What worries me most is the age group that appears vulnerable, young adult and middle aged, significantly different than normal flus .
That is eerily similar to the 1918 pandemic.
I dunno, the girls’ hairstyles were pretty sexy.
BTW–I’m the only person not panicking about this.
Odd.
Does that mean that this really is the big one?:smack:
Worth noting.
Perhaps there is no reason yet for the average person to freak out but it’s never a bad idea to have a few weeks worth of emergency food stockpiled–like basic beans and oils and dried stuff–in case of a natural disaster or pandemic. Here is a decent website with suggestions on what one would need in such an event.
Well, I certainly wouldn’t travel to Mexico anytime soon.
Looks like they’ve confirmed cases among a group of students in New Zealand and are looking at possible cases in France and Israel…
Which appears to mean that it is transmissable by air, rather than by food or water. That’s not good. WWII was kinda loud, Salma Hyeck is sorta hot, and thats not good.
Sorta hot?
She is smoldering sex in a hot Latina package!
Here’s a Google Map that keeps track of all references to the Swine Flu.
As of this morning, the CDC has confirmed another case- this time in Ohio.
:dubious: Aren’t all varieties of influenza transmissible by air?
Nothing is more gratifying to the ego than to be able to answer a difficult question immediately, and without hesitation! I don’t know.
I just saw on one of the news feeds that some countries are banning imports of pork. Now I would understand an import on pigs, but is influenza transmissible in food products? I always though it was spread by contact or aerosol transmission. In other words, is this legitimate or an hysterical reaction?
Shibb, trying to fight his own ignorance
According to this, no.
If we stretch the point a bit, you might say that sneezed droplets are “air borne”, but I was thnking more along the lines of a virus that survives in the open air, and floats about looking to cause some mischief.
Cancun has to just love this.
It seems significant to me that the people who have died have been in Mexico (exclusively, at this point), and that this has apparently been going on there for a month and we’re only hearing it breaking the news now.
What’s the deal with the news reporting ‘200 kids sick at Queen’s school!!!’ and then the actual news is that 8 kids tested positive for swine flu? Is it mass hysteria or just some other bug at the same time?
I hate manipulative health-news reporting more than anything…
Is there any evidence that the cases of this flu were not transmitted by airborne droplets? The students in New Zealand (and some teachers, too) had recently been in Mexico and were exposed there.
Certainly. There are cases of flu that is non-transmittable via any kind of human to human interaction (i.e. they went from some other animal to human but then weren’t transmittable to other humans). There are also non-aerosol variants of the flu. My understanding is that the worst strain is the type A aerosol variety…that’s the one that caused the 1918 and the one in 1958 (IIRC) and during the 60’s. Very nasty.
Of course, even the common variety flu that people dismiss every year (and don’t bother getting their flu shots for) is pretty deadly…much more so that folks seem to realize.
-XT
“Airborne transmission” means that it stays infectious in the air for a prolonged period of time and distance. Examples include measles and chicken pox.
“Droplets” means that they fall out of the air fairly quickly. Influenza and whooping cough are droplet transmission. That’s why “close contact” to a case of swine flu - is defined as being within 6 feet by the CDC.
I am viewing this as a great test run for our systems, sort of like a fire drill. The odds are remote that this particular flu will cause a pandemic, but one of these times one will … unless we are very skillful at containing each pretender to the pandemic throne quickly as they show. It is nice to have plans but even better to have had to run through them a few times and work out the problems. Maybe this episode will demonstrate where the systems need improvements and motivate improved readiness.
I think I didn’t word that very clearly. What I was responding to was elucidator’s speculation that this flu might be transmitted “in the air” vs. via airborne droplets or direct contact. He thought maybe the cases in NZ illustrated this. I was just bringing up that the NZ kids had been in Mexico, so they probably did contract it through direct exposure. So, my questions about if there is “any evidence that the cases of this flu were not transmitted by airborne droplets” was meant to be in contrast to eludicator’s theory about this particular flu.
Og, I love this place!
Agreed. About four years ago I caught the “regular” flu… and spent five days shivering in bed. That’s the only time I’ve *wanted *to die- it was the most miserable experience of my life. Just walking to the kitchen for more soup was agony.
Considering how much more easily flu can spread than AIDS, and how much faster it kills, yes.