Swine flu

[smartidiot]

This is a thread for your thoughts on swine flu, anything from "why are people making such a big deal out of this" to "I think it was space aliens trying to probe our minds with the virus". My personal favorite that is a running joke among my friends is "it was the dutch, it's all part of their plan to take over".

[Pyrian]

Bit late, really. Last I heard it was determined to not be significantly more dangerous than more typical influenzas.

http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=110219

[Canadian]

Pork is tasty. I don't care if it sneezes.

[Goldwing]

I think at this point folks don't really care too much about H1N1 anymores...I mean, once you hear that regular flu kills several thousand folks a every year and H1N1 has only killed...what, six? Not quite so big a deal.

Or at least, most of us Americans don't care anymore.

And we've already gone through the same scares rather recently with Avian flu, West Nile thingiemajig, SARS, HIV/AIDS...after so many panic attacks in short succession over the same thing, folks stop freaking as much or as long. At first I thought it was better we all overreact to something that turns out to be of little consequence, but now I'm starting to wonder if we aren't dulling our senses to a real threat...

Granted, when the big one comes, we got nothing other than to run around with our heads on fire...but that's all anybody else has either. I for one will welcome the next big pandemic. Solve lots of problems.

Make the lines at Disney shorter.

Edit: Hehehehe...Hiney Flu...

[Haruki-kun]

I mean, once you hear that regular flu kills several thousand folks a every year and H1N1 has only killed...what, six?

*ahem* One hundred.

[InaVegt]

"it was the dutch, it's all part of their plan to take over".

. . .

[Szilard]

A couple weeks ago, my brother tried to start a flu epidemic. Next week, swine flu.

[Starscream]

I live on the OSU campus, and we've had a few (three I think) confirmed cases here. No biggie, we've got like 50,000 people.

I'm not really worried about it. If you do a bit of research and compare the results to what you hear on the news, you realize that this is about 90% hysteria and 10% The Sniffles.

I mean, look up the symptoms. It's really no different and no more severe than the regular flu. I get that every year! Unless you are very old, very young, or already in pretty bad shape, it's nothing to worry about.

[kpenguin]

*ahem* One hundred.

Which is still a rather small amount, all things considered.

Besides, if things go bad, there's always Madagascar.

[PhoeKun]

Besides, if things go bad, there's always Madagascar.

I was hoping the swine flu would kill that joke.

...No such luck. =/

[darkninjaoflight]

Oddly enough I think people are overreacting to the overreaction. That is to say that they see it everywhere on the news, start to get sick of seeing it, and are now completely opposed to what the news is saying when they probably shouldn't be.

-Well, think about it. What would we be saying if the media WASN'T stressing the problem to us? Unfortunately it's led many to panic, which isn't good, but people are taking precautions not to get infected and hopefully not to spread it. The smallest mistake can cause a large number to become sick. This is particularly true in large cities or airports. People always complain when they aren't told something and when they are told they ignore it.

-Yeah okay so it hasn't harmed so many people yet. Uh...wait till Fall and Winter comes and then see what it does.

-Also, since when does "slightly less lethal than the normal flu" equate that it isn't something to worry about? You don't want to catch the flu. You don't want to catch swine flu. Not wanting to catch one more than the other does not make the other a joke.

[chiasaur11]

That overreaction will be just what dulls our senses to the inevitable solanum outbreak!

World War Z is just around the corner, and any attention to other viruses distracts us from the real threat!

[Jokes]

I found this Ted talk on the subject interesting. A few years old, talking about Avian Flu, but still relevant.

Also-

Spoiler

Show

[potatocubed]

-Well, think about it. What would we be saying if the media WASN'T stressing the problem to us?

We wouldn't be saying anything. The only reason anyone outside a specialised section of the medical community is even aware that swine flu exists is because some idiot journo decided to start a frothing panic about it.

[Icewalker]

Yeah, I looked up a number so I could use it if the Swine Flu ever came up in discussion.

Deaths so far due to Swine Flu in the US: what, 100, over the course of 1-2 months?

Deaths on average per day due to regular flu/pneumonia: 173

(Pneumonia being the general cause of death via regular flu, I believe)

[darkninjaoflight]

We wouldn't be saying anything. The only reason anyone outside a specialised section of the medical community is even aware that swine flu exists is because some idiot journo decided to start a frothing panic about it.

I don't think I was clear then. What I meant was what would we be saying if the epidemic spread enough that it became a crisis and the media had said nothing? You can't exactly make the prediction "oh swine flu probably isn't that bad. We won't tell anyone about it" when it's spreading globally and there isn't a cure or enough of a cure to go around. The panic that was raised is unfortunate, but the opposite effect that I'm seeing online where people treat it as a joke is just as bad. People are aware of swine flu and we have a much better chance of nipping it in the bud before it has a chance of becoming worse.

[DigoDragon]

Mmmm... bacon germs.

From what I read in the paper, Swine flu won't be too big a deal until the winter season when the flu is at it's most active. The paper also said there "Should" be a vaccine ready by then. I have the feeling there's going to be a run on that vaccine and considering how fast it was made I wonder if that's going to do a world of harm to people...

[Ilena]

Me personally i dont care on eather side, i dont take it as a joke, i mean 100 people HAVE died from it reguardless of the fact that 100 people per day die of the regular flu, but im not going to freak out about it, just do what i always do and take vit c, eat healthy (which i dont really do but ya ...) and you should be fine, although i am in my prime so most deseases wont bother me much anyway ...

[Haruki-kun]

I was hoping the swine flu would kill that joke.

...No such luck. =/

Party pooper.

[Mr. Mud]

Not kidding, I had all the symptoms of Swine Flu, but didn't go into to get checked out... "But Mom! I don't feeeeeeel like it!".

Thank the Omniverses that it all eventually cleared up...

[Goldwing]

Okeydokley...my error.
About 100 deaths from H1N1, slightly over eleven thousand laboratory confirmed cases. Whereas 'regular' flu causes somewhere from 250,000 to 500,000 deaths per year out of the 330,000 to 1,326,000 of the global population who get it. Slightly less than one percent mortality rate versus about...eighteen, if we're generous and 1,326,000 get it and only 250,000 die. (Do tell if my math is wrong.)

Yeah, makes more sense to be more worried about 'regular' flu, even though H1N1 seems to be more deadly to the 20s through 40s crowd.

[Canadian]

The price of pork went down. Mmm... Ribs...

[Haruki-kun]

Pretty bad for the economy... but I guess it makes sense. Apparently people didn't believe that it's not transmitted through food.

[Castaras]

Oh noes, teh swine flus!

No big deal. Most likely we're just gonna get a bad case of flu, be stuck in bed for a week, then be fine. At least, as long as we are average healthy human beings. All the deaths have either been: a) in Mexico or b) people with other health problems.

No big deal.

[/copypastedfrompanicthreadonanotherforum]

[Haruki-kun]

CASSIE!!! You're here! *glompage*

[Castaras]

I am? I wasn't informed of this!

[Linkavitch]

Pork is tasty. I don't care if it sneezes.

I heartily agree with this sentiment.

[Groundhog]

Not kidding, I had all the symptoms of Swine Flu, but didn't go into to get checked out... "But Mom! I don't feeeeeeel like it!".

Thank the Omniverses that it all eventually cleared up...

Well, people can recover from regular flu without any medical treatment, why not swine flu?

The thing is that the swine flu is getting very deadly in certain places. And while it's not particularly deadly in the rest of the world, people are worried that it will become deadly in the rest of the world too.

[murcielago666]

Im spanish so the joke with me was people would say i have swine flu...and id say yea i do lick my hand and high five their face