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[Kifimbo]

For someone who demands to see meltdowns, you sure have a lot of them yourself. If you bothered to check my posts in this topic, you would have seen that every one has been poking fun at the whole thing.

He has a point though.

People like to act jokish about this... but this is pretty serious I think. It could go away... but it could also not...

Jesus christ... most epic fucking Sunday of my life tomorrow.

What doesn't make any sense to me is why the fuck planes are still traveling in and out of Mexico...

yeah this looks really bleak...

I just don't see how this isn't going to start spreading...

YES...

I understand it isn't that bad now... but jesus christ stop ANY CHANCE OF IT GETTING WORSE! FFS

Man... I live right in Manhattan... I feel so fucked right now. Feel like I am turning into one of those crazy cases who eventually locks themselves inside never to see the light of day again.

I am...

This worries me though... cause perhaps the reason why it hasn't killed anyone is because no one between 20-40 has gotten it here yet. I mean I have read many reports saying how it is only 20-40 year...

I still think shutting down air traffic till this is resolved is the best idea.

Yeah... call me insane.. but I live in the heart of Manhattan and have been taking a lot of precautions... decided to pretty much stay in today and just see where this thing goes. I figure better...

I haven't had a flu since I was like five years old I think... and atm I am feeling a little warm body wise...

Yeah... but I do feel like I could be getting sick. Probably all psychological though...

that quote man scared the shit out of me... I would really like to know if its accurate at all...

I really hope we have seen the worst of whatever is happening... I NEED SOME POSITIVITY!

They should have fucking shut down air traffic to Mexico... I just don't understand why the WTO would allow people to move in and out of a city which probably has thousands of cases of swine flu......

Yeah... I feel bad for anyone working retail in New York city right now.

People who don't take this seriously are the ones who piss me off the most. Its okay if you think everything will be fine.. but this is a serious issue... so its essential everyone washes their hands...

I hope you won't be.. but I think you will be eating these words sometime later this week.

He's an hypochondriac and he lives in fear. I'm almost wondering if he's not joking since day 1.

 

[Karma Kramer]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30439999/

Really great article... this part was really interesting... and scary...

As for the incubation period, from the cases in the United States and even Mexico, the incubation period from the time of exposure to the onset of symptoms seems to be three to four days. They originally thought it was less, but have since determined it is three to four days.

So now you could have the virus but not show any signs of it till 3 or 4 days later.

edit:

lol

you really needed to point out that I am worried about the potential for this to turn into a pandemic? Really?

 

[Nolan.]

I don't know why people have it in their heads that pandemics can't happen. It's not certain to be happening now... but unless you know quite a bit more about virology, epidemiology, and conditions on the ground in Mexico, New Zealand, New York, and other possible places the virus has spread than the typical internet jockey I don't know how you can say for certain this isn't a potential pandemic. There is room for doubt.

I think mainly because of how effective quarantine methods seem to be a lot of people are fairly certain it won't amount to much outside of Mexico.

 

[Lakitu]

He has a point though.



He's an hypochondriac and he lives in fear. I'm almost wondering if he's not joking since day 1.

I am a hypochondriac too. Hypochondriac's are not hypochondriac's by choice.

If you or him feel that this is being blown out of proportion then fair enough, but being oblivious to it is stupid. Same people take it further than others.

 

[titiklabingapat]

I'm stocking up on masks then sell them on ebay. Lol.

Seriously though, anyone have any recommendations on what mask to buy? Will your regular over the nose and mouth grocery mask suffice? I want to have a box or two just in case. Just in case.

 

[Flesh Into Gear]

stressing out isnt very good for your immune system. seriously guys, try to relax

 

[Yixian]

It's pretty irritating that this thread has split into hypochondriacs and the equally annoying... hyperchondriacs.

Not enough is known at this exact moment to say either way whether this will lead to a pandemic. It's roughly 50/50, maybe 60/40 in favor of a pandemic, but we can't predict just how deadly it will be even if it does become one.

Give it a couple of days and the picture will become a hell of a lot clearer.

 

[Wizman23]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30439999/

Really great article... this part was really interesting... and scary...



So now you could have the virus but not show any signs of it till 3 or 4 days later.

The media just LOVES YOU.

Let me ask you a question.....Were you in a fallout shelter on December 31st 1999??

 

[Suikoguy]

The media just LOVES YOU.

Let me ask you a question.....Were you in a fallout shelter on December 31st 1999??

Wow, what a stupid comparison

 

[Karma Kramer]

The media just LOVES YOU.

Let me ask you a question.....Were you in a fallout shelter on December 31st 1999??

No... this is pretty much the only time I have ever feared for my life. and I am being completely honest.

Something about this thing just has me very scared. Logically I am over-reacting... I know that... but it doesn't mean that the current situation isn't serious.

 

[Raistlin]

lulz ... just received an e-mail from Corporate ... regarding swine flu.

 

[Wes]

Wow, what a stupid comparison

They're both bugs!

 

[Sibylus]

stressing out isnt very good for your immune system. seriously guys, try to relax

Relaxing will let the disease manifest unchecked! He has it too!

 

[Ding]

wasnt the 1918 flu mostly because people were generally less healthy because of the war?

I don't think that's a widely held belief. The Spanish flu was hell on healthy people. It started in Kansas. (We think.) The war hadn't affected those people's health in any dramatic way. The same goes for countries like China and India. They weren't at war, and yet they died in their countless millions.

It is speculated that the war helped the virus spread more quickly. Back then, normal people didn't travel much. But if one soldier gets sick, and then infects his whole barracks, and then his whole barracks heads home for a 2-day leave, well you can see how that would suck. Traveling American soldiers probably helped infect Europe right away as well. But, the disease was able to spread to plenty of other places without any help from the military. Just like every other human flu does. WWI may have just sped the process up by a month or two.

Modern air travel, coupled with a far more crowded planet, will "help" any future pandemic far more than WWI helped in 1918.

 

[KRS7]

I'm stocking up on masks then sell them on ebay. Lol.

Seriously though, anyone have any recommendations on what mask to buy? Will your regular over the nose and mouth grocery mask suffice? I want to have a box or two just in case. Just in case.

I wouldn't wear a mask unless you are in Mexico or something. Or unless it gets that bad here. N95 seems to be the CDC standard. Remember that you don't need the mask to be able to capture the incredibly small viruses to be effective. They only need to stop aerosolized droplets from coughing and sneezing.

 

[Plinko]

It needs to be stated that the vast majority of the new confirmed cases in the U.S. are students at the preparatory school in NYC, which is what was expected.

 

[Kifimbo]

If you or him feel that this is being blown out of proportion then fair enough, but being oblivious to it is stupid. Same people take it further than others.

I'm not oblivious to anything. I work for a public health organization in Canada. This morning, I went to work normally and this flu wasn't really a bigger priority than...last Monday. Maybe in our lab they are following this more closely, but otherwise it's business as usual.

As I said before, until we start to see deaths outside of Mexico, there is absolutely no reason to stop living normally.

Maybe it's also because media is acting like the boy who cried wolf with these stories in the last two decades.

 

[Karma Kramer]

It needs to be stated that the vast majority of the new confirmed cases in the U.S. are students at the preparatory school in NYC, which is what was expected.

Whats interesting though is that the incubation period is actually 3-4 days not 1-2... so more cases if they pop up shouldn't really be seen until later today or tomorrow. Perhaps why we haven't seen a lot of new cases... and the cases we have seen have only been from people who went to Mexico a week ago and then got sick around last thursday/friday.

 

[titiklabingapat]

I wouldn't wear a mask unless you are in Mexico or something. Or unless it gets that bad here. N95 seems to be the CDC standard. Remember that you don't need the mask to be able to capture the incredibly small viruses to be effective. They only need to stop aerosolized droplets from coughing and sneezing.

Thanks. I'm not panicking, but I want to be ready in case there is a rush to get them if this thing gets bigger. A big IF, but it's worth spending a few dollars in the long run. I need it to clean kitty litter boxes anyway.

 

[SleazyC]

I saw someone wearing a mask on the train back from work (in Maryland). Sorta amusing but I don't know if I could say the guy was over-reacting.

 

[Yixian]

It sounds rather like there are two waves of this new H1N1 that have occured; the first being non-deadly and the second being deadly. The first might have existed in Mexico around 10 days ago, which has found it's way to the outside world. The second which has existed for the last 5 or 6 days is deadly, contained to Mexico but may follow the first wave to other countries in the next few days.

There's no real reason to believe that this is the case over any other hypothesis as to why there have only been Mexican fatalities, however it is technically possible, the strain may have been altered in order to become both more virulent/communicable and deadly in just a single person and led to the numbers of incidents we have in Mexico today.

That is the worst case scenario, that is what could potentially cause a new Spanish flu scenario if all the current data from Mexico is correct (or underestimated).

Just as likely of course is that treatment in Mexico has been slow and poor and the treatment outside of Mexico is good enough to prevent any deaths at all.

 

[Karma Kramer]

Swine flu vaccine at least six months away - new zealand herald

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10569068

 

[Karma Kramer]

Just as likely of course is that treatment in Mexico has been slow and poor and the treatment outside of Mexico is good enough to prevent any deaths at all.

I really don't know how likely this is considering how small the sample data is outside of Mexico.

 

[Yixian]

I really don't know how likely this is considering how small the sample data is outside of Mexico.

Tbh it does sound fairly unlikely.. The third possibility is that these 150 people that have died in Mexico almost all died of something other than swine flu.

 

[Fragamemnon]

I think that the CDC has confirmed only one strain of swine flu, though. There's been no word that there are two out in the wild, and even then this thing had been killing people in Mexico for weeks.

I think the main problem is that A) this thing does hit younger people the hardest, B) younger people are more likely to "shrug it off" or just take OTC drugs to mitigate the symptoms ( and then dying to the cytokine storm, which OTC drugs don't help with ), and C) there was no information out there to inform people who get the disease to seek treatment proactively and not after the time had elapsed for effective antiviral treatment.

 

[MrHicks]

i wonder how many of these virusses are accidentally released secret bio warfare research ones
considering the budgets military research gets they probably have some crazy bio research labs around

 

[Mike Works]

They're both bugs!

officially renaming this thing to "YdosK" to appease Israel

 

[itsinmyveins]

Swine flu vaccine at least six months away - new zealand herald

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10569068

Hm, I read that here (Scandinavia) it'd take 10-15 weeks to produce and get the vaccine out, since they already know how it looks. Unless it's totally different than before, I guess.

 

[Karma Kramer]

Tbh it does sound fairly unlikely.. The third possibility is that these 150 people that have died in Mexico almost all died of something other than swine flu.

I would think that with all the investigation going on... they would have determined this... from autopsy...

I am sorry btw if I come across as some crazy person... I'll try harder to just get reporting the facts without adding much commentary

--

The fact is this Flu has really been proven only deadly to healthy 20-30-40 year olds... and outside of Mexico there have been very few cases in these age groups.

 

[Yixian]

I think that the CDC has confirmed only one strain of swine flu, though. There's been no word that there are two out in the wild, and even then this thing had been killing people in Mexico for weeks.

Yeah sorry, strain is the wrong word, just some kind of functional mutation in this H1N1 strain that made it more deadly and infectious in the last few days in Mexico that hasn't yet spread.

 

[GSG Flash]

Again, pigs cannot even be infected by this bug, despite its name. (Okay, maybe once in a blue moon a pig could catch this from a human.) The virus gave up its ability to infect pigs around the time it gained the ability to infect humans. Since it's impossible for a pig to be infected, it's doubly impossible for a pig to give it to you.

Here's how this virus was likely "born":

1. A pig catches pig flu. This happens constantly.
2. A human catches human flu. Again, very common.
3. The sick human catches pig flu from the pig. (This is very uncommon. I think it happens to only a few unlucky people every year.)
4. The two viruses are now in the same host. They swap pieces and generally get it on.
5. One of their "children" gains the ability to spread from one human to another. Bam! A new human flu. One that no one has any immunity to.

I've read that the two different flu types actually mixed inside pigs since it's not possible for humans to catch normal pig flu but it is possible for pigs to catch human flu, how it got transmitted to Humans? I have no idea.

 

[itsinmyveins]

Yeah sorry, strain is the wrong word, just some kind of functional mutation in this H1N1 strain that made it more deadly and infectious in the last few days in Mexico that hasn't yet spread.

Oh, by the way, do the ordinary flu medicines work?

 

[KRS7]

i wonder how many of these virusses are accidentally released secret bio warfare research ones
considering the budgets military research gets they probably have some crazy bio research labs around

I don't think that is likely. There are literally billions of people, birds, and pigs that can host and transmit influenza. And as an RNA virus it easily mutates. Nothing in this case suggest bio-warfare.

 

[Ding]

No... this is pretty much the only time I have ever feared for my life. and I am being completely honest.

Something about this thing just has me very scared. Logically I am over-reacting... I know that... but it doesn't mean that the current situation isn't serious.

[NOTE] I meant this to be an encouraging note to KK. It didn't really turn out that way! Oops. Sorry. But seriously dude, cheer up. This is probably nothing. Hopefully.

The situation appears to be serious. (Maybe it's not, though. We can't tell yet.) But there's no reason to panic or become depressed. Even if this turns into 1918 Part Deux, there's only a 1-in-50 chance you yourself will die. Of course, the odds of a friend or family member dying are considerably higher. You'd likely lose neighbors and acquaintances. But, it would be better for everyone if you don't freak out.

I'm less worried about my personal risk of getting sick and dying, and more worried about the possible "side effects" we could see. People being idiots. Breakdowns in society, that sort of thing. Once people realize that there are no respirators left, things will start getting really ugly at the hospitals. Others will decide that this is as good a reason as any for some old fashion looting. And while only a small fraction will die, up to a third of us will get damn sick. For weeks. Those that aren't sick will often be caring for someone who is. "The schools are closed, who are going to watch my kids?" Huge absenteeism. It may not be possible to keep the doors open at many businesses.

The 1918 pandemic has been compared to a small "manageable" local disaster, (tornado, flood, wildfire, etc.) but expanded worldwide. It not that big a deal locally, some damage, a few deaths, maybe a small "civil disturbance", but nothing earth shattering.... until you realize that no one from the outside is coming to help. Everybody else is dealing with the same damn thing. Doctors in the next county aren't going to be coming to help in yours. The National Guard dude is going to want stay home with his deathly ill father instead of reporting for duty. People could be on their own in ways that they are very unused to.

And yes, the 24-hour news cycle will be an interesting new factor. This could be the first televised pandemic. I expect it to be fascinating, but not very useful.

 

[Xirj]

The fact is this Flu has really been proven only deadly to healthy 20-30-40 year olds... and outside of Mexico there have been very few cases in these age groups.

The whole younger people may be because they haven't been as exposed to H1N1 flus whereas the older you get the more you have accumulated. Maybe previously exposed people have a slight resistance to it, enough so that they can build antibodies without the viral load becoming too great.

Maybe something similar to the russian flu.

 

[Yixian]

Oh, by the way, do the ordinary flu medicines work?

Like over the counter stuff? That just relieves symptoms, it's not a cure.

The old flu antivirals do work on this strain however, which is really good news. If they didn't then the world would be a different place today already :lol

 

[Karma Kramer]

[NOTE] I meant this to be an encouraging note to KK. It didn't really turn out that way! Oops. Sorry. But seriously dude, cheer up. This is probably nothing. Hopefully.

The situation appears to be serious. (Maybe it's not, though. We can't tell yet.) But there's no reason to panic or become depressed. Even if this turns into 1918 Part Deux, there's only a 1-in-50 chance you yourself will die. Of course, the odds of a friend or family member dying are considerably higher. You'd likely lose neighbors and acquaintances. But, it would be better for everyone if you don't freak out.

I'm less worried about my personal risk of getting sick and dying, and more worried about the possible "side effects" we could see. People being idiots. Breakdowns in society, that sort of thing. Once people realize that there are no respirators left, things will start getting really ugly at the hospitals. Others will decide that this is as good a reason as any for some old fashion looting. And while only a small fraction will die, up to a third of us will get damn sick. For weeks. Those that aren't sick will often be caring for someone who is. "The schools are closed, who are going to watch my kids?" Huge absenteeism. It may not be possible to keep the doors open at many businesses.

The 1918 pandemic has been compared to a small "manageable" local disaster, (tornado, flood, wildfire, etc.) but expanded worldwide. It not that big a deal locally, some damage, a few deaths, maybe a small "civil disturbance", but nothing earth shattering.... until you realize that no one from the outside is coming to help. Everybody else is dealing with the same damn thing. Doctors in the next county aren't going to be coming to help in yours. The National Guard dude is going to want stay home with his deathly ill father instead of reporting for duty. People could be on their own in ways that they are very unused to.

And yes, the 24-hour news cycle will be an interesting new factor. This could be the first televised pandemic. I expect it to be fascinating, but not very useful.

Thanks man

You make excellent points.

 

[itsinmyveins]

Like over the counter stuff? That just relieves symptoms, it's not a cure.

The old flu antivirals do work on this strain however, which is really good news. If they didn't then the world would be a different place today already :lol

I meant the old ones, like tamiflu. Don't most developed countries have a stash of it just in case of a pandemic?

 

[Tritroid]

I hope you won't be.. but I think you will be eating these words sometime later this week.

Ugh, you have no way of actually knowing that. Get a fucking grip.

 

[Yixian]

I meant the old ones, like tamiflu. Don't most developed countries have a stash of it just in case of a pandemic?

Yeah and it works well thankfully, best news there is.

 

[panda21]

i wonder would this fuck up infrastructure at all

like if it starts looking bad i'd just go buy a tonne of food and stay home for a few weeks.. which would be fine so long as the water, electricity and gas kept going

 

[Karma Kramer]

3 new confirmed in Texas

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/6395297.html

 

[Ding]

I've read that the two different flu types actually mixed inside pigs since it's not possible for humans to catch normal pig flu but it is possible for pigs to catch human flu, how it got transmitted to Humans? I have no idea.

But it is possible for humans to catch the "pig version" of a flu. It's just quite difficult and rare. I think I read that there have been 12 (known) cases of this happening in the US, in the last 6 years or so.

Yeah, from the CDC site:

Swine Flu in Humans

Can humans catch swine flu?
Swine flu viruses do not normally infect humans. However, sporadic human infections with swine flu have occurred. Most commonly, these cases occur in persons with direct exposure to pigs (e.g. children near pigs at a fair or workers in the swine industry). In addition, there have been documented cases of one person spreading swine flu to others. For example, an outbreak of apparent swine flu infection in pigs in Wisconsin in 1988 resulted in multiple human infections, and, although no community outbreak resulted, there was antibody evidence of virus transmission from the patient to health care workers who had close contact with the patient.

How common is swine flu infection in humans?
In the past, CDC received reports of approximately one human swine influenza virus infection every one to two years in the U.S., but from December 2005 through February 2009, 12 cases of human infection with swine influenza have been reported.​

So, yeah. Difficult but possible.

 

[Dimmuxx]

1 confirmed in Korea.

http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/national/2009/04/28/91/0301000000AEN20090428000700315F.HTML

 

[evil solrac v3.0]

LOL, an E-mail sent out from our London office, and they have as the top story in our intranet. LOL.

 

[Fragamemnon]

Suspected cases in N.C., but no confirmation as to where (here's a guess-any university town) the suspected cases are.

http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/5034385/

If push comes to shove, hijack a truck of Relenza leaving from the GSK plant in Zebulon.

 

[GriffD17]

No disrespect to you Karma, but whenever I see that blinking avatar, I automatically get nervous now. I'm in Iowa, I don't believe there are any cases here and I haven't seen one person with a surgical mask on. The local radio show here was kind of making a big deal out of it though.

I'm just going to cross my fingers and hope for the best.

 

[panda21]

Suspected cases in N.C., but no confirmation as to where (here's a guess-any university town) the suspected cases are.

http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/5034385/

If push comes to shove, hijack a truck of Relenza leaving from the GSK plant in Zebulon.

Zebulon? where do you live, Mars?

 

[Kifimbo]

This is probably old, but I think it's pretty funny considering what is going on.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASibLqwVbsk

 

[Pimpwerx]

I'm starting to feel sick. I don't think it's swine flu, but just in case, I'm going to the mall to infect as many others as I can. I'm not dying alone. PEACE.