Swine Flu

[simon275]

Has everybody heard the news about Swine flu? http://www.reuters.com/article/newsO...53P1TK20090426 It has killed like 80 people in Mexico and has spread to the US and Canada. They also think it might be in France and New Zealand. I hope everybody stays safe. Also maybe thinking about getting some surgical style masks to wear if you are in a environment with lots of people such as public transport or retail.

Here is a good FAQ http://www.smh.com.au/world/global-a...0427-ajjo.html

[crenn]

4 suspected cases in Australia. My sisters are flu magnets.... hope they don't get it.

[simon275]

An excuse to banish you sisters from infront of the tv in the name of quarantine measures.

[DaJe]

Closest it's come to me so far is New York I think. I think there are like, 2 people who are suspected of having it here in Massachusetts, but I'm not sure. This all partially worries me because in a few days, I have a flight across the country, and will be traveling through big crowded international airports as well as other parts of the country where there could be more infected people. It's not the most concerning thing however.

[cvitullo]

This is going to be exactly like Bird flu and every other health scare, nothing's really going to come of it. Stats I found say that 152 people have died, and there have been ~3000 possible cases of it. That's a pretty low mortality rate imo. Also, there are only 200+ people in New York that *might* have it, the odds you'll catch it from them/something they touched are pretty low. Only 57 confirmed cases of it in the entire US.

Sorry, it bugs me when there's some new disease scare. It's always just scare tactics on the part of the media.

[gaz_the_chav]

But to be fair bird flu was very serious its just the media did not actually hype it up that much. My mum is an area manager in the NHS and bird flu was serious around all areas but never in the end developed to be much. Swine flu though is potentially going to be a bigger problem becuase of how fast it is spreading. There is also big problems in the UK now as the World Health Influenza centre has said "it is inevitable someone in the UK will die from swine fever". Now that kind of statement is going to cause panic to everyone!

I think TBH as long as everyone is sensible there shouldent really be a problem but then again when you have statements like 'We're in the decisive moment of the crisis. The number of deaths will continue rising.' from your health minister (mexico's) it doesn't look that promising.

-gaz

[cvitullo]

Yeah, sensibility's good. People aren't sensible though, that's why there's always mass panic about diseases. I mean, I can think of three offhand that were supposed to be horrific and kill everyone. SARS, Avian flu and the West Nile virus. Hell, I remember they didn't allow Asian food at my school's multicultural thing when SARS was the big disease.
I'm not saying they didn't kill people, but all of them were so hyped up that people were terrified, and most people had no reason to worry.

[SXRguyinMA]

Closest it's come to me so far is New York I think. I think there are like, 2 people who are suspected of having it here in Massachusetts, but I'm not sure. This all partially worries me because in a few days, I have a flight across the country, and will be traveling through big crowded international airports as well as other parts of the country where there could be more infected people. It's not the most concerning thing however.

really? I havent heard of anyone here in MA having it yet

[Xpirate]

One of my co-workers is on vacation in Puerto Vallarta. I guess congress can not legislate intelligence.

[DaJe]

really? I havent heard of anyone here in MA having it yet

I heard of two suspected cases in Lowell I believe. It could be people who are just regularly sick, with similar symptoms. It was like, two students who got back from a trip to Mexico I think. So yeah, nothing confirmed yet, just something I heard.