New flu pandemic in the making?

iBrian

iBrian

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Somewhat alarmist, but it looks like the basic ingredients for a new superflu - especially the point about deaths occurring in the 25-45 age range:

Flu virus outbreak in Mexico kills 70 and causes fear - Telegraph

One of the key points about Spanish flu was that healthy people are more likely to die from it, on account that the flu hijacks their immune system and basically turns it against them - attacking their own body.
 
It doesn't look like this has the steam to turn into a pandemic. For one thing, a certain vaccine for this strain has already been found to be effective. And guess which company called this one? The same Venture Capital Firm that financed Google, Amazon and Netscape. http://uk.reuters.com/article/governmentFilingsNews/idUKN2445216420090424

Also, apparently the Canadian researchers have already claimed that the SARS outbreak was worse than this.

Swine flu not as serious as SARS: Canada's Ontario | U.S. | Reuters
 
U.S. declares swine flu public health emergency - Infectious diseases- msnbc.com

excerpt:

CDC officials said they don’t yet have basic information about how the virus spreads, including how many cases each primary case might create, or how long it might take for them to be infected. However, agency officials believe the virus is spreading person-to-person. In the U.S., all the patients have recovered and only one patient was hospitalized.

Besser said he still can’t say why cases in U.S. are so much milder than the deadly cases in Mexico. There, the disease has killed up to 86 people and likely sickened nearly 1,400 since April 13.

“The real important take away is that we have an outbreak of a new infectious disease that we’re addressing aggressively,” Besser said.​
 
Apparently, (no surprise really), I heard today that Tamiflu works on this virus.
They did lose a lot when the avian flu didn't pan out, so it would not surprise me to find out that this virus is not accidental.
I am to the point now where I assume that the rulers are guilty until they have proven themselves innocent.
 
It's interesting to see how much "calming" language there is in the press, focusing on the ability to treat this successfully with anti-viral drugs, of which we have a big stockpile.

Interesting, because you would expect this to be one the government's first messages in the face of a threatened pandemic, just to calm people's fears, rather than because there was any truth in it.

Anyone watch the BBC's Survivors? Same government message at the start, and upheld until there were no newscasters left alive to broadcast the assurance.
 
shawn said:
Apparently, (no surprise really), I heard today that Tamiflu works on this virus.
They did lose a lot when the avian flu didn't pan out, so it would not surprise me to find out that this virus is not accidental.
I am to the point now where I assume that the rulers are guilty until they have proven themselves innocent.
Click to expand...


Not an unreasonable position by any means.
 
I said:
One of the key points about Spanish flu was that healthy people are more likely to die from it,
Click to expand...

lulz! I'm cool then, that's all that matters lol.

We always talking about "healthy" people here... No immune systems... Take the quick and easy ways, make their bodies weak and they crumble with low tolerance to what this world throws at them.... I am rarely ill..... Very rarley... Like a shark! Like the son of satan! Well... Not totally true I am "ill" a minimum of 4 weeks every working year.... heh....
 
It would be interesting to know what these allegedly healthy people were eating/drinking prior to getting ill.
Maybe they are putting their special virus precursor into the recreational cocaine, hmmm?
Maybe it is something added to the food or beverage.

I don't trust the big pharma/monsanto/ etc.
Any pandemic will be of their devising.
 
Swine flu is believed to have claimed almost 150 lives in Mexico and Britons are being advised to consider leaving.

Consider leaving? And going where? Here? Stay there! I'd just shut my borders ;/ No one welcome.....

So how come only deaths in Mexico? Well that is all I can see so far looking at this BBC news chart.
 
Alex P said:
Shawn... Your aluminium hat is wonky..... heh.

Been 2 cases in Scotland now... Swine flu.... Interesting name.
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Lol....you linking swine and Scotland? Have you read animal farm.... is Gordon Brown top pig?
 
I said:
It's interesting to see how much "calming" language there is in the press, focusing on the ability to treat this successfully with anti-viral drugs, of which we have a big stockpile.

Interesting, because you would expect this to be one the government's first messages in the face of a threatened pandemic, just to calm people's fears, rather than because there was any truth in it.

Anyone watch the BBC's Survivors? Same government message at the start, and upheld until there were no newscasters left alive to broadcast the assurance.
Click to expand...


No its not one of those. The mortality rate for this strain is too low. Compared to something like the Avian Flu, which kills 50% of the people it infects, this kills less than 10%.

So if/when Avian flu learns to copy itself from human-to-human, that's when you will have a real pandemic. Do the math: 6.7 Billion - 50% = ...
 
oh my...splain it lucy.. Israel confirms first case of swine flu | JTA - Jewish & Israel News
Meanwhile, Israel's Deputy Health Minister Yakov Litzman, a fervently Orthodox Jew, during a news conference Monday to update the public on developments regarding the virus in Israel, said that Israel will use the term "Mexican flu" rather than "swine flu" to refer to the virus. Swine, or pigs, are not kosher.
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If I am reading into this correctly. The orthodox concern is that if someone were to die from 'swine flu' it would be a sin, but if they die from 'mexican flu' it is kosher?

It all reminds me of my friends who were raised Catholic and have moved on and their parents hound them because they are living in sin, have b*st*rd children because they married in a church other than the Catholic church and their children are going to hell not only because of that but they haven't taken them in for the sprinkling.

Yes, we do have a pandemic, but it isn't the flu, but it does cause a fever and affect our ability to think clearly.
 
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wil said:
oh my...splain it lucy.. Israel confirms first case of swine flu | JTA - Jewish & Israel NewsIf I am reading into this correctly. The orthodox concern is that if someone were to die from 'swine flu' it would be a sin, but if they die from 'mexican flu' it is kosher?

It all reminds me of my friends who were raised Catholic and have moved on and their parents hound them because they are living in sin, have b*st*rd children because they married in a church other than the Catholic church and their children are going to hell not only because of that but they haven't taken them in for the sprinkling.

Yes, we do have a pandemic, but it isn't the flu, but it does cause a fever and affect our ability to think clearly.
Click to expand...

ROFL:D If you don't run down and get sprinkled in the holyfsh, then your swine flu is your punishment by the god.
 
shawn said:
It would be interesting to know what these allegedly healthy people were eating/drinking prior to getting ill.
Maybe they are putting their special virus precursor into the recreational cocaine, hmmm?
Maybe it is something added to the food or beverage.

I don't trust the big pharma/monsanto/ etc.
Any pandemic will be of their devising.
Click to expand...

Here is an interesting thought from Tom Philpott, a blogger and food editor for Grist:

Is Smithfield Foods, the world's largest pork packer and hog producer, linked to the outbreak? Smithfield operates massive hog-raising operations Perote, Mexico, in the state of Vera Cruz, where the outbreak originated. The operations, grouped under a Smithfield subsidiary called Granjas Carroll, raise 950,000 hogs per year, according to the company Web site.

Residents [of Perote] believed the outbreak had been caused by contamination from pig breeding farms located in the area. They believed that the farms, operated by Granjas Carroll, polluted the atmosphere and local water bodies, which in turn led to the disease outbreak. According to residents, the company denied responsibility for the outbreak and attributed the cases to "flu." However, a municipal health official stated that preliminary investigations indicated that the disease vector was a type of fly that reproduces in pig waste and that the outbreak was linked to the pig farms.

According to one community resident, the organic and fecal waste produced by Granjas Carrol isn't adequately treated, creating water and air pollution in the region. Like their counterparts who live in CAFO-heavy U.S. areas, they also complain of respiratory ailments. Now, with 30 percent of the area's residents now infected with the virulent flu bug, people are demanding that state and federal authorities inspect hog operations there.

Original article can be found here:
Swine-flu outbreak could be linked to Smithfield factory farms | Grist

An update can be found here:
http://www.grist.org/article/2009-04-28-more-smithfield-swine/
 
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