Bird Flu

[capcom_suicide]

In the world dominated by economics, it's a shame we can't buy Relenza/Tamiflu ourselves. If the budget can't find the extra £50, then i'll chip in to provide for my family...

Just doesn't work like that.

I wonder how many pharacists/docs have bought provisions for their own family?....

I guess it's just to hope for the best, or pray if you are so inclined.

PS. Reports of 1 case in Norway so far. It's also hit Denmark.

[Dogg Thang]

Of course, most definitions of epidemic would also include it being widespread. Pandemic is just an upgraded version that journalists, on one of their annual conferences, decided they'd use instead.

In five years, I'm guessing it will be upgraded again. Globademic. Unidemic. Something like that.

[Robster]

The use of pandemic is appropiate here, its spans acorss the america's continent and has spread round the world.
click

[NW2013]

If you get severe swine flu what is it that actually kills you? Presumably not a sore throat and runny nose!

[Paulos G]

(Image from a Twilight Zone episode - pinched from Tumblr).

[Stormtec]

Of course, most definitions of epidemic would also include it being widespread. Pandemic is just an upgraded version that journalists, on one of their annual conferences, decided they'd use instead.

In five years, I'm guessing it will be upgraded again. Globademic. Unidemic. Something like that.

Pandemic isn't a media-created scare-word at all. It's actually used as a medical term to describe a disease that is widespread across an extremely large area (like, the world, or an entire country). Normal influenza is also described as being a disease pandemic throughout most of the world (actually, I just realised I only repeated what was in Geo-V6's link XD).

If anyone is curious about the whole swine flu thing, they should probably visit the World Health Organisation website.

[capcom_suicide]

In the world dominated by economics, it's a shame we can't buy Relenza/Tamiflu ourselves. If the budget can't find the extra ?50, then i'll chip in to provide for my family...

Just doesn't work like that.

I wonder how many pharacists/docs have bought provisions for their own family?....

http://www.aftenposten.no/nyheter/iriks/article3051046.ece

Loads it seems! Even dentists in Norway are trying to buy cases of Tamiflu, and doctors have been buying up all the stocks for their family.

Just like I said, if you had access and wanted to protect your family you would.

Now the sick may end up not getting the medicine, becuase the doctors & dentists have bought up all the stock.

Excellent.

[abigsmurf]

If you get severe swine flu what is it that actually kills you? Presumably not a sore throat and runny nose!

The flu itself doesn't kill you directly. You get pneumonia from an over-active immune response. From what I gather, it's not an especially virilant strain of flu, it's just there's next to no background immunity to it and current vaccines aren't effective.

I'd just like to add...

WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!!!! PANIC!!!

[Ginger Tosser]

Saw this on twitter today: BREAKING NEWS - Swine Flu apathy is now category 5 in the UK... which is very close to "couldn't give a ****" - be warned!

[Ginger Tosser]

Get yourself a bow and arrows, crossbow and bolts. Unlike bullets they can be re-used.

True, but with a gun and collapsed society I can relive the fun I once had when playing Soldier of Fortune on my PC.

[Stormtec]

Well. Swine Flu is a a type of Influenza A virus, which is human flu. And we're all pretty used to that here in the developed Western countries. I currently can't see it being that much of a problem here, to be honest.

I had a chat with the other biomed scientists in the lab I work at today and they tell me that the weird thing is that only people in their 30s seem to have caught it. Now, normally, if a virus was happily potent in humans then the elderly and the very young would be hit more but apparently they've remained relatively untouched. One of them wondered whether it was because it was mainly the people working closely with pigs that were falling ill, and that leads him to believe perhaps you need a large infective dose in a short period of time for it to actually be a big problem. That is not to say a smaller dose doesn't infect you, just that maybe your immune system can handle it without too much trouble. And Mexico isn't exactly a particularly rich country to being with, so sanitisation probably isn't that great and most of the population probably haven't been vaccinated to any kind of degree.

Going with the high infective dose idea, perhaps the people who have brought it back have simply fallen ill due to prolonged exposure to an environment where the virus is constantly being transmitted i.e. parts of Mexico?

All just theorising, really. I guess we'll just have to wait and see. Personally, I can't see it being much of a problem given what we're seeing now.

[usman]

.....

[yesteryeargames]

ive been playing left for dead allot recently, so ill know how to survive if **** breaks out, i will buy supplies, seal myself in my room and see it out with games,

anyway, i hope not too many more people die from it, but any death is too many saying that,

[Richard.John]

Time to stock up on med kits, pain pills and and an assortment of weapons then. On a more serious note, Japan is 'free' so far but no doubt it's here. The Japanese are notorious for their sheep like mindset so I expect it will become impossible to buy a mask and clinics will be packed with people trying to trick their doctors into prescribing tamiflu, for no reason, just so they can take it if it hits big time.

[Darwock]

I'm getting the reports that it has hit Korea, so no doubt they will soon be sending it to Japan in their missiles.