mexican flu

[eppie]

The mexican flu, or swine flu or 2009 flu pandemic. It started slowly but now there are thousands infected and almost 1000 deaths world wide.
Of course this also happens with a 'normal' flu strain but this one clearly is more dangerous, and experts warn for mutations that make the virus more deathly.

I don't worry too much usually, I am quite healthy, never took a vaccine and probably only got the flu once the last 15 years. Still, this flu is normal in the sense that it will spread to the whole globe and many people will get infected.....I don't see any possibility to prevent that. So if there would be a fatality rate of 1 % millions would die worldwide.

Here (Sweden and Holland) government are making rankings of which people would be first in line for vaccinations and medicine (tamiflu) because there clearly isn't enough of it for everybody.

I will just try to eat enough oranges, and maybe go to work by bike in autumn and winter instead of going by metro. I don't feel like getting a vaccine (and I am not in a group that gets precedence either).

[kandrathe]

I will just try to eat enough oranges, and maybe go to work by bike in autumn and winter instead of going by metro. I don't feel like getting a vaccine (and I am not in a group that gets precedence either).

It appears to be taking its toll in Argentina.

Oranges, while yummy, won't help against a virus. I try to eat 2 or 3 every day, but I find they do more for mental acuity and the glow of my inner child than for my immune system.

You would be likely to get H1N1 from the metro, shopping, at the pub or work too. My best advice would be to wash your hands, because if you get it from air born particles then there is not much you can do to inconspicuously avoid them. My biggest risk was/is from my children, because they interact with dozens of other children and desire to have lives filled with going to the zoo, or parks, or swimming at the beach.

The only known way to prevent it is by getting flamed by Pete, which I see you've already requested. You have nothing to worry about.

[eppie]

The only known way to prevent it is by getting flamed by Pete, which I see you've already requested. You have nothing to worry about.

:lol:

[DeeBye]

The mexican flu, or swine flu or 2009 flu pandemic. It started slowly but now there are thousands infected and almost 1000 deaths world wide.

Just under 1,000 deaths worldwide? The world population is 6,706,993,152 according to Google. I bet more people worldwide die every year from climbing a ladder to paint some window shutters, fall off the ladder and break one or more legs, and then crawl painfully to the nearest phone to call 911 only to stab themselves in the ear with a powerdrill which they thought was a phone. In those exact set of circumstances.

I'm not especially scared about swine flu. I'm more concerned about breaking a baby toe by stubbing it on something and having a tiny shard of bone run through my circulatory system straight to my heart:(

[kandrathe]

... I'm not especially scared about swine flu. I'm more concerned about breaking a baby toe by stubbing it on something and having a tiny shard of bone run through my circulatory system straight to my heart:(

55 people die every day from slipping in their bath tubs. 14,900 die in the US every year from some type of fall. I figure its mostly skate boarders and people who think that show J#ck%ss is a hoot. But, car wrecks are still 5x more likely than falling to kill you.

[Nystul]

The last time I got sick happened to be the day that the first case of swine flu in the state of Ohio was diagnosed, which happened to be here in Columbus. It was kind of surreal. Well, I continued to go to work and some of my coworker got sick and then had to miss work. It seems any time I catch a "cold" it turns into a "flu" when I pass it on to friends and family. Well anyways, I don't know if it was a Mexican pig flu or not, but we are all still alive so that's cool.

[Zingydex]

I don't worry too much usually, I am quite healthy, never took a vaccine and probably only got the flu once the last 15 years. Still, this flu is normal in the sense that it will spread to the whole globe and many people will get infected.....I don't see any possibility to prevent that. So if there would be a fatality rate of 1 % millions would die worldwide.

Fatality rate of 1%? YAWN. Even if the entire human race were infected, this wouldn't even dent the earth's population. The last time a disease did the kind of apocalyptic damage the fearmongers like to yap about was the Black Plague, hundreds of years ago.

Not that it's entirely a bad thing. Given the fact that the human population has grown far beyond this planet's ability to sustain it, such a plague could be the only chance we have of reining ourselves in. Human nature has proved time and time again to be more than capable of blocking any artificial attempts to mitigate the damage we're doing.

[Swiss Mercenary]

Not that it's entirely a bad thing. Given the fact that the human population has grown far beyond this planet's ability to sustain it, such a plague could be the only chance we have of reining ourselves in. Human nature has proved time and time again to be more than capable of blocking any artificial attempts to mitigate the damage we're doing.

No, no, no! You're doing it wrong.

Massive deaths due to disease just leads to the survivours breeding more.

[Jester]

Fatality rate of 1%? YAWN. Even if the entire human race were infected, this wouldn't even dent the earth's population. The last time a disease did the kind of apocalyptic damage the fearmongers like to yap about was the Black Plague, hundreds of years ago.

Or not.

-Jester

[Zingydex]

Spanish flu was a mere blip on the radar by comparison. The Plague was the only period in recorded history where the human deaths outstripped live births for any significant length of time. It wiped out on average just under half the population of the affected regions, while the 1918 outbreak took fewer lives both in absolute terms and in relation to the overall population size.

Bring back the Black Death, I say.

[Jester]

Spanish flu was a mere blip on the radar by comparison. The Plague was the only period in recorded history where the human deaths outstripped live births for any significant length of time. It wiped out on average just under half the population of the affected regions, while the 1918 outbreak took fewer lives both in absolute terms and in relation to the overall population size.

Bring back the Black Death, I say.

I guess you're right. 100 million deaths is nothing to really get excited about. After all, it's not the single largest source of deaths in history, so who cares that it's a dozen holocausts' worth of corpses? Mere blips on the radar.

-Jester

[--Pete]

Hi,

I guess you're right. 100 million deaths is nothing to really get excited about.

Well, it *is* a good start. :lol:

Statistically speaking, the greatest cause of death is birth. If you were born, you have a 94% chance of dying (6% of those born are still alive).:whistling:

--Pete

[Jester]

Statistically speaking, the greatest cause of death is birth. If you were born, you have a 94% chance of dying (6% of those born are still alive).:whistling:

You have a 94% chance of being dead, you mean.

Maybe we'll yet come up with a cure for the second law of thermodynamics. You never know.:D

-Jester

[--Pete]

Hi,

Maybe we'll yet come up with a cure for the second law of thermodynamics. You never know.:D

When I was a reference librarian (part time) at GaTech, someone would come in with a cure almost every month. But the military-industrial complex has suppressed all those breakthroughs.:)

--Pete

[Occhidiangela]

I guess you're right. 100 million deaths is nothing to really get excited about. After all, it's not the single largest source of deaths in history, so who cares that it's a dozen holocausts' worth of corpses? Mere blips on the radar.

-Jester

So long as we make them all lawyers, Belgians, insurance salesmen, and people who send me adds for viagra and porn sites, it would be a step closer to making the world sing Kumbaya.

And if I could time it right, I'd buy funeral plot futures and get bloody rich.

Occhi

[Nystul]

You have a 94% chance of being dead, you mean.

Pete has a 94% chance of being dead? Is that estimate taking into account that he just posted a few hours ago? I know he's getting old and all, but man that's harsh. :ph34r:

[Bun-Bun]

And if I could time it right, I'd buy funeral plot futures and get bloody rich.

Now that's what I call an evil plot.

[--Pete]

Hi,

Pete has a 94% chance of being dead? Is that estimate taking into account that he just posted a few hours ago? I know he's getting old and all, but man that's harsh. :ph34r:

Oh, that's OK -- I'll be fine as long as no one looks into the box;)meeeow

--Pete

[Jester]

Oh, that's OK -- I'll be fine as long as no one looks into the box;)meeeow

Well, maybe. Maybe not.

-Jester

[kandrathe]

Statistically speaking, the greatest cause of death is birth.

I always thought it was a lack of oxygen to the brain.