Comments on: Where’s My Flu Panic?

By: Bryan

Bryan — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 17:33:02 +0000

We may finally be seeing some cases in Florida, which should have showed up because of the cruise ships that go out from Miami and Fort Lauderdale and stop in Mexico, but they aren’t confirmed. Mexico had to scale back their death toll yesterday, because only 7 have actually been confirmed as H1N1, as has the Mexican child in Texas. In the Texas case the child had other problems, so the flu is listed as a contributing cause, not the primary cause of death.

Flu normally kills in conjunction with other problems, i.e. the victim is already in bad shape and it tips the scale.

By: andante

andante — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 13:11:22 +0000

Kryten, that link was pure gold. Thanks! The Daily Show is the only 'news' source worth watching anymore. andante´s last blog post..

By: cookie jill

cookie jill — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 07:18:40 +0000

Welcome to Aporkalypse Now cookie jill´s last blog post..Meryl Streep plays Julia Child

By: Bryan

Bryan — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 21:28:53 +0000

They are being extremely proactive about this. I’m not going to complain about people saying home, as I was constantly sending people home who worked for me when they were sick. I didn’t need the entire watch down with the flu because some fool wanted to prove how dedicated they were. Besides, no one wants a cop coughing on them.

By: LadyMin

LadyMin — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 20:25:56 +0000

Speaking of panic… or would it be proactive… Chicago closed a school today because one student was confirmed to have the flu and the absentee rate was higher than normal yesterday and they want to know what kept the other students home.

The media made a very big deal the past few days about staying home if you felt ill. Looks like people listened. So why exactly are we closing a school? The sick people are at home.

By: Bryan

Bryan — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 18:08:27 +0000

That, Jill, is the underlying cause of the lack of hard numbers. People aren’t going to doctors, they are going to emergencies rooms when they are too sick to ignore it.

By: cookie jill

cookie jill — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 16:07:31 +0000

Wonder how many people die from not having healthcare or early access to medical attention before it's too late. cookie jill´s last blog post..The Historic El Paseo Restaurant

By: Bryan

Bryan — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 05:34:27 +0000

The problem ‘Tux, is that in the Mexican system, which is all too much like ours, they are only going to see the worst cases on an initial outbreak. At this point no one has any idea how many people have actually had this type of flu, so the fatality rate is skewed.

I’m not saying we should ignore it, but let’s not make things worse by going off half-cocked like the 1976 outbreak in which the bad reaction some people had to the emergency vaccine killed more people than the swine flu.

Mexico needs help and we need solid numbers to know what we are dealing with.

You at least have actual cases in California, while Florida is spending a lot of time telling people that they have colds, and the guy cutting the lawn is Vietnamese, not Mexican.

College Spring Break had a lot of people going to Mexico, as well as those people on cruise ships, so this can be expected to be widespread. If it is really virulent we should be seeing cases in Florida from the cruise ships. So far nothing, which may mean that it isn’t as deadly as is currently thought, and people assumed they had a cold. We don’t know.

By: Badtux

Badtux — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 05:01:32 +0000

Here’s the deal: The regular flu kills about 1 out of every 1,000 who gets it. I.e., there’s 30 million cases in the USA each year, and about 30,000 deaths attributable to the flu (most of whom are old, sick, or immune-suppressed, but still a fair dinkum).

Thus far, the swine flu kills about 40 out of every 1,000 who gets it. Which means that if it goes pandemic, it would kill… uhm… around 1.2 million people here in the USA.

Of course, the “if it goes pandemic” is the biggie here. Thus far there hasn’t been any indication that it is anywhere as virulent as the normal flu. But all it takes is one mutation for virulence… and say hello to a million or so dead bodies.

Thus why the CDC and the Obama administration are paying attention. It’s not something to panic about right now, because there’s no indication that the mutation for virulence has taken place. But given how fast the flu virus mutates, it has to be something that policymakers pay attention to. The thought of 1.2 million dead bodies tends to focus one’s attention a bit, don’t you agree?

– Badtux the Health Care Penguin

By: hipparchia

hipparchia — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 04:59:53 +0000

well, you guys in the southern hemisphere do have all winter [ie flu season] to look forward to, but ours is just about over. hipparchia´s last blog post..Send faxes, faxes, and money! [update]