For those worried about the Flu

[Fizzle]

Flu-kit, tips, and whatnot:

http://misia.livejournal.com/932116.html

A must: DON'T PANIC.

[Fizzle]

http://realityme.net/2009/04/26/h1n1-swine-flu-map/

A map of the cases.

[Gurdur]

This latest flu strain is a real wussy. Really. Out of all 9 or so of the American cases, only one was hospitalized, and no deaths at all.

Out of 500 or so cases in Mexico, only 60 deaths, almost all apparently to secondary infection (bacterial pneumonia) and assumedly lack of medical care.

DO NOT WORRY about this strain. It's nothing. And whatever the fuck y'all do, DO NOT waste your money on the anti-virus meds sold for the flu. They won't help you much, this strain won't kill you, and all you will have done is waste tons of money.

All just my own non-medical opinion, but of course.

[Hazy Daisy]

I never worry about these things. I didn't bat an eye about SARS or bird flu, I'm not going to start worrying now.

(It's possible I'm too nonchalant about such things. Mad cow disease was first discovered in the US at a farm about 70 miles up the road from me, but I haven't stopped buying beef. My neighbors did, but they've always been flaky anyway.)

[Gurdur]

Originally Posted by Hazy Daisy

.... Mad cow disease was first discovered in the US at a farm about 70 miles up the road from me, ....
My neighbors ... they've always been flaky anyway.

The greatest advances in epidemological and causal connections are often discovered by sheer accident, such as now.

So: those neighbours. What to do? Is it too late, considering BSE is already forth in the world?

[dglas]

Ahhhhh! Ahhhhhhh!
Swine flu cases in Windsor, Nova Scotia (4) and British Columbia (2)!
Unconfirmed cases in Quebec and Ontario!
It is coming for ME! Closing in!
It's gone "beyond containment!"
Aaaiiiieeeeeeeeee!!!!!111!!!

Health emergency in the States! 20 whole confirmed deaths!
"Beginning of the next pandemic" WTF-ZOMG-BBQ!!!

Soldiers patrolling the streets of Mexico City looking for people with signs of the flu. Schools, churches closed!

Spain, New Zealand, France, maybe Japan!

There will be zombies. Sick zombies! Carrier zombies! ZOMBIES I TELLS YA!!!

ZOMBIES!!!!

[Hazy Daisy]

Originally Posted by Gurdur

The greatest advances in epidemological and causal connections are often discovered by sheer accident, such as now.

So: those neighbours. What to do? Is it too late, considering BSE is already forth in the world?

I don't know. I'm not sure anyone would notice if they got it. Same could easily be said for me, though. It makes a convenient excuse for insanity if you need one.

[Hazy Daisy]

Originally Posted by dglas

ZOMBIES!!!!

Ugh, I hate zombies.

[Gurdur]

Originally Posted by Hazy Daisy

I don't know. I'm not sure anyone would notice if they got it. Same could easily be said for me, though. It makes a convenient excuse for insanity if you need one.

Other way round. Was wondering at the original source of BSE, could be we've hit upon the explanation.

[Hazy Daisy]

Originally Posted by Gurdur

Other way round. Was wondering at the original source of BSE, could be we've hit upon the explanation.

Oh that's what you were getting at. OK. Sure, I'll buy that.

[Gurdur]

Originally Posted by dglas

... It is coming for ME! Closing in! ...

Isn't it nice when the world finally takes personal notice of oneself?

[dglas]

Originally Posted by Gurdur

Isn't it nice when the world finally takes personal notice of oneself?

>sniff< Heart warming, really, >really<

Don't let HD trick you into complacency, though. Those zombies weren't even sneezing. Those were gubbermint pawn, agendaganda, fake zombies!

[Gurdur]

BTW, some serious advice:

if you have the flu, do not take aspirin. Most especially, do not give children or teenagers aspirin if they have the flu (danger of Reyes' Syndrome; rare but even so).

Ibuprofen is OK. But not aspirin.

[Fizzle]

Originally Posted by Gurdur

This latest flu strain is a real wussy. Really. Out of all 9 or so of the American cases, only one was hospitalized, and no deaths at all.

Out of 500 or so cases in Mexico, only 60 deaths, almost all apparently to secondary infection (bacterial pneumonia) and assumedly lack of medical care.

DO NOT WORRY about this strain. It's nothing. And whatever the fuck y'all do, DO NOT waste your money on the anti-virus meds sold for the flu. They won't help you much, this strain won't kill you, and all you will have done is waste tons of money.

All just my own non-medical opinion, but of course.

That's good news . The site mentions a kit to have that will take you through the symptoms, so if you have it or know someone who has it, check it out. You know, the less uncomfortable the better.

I wouldn't add a wiki article to something like this but it seems alright except for one cite error.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_H1N1_flu_outbreak

According to it, all the deaths have been in Mexico.

Best advice then: Don't worry,think ahead and keep your eyes on the news (and mind that this eye is a skeptical one; the bastards would do anything for ratings, in my experience). And check out the kit.

Carefully. Here's something that was found somewhat lacking:

There are a couple of places where it could be expanded. For example, here are a couple of items:

10. plain old table salt (to mix with water to help keep your electrolytes up)
11. plain old table sugar (see above)

But that doesn’t tell you how to use the salt and sugar to keep your electrolytes up. (Electrolyte imbalance can kill you.) The answer is: 5cc of salt plus 40cc of sugar to one liter of clean drinking water.

That's from here

[grumpy]

Originally Posted by Gurdur

This latest flu strain is a real wussy. Really. Out of all 9 or so of the American cases, only one was hospitalized, and no deaths at all.

Out of 500 or so cases in Mexico, only 60 deaths, almost all apparently to secondary infection (bacterial pneumonia) and assumedly lack of medical care.

DO NOT WORRY about this strain. It's nothing. And whatever the fuck y'all do, DO NOT waste your money on the anti-virus meds sold for the flu. They won't help you much, this strain won't kill you, and all you will have done is waste tons of money.

All just my own non-medical opinion, but of course.

Thanks, Gurdur. I needed that. I read this just as I finished looking at the maps Fizzle linked. There's a huge cluster of suspected cases just where I'm going. Orange County, about half way between LA and San Diego. I was beginning to hyperventilate when I read your caution.

[AspenMama]

An interesting thing about this flu (and this according to the experts in my office who watch these things very closely) is that the strongest strains of the flu die with its victims. The strain that survives best by going from human to human is a lot weaker and unlikely to kill you. The opinion also in my office is that there is a lot of mis-information going around. But, it is something to keep an eye on and indeed no panic necessary. Grumpy, I would just make sure you take as many normal precautions as you can.

I may have some more updates to post shortly.

[janedoe]

i feel kinda bad saying this, but i never get sick. heh, i'm probably tempting fate now.

[Gurdur]

Originally Posted by AspenMama

An interesting thing about this flu (and this according to the experts in my office who watch these things very closely) is that the strongest strains of the flu die with its victims. The strain that survives best by going from human to human is a lot weaker and unlikely to kill you.

Unfortunately, that theory doesn't hold true over time for epidemic diseases; I know it is a very commonly-held theory among many, including a great many in the medical community; but it really doesn't hold true over a very long time-span.

Reduction in lethality tends to be a result of growing immunity in the host population, rather than the bugs mutating to become less lethal.

But I do stress again that this new bug version is a wussy. Those who died in Mexico died of inadequate treatment; in fact, many of those who died had no treatment at all. Plus they were living in polluted hellholes. I'm going to do a big OP on this all over on the Hub later.

Sorry to be so argumentative. Just a big topic of debate, this one, within the epidemology community.

[Fizzle]

janedoe, you quadruple-posted. Is something wrong?

[dglas]

There was a glitch in the forums earlier today that wouldn't let them refresh properly. I suspect she fell victim to that. I did as well.

[Gurdur]

Originally Posted by dglas

There was a glitch in the forums earlier today that wouldn't let them refresh properly. I suspect she fell victim to that. I did as well.

Yes. I put in a Support Ticket about that evry early today (Tuesday). There was a GREAT BIG GLITCH that affected an entire server node, not just the Hangout, and some posts never got posted (one of mine), and PM's were out of commission for a long while. All fixed now.

You wouldn't believe the amount of work I have done today on the Hangout VPS server. It was some real complex problem stuff, all sorts of things.

I deleted the 3 duplicate posts, BTW.

[Gurdur]

There had been no confirmed deaths in the United States related to swine flu as of Tuesday afternoon. But another virus had killed thousands of people since January and is expected to keep killing hundreds of people every week for the rest of the year.

That one? The regular flu.
......
But even if there are swine-flu deaths outside Mexico -- and medical experts say there very well may be -- the virus would have a long way to go to match the roughly 36,000 deaths that seasonal influenza causes in the United States each year.

Source

[Fizzle]

First death from Swine Flu was a toddler in Texas

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30471035/?GT1=43001

[AspenMama]

I think probably the best resource for information about the swine flu is the CDC site: http://www.cdc.gov/swineflu/key_facts.htm

I've heard the death rate comparisons made to the "regular" flu and even to how many people perish in car accidents each year. But I think the real fear here is a virus that that has the potential to get wildly out of our control and to mutate into something more serious.

But as Gurdur has mentioned, this seems like a real wussy of a flu at this point and unless you are high risk for other reasons, you should be relatively safe by taking regular precautions.

[Fizzle]