Swine Flu pandemic

[Sureshot]

So in this whole furore, anyone like to guess how many will die from normal flu today in the UK?

8. Where's the pandemic?

 

[Biggy]

I have a fever..was sick all day at work, it sucked. I haven't been handling Pigs though, or Mexicans! So I'm OK. :

 

[jordox]

8. Where's the pandemic?

Only 8 people die every day in the UK from the flu surely because of our immune systems, which are fairly good combatants against it. The new strands of it are the problem.

The pandemic doesn't exist, but there is strong potential of it becoming one if no one did anything.

Around the 1920s a similar thing broke out (similar in the fact that it could kill young adults and it was a new strand of the flu), and it ended up killing 50 million. Of course, we have come a long way in medicine since then but I don't really blame the WHO for causing a fuss over this. It's better to be over cautious (which I think people are being) than to be arrogant and under cautious, leading to deaths which easily could have been prevented otherwise (even if they are only the deaths of old, undernourished people )

 

[Kev]

Only 8 people die every year in the UK from the flu

Thats 8 people per day, not per year. Normal seasonal flu kills around 40000 people a year in the UK. Nobody is scared of that.

 

[Skater]

Just seen the swine flu ad. Telling us everything we know we should do - sneeze into a tissue, bin the tissue and wash hands as soon as possible. Applicable to all flu, and the common cold!

 

[jordox]

Thats 8 people per day, not per year. Normal seasonal flu kills around 40000 people a year in the UK. Nobody is scared of that.

Yeah, I was aware. It was a typo.

Nobody is scared of that because it isn't something new. This swine flu is out of season and is a completely new strand, which has only recently fully gone into the stage where it is highly contagious between humans. Like I said, the last time that happened 50 million people died.

I don't see the problem people have with the WHO being really anal about this. They are saving lives, and if they were to sit back and let it go who knows how many people would die that otherwise wouldn't. If the government weren't spreading awareness who knows how many more would die.

 

[Highlander999]

Thats 8 people per day, not per year. Normal seasonal flu kills around 40000 people a year in the UK. Nobody is scared of that.

The actual flu doesn't kill them, it is the complications which arise because of it, like phenomena, and it is mainly the old and infirm who this happens to due to weaker bodies.

You better watch out then Kev

 

[ste_mc_efc]

The actual flu doesn't kill them, it is the complications which arise because of it, like phenomena, and it is mainly the old and infirm who this happens to due to weaker bodies.

That's a bit like saying it wasn't the samurai sword taking his head off that killed him, it's the complication of his brain being starved of oxygen as a result.

If those people wouldn't have died without contracting influenza then influenza has caused their deaths.

 

[Skater]

Well, technically, people don't die of AIDS, they just get a simple illness like a cold with a terribly weak immune system and die.

 

[Sureshot]

Yeah, I was aware. It was a typo.

Nobody is scared of that because it isn't something new. This swine flu is out of season and is a completely new strand, which has only recently fully gone into the stage where it is highly contagious between humans. Like I said, the last time that happened 50 million people died.

I don't see the problem people have with the WHO being really anal about this. They are saving lives, and if they were to sit back and let it go who knows how many people would die that otherwise wouldn't. If the government weren't spreading awareness who knows how many more would die.

The fact is it's a complete over-reaction, no one outside of Mexico has died of H1N1, in fact, most have a similar time to a mediocre normal flu strain. It's quite common to get new strains of flu each year, once you beat it, you won't get that same strain again. The over-reaction will hurt economies badly, of course economies aren't worth more than human life, but realism has not been taken into account and Joe Public isn't educated enough to not be drawn in by hysteria by the media and their fellow filth.

 

[jordox]

The fact is it's a complete over-reaction,

I agree it is an over reaction - I've said that numerous times, but I really don't think it is completely over the top. Think of all the people that travel internationally and think of what that could do. If that swine flu made it to my home, it would wipe out a significant chunk of the population, I assure you. In places where a common cold can kill, imagine what having another strain of the flu knocking about would do. It would be devastating.

If it made it to England? Yeah, it probably wouldn't kill any more than the normal flu does, but it would still be killing people, and instead of having 8 deaths a day you could be facing more. 10? 15? 20 a day? Who knows, my point is that if organizations can get on top of this and stop deaths, they should.

realism has not been taken into account and Joe Public isn't educated enough to not be drawn in by hysteria by the media and their fellow filth.

Realism hasn't been taken into account by the media but realism has been taken into account by the WHO. Of course the media are turning this into a frenzy and using it to sell papers and get ratings - that's what they always do. Who remembers the constant month long footage of the trade centers going down?

 

[Cricketdude]

Look at it this way. On the news theres there might be a murderer on the loose. He will probably not kill anyone at all, but would you like them to tell you or not be warned at all?

 

[Sureshot]

Think of all the people that travel internationally and think of what that could do.

Which they already do with the "normal" flu.

 

[smssia0112]

Don't know if it's been said yet, but the difference between this and the bird flu is that it can be passed on from human to human. Bird flu could only be passed from bird to human, but swine flu, which we also know very little about, is a mutation of swine and human flu, and can be passed from human to human, which is why it is spreading so fast, and is not contained in Mexico like the bird flu was mostly in Asia.

 

[IloveGilly]

Actually quite a lot of people are that are just sick in general. People are getting this swine flu a little confused.