My company has a plant in Guangzho, China. My former manager has visited the plant. You shouldn’t be surprised at how rapidly germs spread. That’s a definite downside of globalization and a great transportation system. There’s no such thing as containment anymore.
I think I’ll stock up on Relenza, the antiviral which knocks out influenza B.
There’s not enough information out on this to really make a call on how dangerous it is.
It would be ncie if they released information about what the actual cause of death was.
There is quite a large difference in availability of treatment for 300 people dying in a fairly rural area of china compared to people in modern industrialized nations.
Qadgop: lets hope the viral proteins that Relenza inhibits haven’t mutated in this strain.
Time to catch up on PNAS 
Who is Randall Flagg?
And man oh man, I’m paranoid about the flu. I caught it in England when we went there for Christmas/New years in '99/'00. I NEVER want to have a flu again. (there were a few moments where I had serious worries for my life,and I am far from a hypochondriac):eek:
Well, sounds like it’s made its way to the good old U. S. of A.
Passenger on New York flight
Unlike Miss Gretchen, I am a hypochondriac - well, I panic anyways. I am currently fighting a sinus infection, so of course I am now convinced that I have the new super-flu.
I always like to be first with a trend! 
It’s a reference to Stephen King’s The Stand, where a superflu wipes out 99% of the world’s population.
Yikes. And here I am with a head-cold, the first time I’ve had even a sniffle in six years. It seems to bear no flu symptoms, thank heaven, but I’ll watch out for them. I’m just stuffy and sleepy and slightly dopey.
Okay, now I’m paranoid. Potter has some kind of bronchial thing right now. :eek: :worry:worry:worry:
I’m a little worried about this because I’m traveling next week. Through London Heathrow, Gatwick, Dublin Airport…
I don’t know how worried I should be, I hope my trip isn’t cancelled.
From this story on Yahoo…
[sub]eeep![/sub]
It’s interesting how quickly something like this spreads around the world these days.
There are a few nervous types walking around wearing face masks here.
From what I’ve heard from the top health official of our government and some other sources:
- It’s not so contagious that it’s floating around in the street. It’s probably transmitted via “droplets” (ie someone sneezing near you). This is why most victims are hospital staff and family
- It’s possibly most contagious at the early stages, ie victims are at their most infectious before they get really sick
- It’s probably a new or mutated form of virus, though they still haven’t a clue. If it is a bacteria it’s unfazed by antibiotics
- There’s no cure of any sort so far
If I had to bet money on it, I would have little hesitation in guessing that this originated in Southern China (which had an outbreak of something that sounds similar a few weeks back).
I’m “sure” it’s a virus. Although its pulmonary complications are the ones that lead to death, the associated symptoms are those of a typical viral illness (myalagias, rash, and diarrhea). Further, it seems quite reminiscent of other severe respiratory viruses such as Hantavirus (See here) or even influenza itself.
We admitted our first case a few days ago. Spooky. Two of the patient’s family members are already dead.
NPR was also reporting on this today, with additional confirmation that neither antibiotics nor antivirals seem to have any effect on the disease, whatever it is. No word on specific cause of death, though.
They said to report to health authorities any similar-sounding illnesses involving fever, breathing difficulties, and I can’t remember the third symptom right now (I was listening in my car and ran into heavy traffic just then and got distracted), especially if you’ve been in Asia recently or been in contact with someone who has.
Medical types: is there any point in getting a flu shot now, since I assume it wouldn’t have been designed for this strain? I never have, because I never get the flu, but as an asthmatic I’m in a heightened risk group. I’m just thinking of my great-grandfather, who died in the 1918 epidemic.
WHO emergency travel advisory
CDC press release
Sorry, folks, I was going to write a longer post, but I’m about to go to sleep while I’m typing this - long, exciting day - and I probably wouldn’t make much sense. Good night or morning or whatever it is - I’m off to bed.
My understanding, and bear in mind that I am by NO MEANS a qualified medical professional, however it’s my understanding that “airosol borne viruses” are traditionally easily killed by strong sunlight - which is why most flus manifest themselves in low light conditions.
This is not to say that you are 100% safe in a sunny country, merely that the ability to “transfer” such a disease is much harder by many orders of magnitude.
I wonder, has research ever been done into killing “airosol borne viruses and bacterial microbes” with strong amounts of artificial sunlight - that is, oodles of ultra violet lights etc in hostpitals?
Yes, UV has been used in sterilization processes.
Of course, there’s a limit to how much UV you can expose people to without harming them as well.
Don’t forget folks - WASH YOUR HANDS. It’s the easiest and cheapest way to cut your risk of infection.
Meanwhile, try not to panic and if you feel icky see a doctor.
QUOTE: [[I think flu vaccine is one of the wonder drugs of our lifetime. I have been taking it since it became available. I rarely have colds anymore and when they occur I’m symptomatic for about 6 hours maximum. Herpes outbreaks have also been extremely rare. No studies have been done that I’m aware of related to decreases of other viral infections related to flu vaccine use, but this is definitely true for me.]]
Flu shots are very specific. That’s why new ones are available every year - because they prevent the specific variation of flu that is circulating that year. A flu shot does not protect you against any other viral or bacterial illness, including other strains of flu.
You can believe that there is an intense epidemiological response to this bug. I am happy to hear that it is apparently not a bird virus. We’ll most likely know very soon exactly what it is and hopefully how to control it.
In the meantime, wear your seatbelt when you ride in cars. That’s probably your biggest danger when you travel overseas - automobile accidents.
Jill
BTW, it’s spelled aerosol.
NPR just announced that China thinks its the same disease which struck one of their provinces back in November. They don’t have any treatment options, but from the way they were talking, the disease seems to have “burned itself out” in that province pretty rapidly.