is probably on everyone's mind by now -- and people are probably being a bit more careful than usual. Plus, if people seek help at the earliest sign of illness, their risk of serious illness is significantly reduced.

Thank you Mark. The swine flu has been around for a long time. Yes it is more dangerous if it mutates to the level where it can be passed among humans, but the mortality rate is quite low, and almost zero if the patient is treated with antiviral medications within a few days of contracting the virus. There was an "outbreak" of the swine flu in 1976 where one soldier died and 500 other soldiers were infected at Fort Dix. Because of that "outbreak" the government decided to vaccinate the entire US population to prevent a swine flu pandemic. Well it turns out that one soldier was the only person who died from swine flu yet approximately 30 people died from receiving the vaccination, most from complications of Guillain-Barré syndrome as a result of an immunopathological reaction to the vaccine. The vaccination program was halted after 40 million vaccinations (approximately 25% of the US population) were given due to the number of negative side effects reported.

As you can see the government has some difficult decisions to make in the coming days and weeks. If they underreact they face the prospect of being blamed for the pandemic. If they overreact they face the prospect of being blamed for wasting money and possibly causing more illness and/or death from immunizing the population than would have been caused by the flu itself.

Like I said in my previous post...in a normal year approximately 36,000 Americans die as a direct result or complications from the flu (500,000 worldwide). Why hasn't the media been in a frenzy over these numbers? My guess is that it has something to do with swine...and I'm not talking about the flu.

 

[Ross]

Ross:

Does 'bunch of Mexicans that travel back home, then back to work' mean they go to homes that are in your neighborhood, or to Mexico, then back?

Home as in Mexico and back.

 

[sue943]

Apparently leaflets about protecting oneself and other information are being delivered to every home in the UK starting in the next couple of days.

According to the television yesterday no cases had been reported in pigs during this outbreak!

 

[sue943]

The first death in the US has occurred and tragically it is a 23 month old baby.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8024611.stm

 

[Lisa in Katy]

Just to be clear, even though the child died in Houston, it wasn't from Houston. It had been transported from Brownsville, a small border town, and in fact was a Mexican citizen. It's unclear whether the child resided in Texas or Mexico, but definitely had been back and forth, probably not legally. The doctor/hospital gave no details regarding the medical treatment this child had prior to death, but I get the idea it hadn't been in Houston long, especially since as of yesterday, we still had no confirmed cases in Harris County. Doesn't make the death any less tragic, but there have still been NO American deaths.

I want the government to get tighter control on the borders, but it has nothing to do with swine flu. It has to do with money and laws. Too much money is being spent and too many laws are being broken.