Germany confirms three cases of swine flu

does anyone else think that the reported number of cases in Mexico ( around 2000 ) does not tally with the number of visitors to Mexico that seem to have picked up the virus? Seems highly inconsistent, would persons travelling to tourist resorts pass through Mexico city where the outbreak occurred?

I hate the way the papers pick up on these stories and then sensationalise things. It's just flu for heavens sake. Healthy people don't die from flu.

But they do, it's the young adults that have died in Mexico not so much the elderly or young, that's what's weird and concerning about it.

Millions die every year from flu worldwide, including otherwise healthy persons.

I think that is why there has been a hightened stage of alert. It has been killing otherwise healthy people. That is also the reason why there is a flu shot and anti virals. To keep the flu from killing healthy people not just the young and old.

I guess my point is that, yes lots of people die from flu every year, but flu still exists in various strains and regularly does the rounds every year. So why do the papers sensationalise "swine flu". A particularly nasty strain? Perhaps, but it is still flu... it's not cholera, it's not TB. A strong immune system should cope with flu right? Maybe otherwise healthy people die from flu every year, because Mexico is quite a poor country and doesn't have quite the same hygiene standards in certain regions? Just cos it is/isn't in the media doesn't mean it does/doesn't happen. Who knows. Who knows what the normal flu mortality rate is in Mexico?

What I suspect is sensationalising something because there is bugger all else to report.

I'm not saying I am right and you have raised fair points.

We are very lucky as there is decent medication which can cope with this flu. The only problem I see is if it spreads like

wild fire and the medicine runs out - but I don't think there is a reason to panic YET

I see what you are saying. There are also deaths right now from the avian flu, which was supposed to be the next pandemic. Why are they not centering upon these? Well, maybe those at the higher levels are in the know about something else which they can not say? I am sure it is not just a big scare mongering attempt by the CDC and WHO. Who exactly knows all as of yet, but I think the alerts are okay. The news channels scare tactics are not nice.

Since various so called experts pontificated that AIDS came from messing wiv monkeys, is Swine flu from pleasuring porkers?

I think we should be told.

Lets see: sick, pig, Regensburg, Mexico ... PERDIDO!

Keepingintime - exactly what I wa trying to say, but put much better.

Suffice to say that I am expecting to see people in face masks, having been duped by the media, in a few weeks when I board the plane to London.

I had the flu about 10 years ago. A month after having a baby. Baby was almost in the hospital. I could not feed him anymore. We were sick for about 1 month. It was horrible.

So, this here swine flu is actually a bit like the day after going out on an outrageous pissup and finishing with a vindaloo then?

Vomiting - Check.

Diarrhea - check.

Lungs - not sure about fluids but coughing from too many fags.

Joint aches - check.

Headaches from hell - check.

Throat ( and arse ) on fire - check.

Fevers - check.

So save your money on a trip to Cancun and frequent your local beer garden and late night takeaway and you can have it all.

Simples.

the_cat: Read a little overview of the Spanish flu and cytokine storms. It's a serious situation, but don't ride the arcs of a pendulum, swinging from panic to dismissal so easily.

If your lungs have fluids after too many fags, you are swallowing wrong.

My wife is sick-ish. She claims it is the swine flu. No snorting yet...

No problem, the German government have today stated that there is enough medicine for 20% of the poplulation.

Yeah, cuz who cares about the young and old anyway.

A 23 month old child has just been reported to have died from this in Texas.

Off course we care about the young and the old DDBUG. More the young than the old.

Apparently a young boy - only 2 has died in the US - the first fatality outside Mexico and younger than most other vicitms

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11...ide-Mexico.html (From Daily Mail)[quote]The global swine flu crisis dramatically escalated today as a two-year-old American boy became the first person outside Mexico to die from the virus.

Many cheap flights from the US to most South American countries do have layovers in Mexico City. It is Latin America's busiest airport. Coupled with Mexican human trafficing and border crossings into the US, I'm surprised more US cases haven't been reported. This is a global threat--may not be deadly for most. Some people have to get burned by the stove to know that it is hot I guess.

Ten killed in car crash in Northern Mexico.

Wonder if that will be all over CNN every day looking to panic the rest of the world in case a truck drives down their road?

Last week the [post="1620870">Friday Beer Garden mob went to a Mexican bar[/post], should we be worried?

Media sensationalism is becoming a serious problem in my opinion.

I ate mexican food last night, should I be worried?

one can hardly do much about dead people.

people only worry about people who are alive, but might die.

Apparently the women who was supposed to have swine flu is now healthy again.Report: Bayern Online. I've had longer lasting hangovers!

Watch out here comes BtC to change the outlook on the thread into a gay rights campaign

The Guardian reported today that the earliest case was seen in La Gloria beside an American pig farm that has had pollution concerns for years. However, the flu that infected the young boy whose mouth swab was sent to the CDC in the USA to have the diagnosis confirmed was actually just a recent case in a flu epidemic that has been raging through the area for about a month. Mexico City by contrast has a large and efficient health infrastructure. I would guess there have been very many more people infected and killed by this virus than is indicated by the official mexican tally.

And for those inclined to dismiss this as media hype: As others point have pointed out, there are periodically strains of influenza that are so severe they cause a critical breakdown in the immune system leading to a very rapid and unpleasant death from pneumonia. These strains tend to infect and kill younger people with strong immune systems. Such strains are thankfully rare and even when they do come about, they often are not highly infections (eg SARS or some of the avian flu viruses seen a couple of years back). But when you get the combination of severity, high infectiousness and a geographical spread to the infection that creates a "perfect storm" for a worldwide pandemic that could kill thousands of people (or even more). That is what the WHO now fears is happening. So, while the hype might be offputing the potential severity of this is VERY worrying.

ARE you stating I did not care about my own infant when he contracted the flu? What I was stating the flu shot and antivirals are for everyone, not just the young and old.

The CDC said Tuesday that there were 64 confirmed cases in five states. That doesn't include Illinois.

Germany, which confirmed three cases Wednesday, is the latest country affected.

The world has no vaccine to prevent infection but U.S. health officials aim to have a key ingredient for one ready in early May, the big step that vaccine manufacturers are awaiting. But even if the World Health Organization ordered up emergency vaccine supplies ? and that decision hasn't been made yet ? it would take at least two more months to produce the initial shots needed for human safety testing.

"We're working together at 100 miles an hour to get material that will be useful," Dr. Jesse Goodman, who oversees the Food and Drug Administration's swine flu work, told The Associated Press.

Meanwhile, health authorities are preparing for the worst. "I fully expect we will see deaths from this infection," said Dr. Richard Besser, acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The U.S. is shipping to states not only enough anti-flu medication for 11 million people, but also masks, hospital supplies and flu test kits. President Barack Obama asked Congress for $1.5 billion in emergency funds to help build more drug stockpiles and monitor future cases, as well as help international efforts to avoid a full-fledged pandemic.

"It's a very serious possibility, but it is still too early to say that this is inevitable," the WHO's flu chief, Dr. Keiji Fukuda, told a telephone news conference.

Cuba and Argentina banned flights to Mexico, where swine flu is suspected of killing more than 150 people and sickening well over 2,000. In a bit of good news, Mexico's health secretary, Jose Cordova, late Tuesday called the death toll there "more or less stable."

Mexico City, one of the world's largest cities, has taken drastic steps to curb the virus' spread, starting with shutting down schools and on Tuesday expanding closures to gyms and swimming pools and even telling restaurants to limit service to takeout. People who venture out tend to wear masks in hopes of protection.

The number of confirmed swine flu cases in the United States rose to 66 in six states, with 45 in New York, 11 in California, six in Texas, two in Kansas and one each in Indiana and Ohio, but cities and states suspected more. In New York, the city's health commissioner said "many hundreds" of schoolchildren were ill at a school where some students had confirmed cases.

On Wednesday, President Barack Obama said Americans should know the government is doing all it can to control the virus.

In a press conference, he also said schools should consider closing if spread of swine flu virus worsens.

New Zealand, Australia, Israel, Britain, Canada and now Germany and Austria have also reported cases.

But only in Mexico so far are there confirmed deaths, and scientists remain baffled as to why.

The WHO argues against closing borders to stem the spread, and the U.S. ? although checking arriving travelers for the ill who may need care ? agrees it's too late for that tactic.

"Sealing a border as an approach to containment is something that has been discussed and it was our planning assumption should an outbreak of a new strain of influenza occur overseas. We had plans for trying to swoop in and knockout or quench an outbreak if it were occurring far from our borders. That's not the case here," Besser told a telephone briefing of Nevada-based health providers and reporters. "The idea of trying to limit the spread to Mexico is not realistic or at all possible."

"Border controls do not work. Travel restrictions do not work," WHO spokesman Gregory Hartl said in Geneva, recalling the SARS epidemic earlier in the decade that killed 774 people, mostly in Asia, and slowed the global economy.

Authorities sought to keep the crisis in context: Flu deaths are common around the world. In the U.S. alone, the CDC says about 36,000 people a year die of flu-related causes. Still, the CDC calls the new strain a combination of pig, bird and human viruses for which people may have limited natural immunity.

Hence the need for a vaccine. Using samples of the flu taken from people who fell ill in Mexico and the U.S., scientists are engineering a strain that could trigger the immune system without causing illness. The hope is to get that ingredient ? called a "reference strain" in vaccine jargon ? to manufacturers around the second week of May, so they can begin their own laborious production work, said CDC's Dr. Ruben Donis, who is leading that effort.

Vaccine manufacturers are just beginning production for next winter's regular influenza vaccine, which protects against three human flu strains. The WHO wants them to stay with that course for now ? it won't call for mass production of a swine flu vaccine unless the outbreak worsens globally. But sometimes new flu strains pop up briefly at the end of one flu season and go away only to re-emerge the next fall, and at the very least there should be a vaccine in time for next winter's flu season, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the National Institutes of Health's infectious diseases chief, said Tuesday.

"Right now it's moving very rapidly," he said of the vaccine development.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

WASHINGTON ? The first U.S. death from swine flu has been confirmed ? a 23-month-old child in Texas ? amid increasing global anxiety over a health menace that authorities around the world are struggling to contain.

The flu death was confirmed Wednesday by Dr. Richard Besser, acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In a cable news interview, he gave no other details about the child.

I am personally very nervous and paying close attention to my 2 and 3 year old incase symptoms arise.

why? has your child taken a trip to Mexico recently?

Did you read the rueters report?

Dear god kayak, you better close and lock all your doors and windows and make sure your kids never ever go to the park ever again.

Reuters is a bleedin news service who get paid upon papers and the media using their reports.

Being aware as a parent is called PARENTING. I just get nervous is all. Have you had a kid barf on you yet? It's really gross! LOL

You're setting a bad example with your username. Didn't you know that kayaking was dangerous? Bad, bad parent.

Funny Kay

yes. Have you or your family been to Mexico?

Yep and I agree it is yucky and can also be somewhat colourful too.

More times than I care to remember, but I didn't stop feeding my kids to avoid being on the receiving end.

I hope you get the analogy.

Class

No, we haven't.

Ive been sneezing alot today should I be worried?? I havnt been to Mexico tho...ok how do we know who on the bus or train has just come back from Mexico or works at the airport for that matter..they could be infected...I better cover up my neck apparently thats what all Germans do...

You'll be safer with one of these.

Yeah I suppose ya'll right! I'm going to load up my NECKY and head for the lake!

One small snippet missed on most newreports (I wonder why?)Captain Trips anyone?

How many swine have died? I think this is a public advertising blitz by the beef producers to get their market share back when the beef scare was on. No pork - flu, no beef - no brain; no chicken or turkey - avian flu; no fish - mercury. Stay with the lowly potatoes and corn. Only these get tiresome and make you fat. I wanna die...

Its only going to get worse!

I have a strange urge to go snuffling for truffles in the field opposite.

"the CDC says about 36,000 people a year die of flu-related causes"

That's 98 a day, which seems to me this Mexican one is seriously under performing, it needs to get it's finger out!

have you been in contact with anyone who has either been to Mexico or had contact with an infected person?

Get to your final point would ya!

Think you've been here too long OG, very beamte ish behaviour manifesting itself there.

My wife came back the end of March from Oaxaca via Mexico City. Should I put her in quarreltime or send her to Spain to see if that virus is stronger?

my point is that if you haven't then you have absolutely no reason to worry. You are panicking over nothing.

Hell, i was in Mexico just over three weeks ago and I'm not even the slightest bit worried.

Way too many humans on this planet at the moment,who would have thought the pigs would have taken it on themselves to sort it out.

Did you get any pork? Yikes, perhaps to personal of a question.

time2kayak should call himself/herself time2yak....

Ouch!

Jon Stewart said that Swine Flu is now ranked #99 on the list of things that can kill you in Mexico

But on a serious note, I second (or third or whatever it is by this point) what someone said earlier about people thinking that just because they're healthy they either won't get sick or can't die from a serious flu strain. Uh, wrong. It was mostly young, healthy folks that kicked the bucket in 1918. The stronger and healthier your immune system is, the harder and more efficiently it can fight against the virus. And in the end it's your own immune system that actually kills you, that fills your lungs with fluid and gives you a fever of 105 degrees (F). Of course, the weak are also screwed because they're more likely to not be able to fight it enough and end up with pneumonia or other infections resulting from the flu. So, only time will tell now if this dies down and we can all laugh about how the media and governments overreacted again, such sensationalist morons, or if 25%-50% of us on the board will be playing harps in la la land by this time next year. I'd bet (and hope) on the former, but certainly don't think it's an overreaction to at least consider the latter.

I almost died from the flu back around Christmas 1999. I was 27 years old, ate right, exercised, was healthy other than mild asthma, and oooo man did I get sick. I've never been that sick in my life. I went from feeling ok to having a fever of 104 twelve hours later. After a couple of days I had to go to the hospital, be put on corticosteroids to get the lung inflammation (from totally freaked out asthma) down, nebulizers, etc. After than I ended up with a fun case of pericarditis (inflammation of the lining of the heart, which can happen after severe viral infections) that came and went over the next 4 months. That's some freakin' pain, I'll tell you. Holy crap. And "all" I had had was "just" a case of the flu. That's when I realized not to f*ck around and just assume I'll be fine. I get a flu shot every fall. Unfortunately with this particular strain, though, there's not yet a vaccine. ~sigh~

pnp.de

So there, let it go and live with it. It can't be controlled from the center of the universe.

Quick question: Does anyone know where to buy some actual hand sanitizer in this crazy country? I mean, something like Purell? Not just for the flu freak-out, but just in general. I need to refill my little Purell bottle in my purse and I've never found anything like the stuff here. And I love how doctor's offices' bathrooms for patients don't even have warm water half the time. Nice. So hygienic. I was thinking of buying it from the UK on ebay, lol. Seems a little ridiculous to have to do that just for Purell, though.

@dbunny. Thanks for sharing your experience. Your post helps explain how a marvelous 40 year old British actress I adored, might have died. Katrin Cartlidge (Working Girls, some other films) was just 40 or 41, I believe. How do you die of the flu when you are in good health? Perhaps she, too, had an underlying condition like asthma.

Hay fever season?

I think we are to sanitized for everything.A little contamination now and then may be the best and cheapest way of fighting these viruses; a sort of natural immunization. Sure a few die but the species survives.

out of interest, does anyone know if any of the cases confirmed outside of Mexico were of people who hadn't been there and were secondary infections?

Cytokine storm (Wikipedia)

Channel 4 interviewed Hartl from the WTO yesterday evening and he was saying that it appeared many of the cases identified at a school in New York were students who had not been on the school trip to Mexico. So it looks like they caught it from their returning classmates.

I read a book about three (?) years ago about viruses and bacteria that touched on the "hygiene hypothesis" (uh, it was by a male doctor... dang, I can't remember his name...) and he said that theory that we've been led to believe is actually bull to an extent. I mean that thing about sanitizing too much. He said that YES, that's true for CHILDREN. Children's immune systems are learning how to deal with the world of goo up until something like age 8 when it's basically set for life and it's great/essential for them to crawl on the dirty floor, dig up bugs and eat the cat's food with their nasty, sticky hands, but that it does zilch for an adult's immune system. If you're, say 30, then you aren't helping your immune system "get stronger" or "learn" one single bit by exposing yourself to bad things, you're just increasing the liklihood that you'll get sick. He said kids, good, let them lick the the doorknob, but adults... protect yourself. Of course he explained the process in detail, not like I'm doing, but I'll just say that I believed him.

I'm amazed I've lived this long. I think I can honestly say that I have never used a hand sanitiser in my entire life!

I was just trying to be smart not scientific. My mother only had house remedies (alcohol base and stinging like hell)and the first doctor I saw was a dentist and all this of going through a war, bombing and shelling. How I ever got 80 years old is surprising to me.

Drugstore.com ship to Europe, I know they sell it.

The job's sorted, help has arrived!!

(attached image)

Your local Apotheke will have some as well. Differnent name but same stuff. Cheaper and quicker as well I would suppose.

Mind you with the media panic storm underway I would guess that there would be very little left by the weekend as the local hamsters will be stocking up by the barrel full.

Well, alcohol sanitizes. That's the active ingredient (well, not like vodka, if that's what you meant, lol) in Purell. And anyway, it's just for those times when you're out and about and can't really wash your hands. Like if you're about to eat something by hand or you touched something funky (like a bus) and need to rub your eye. If you can't wash your hands, that's what hand sanitizer is for. The more often you wash your hands in cold/flu season, the less chance you have of getting sick, which I can't afford to do. That's all. And when you make it to 80, well cool, I'd call that good genes and a nice touch of luck [Like not contracting ebola on a trip to Africa or getting squashed by a bus that runs a red light or something. Luck or fate. Whatever it is.] I hope I do too, if the world isn't some post-apocalyptic haze by then, doh!

Having a dog, I sometimes get dirty hands. I carry a pack of wetwipes in my purse, which you can get in any drugstore.

LOL, yeah. People on ebay already have disposable bio-contamination suits available to buy for flu protection Never underestimate the speed at which each new panic is capitalized on!

Do you know what they call it, at the Apotheke, I mean (or the wet wipes someone else mentioned)? We went looking about a year ago, to three different pharmacies, and explained what we wanted and they stared blankly. So we explained further and even showed them a little empty bottle of Purell I still had from America and that just little Tücher wipey things would work as well and they looked at us like we'd just landed here from Mars. WTF? I mean, come on, that's not that weird! I know they have hand sanitizer dispensers in hospital bathrooms (I've personally seen them), so Germans can't be totally clueless. (Maybe just those in my loser town...)

According to the tv report that I saw, this flu is a mutation from avian flu through bird droppings into pig feed, then (somehow- the reporters said that it wasn't yet known how it had happened) to humans, producing a human style flu that is transmitted from person to person in the usual ways, ie through sneezing, etc. Avian flu as is apparently does not transmit to humans through the air, only by touching contaminated objects. This new version appears to have managed the leap.

WOW! guys! I hate to be the not so positive one in this thread but this is a serious problem. This week is critical..i will not say more casue i dont want to cause PANIC! but believe me, we are talking here about GLobal Chaos..and probably all flights cancels anywhere.

This is not just a flu..this has been created.

listen to Dr. Rebecca Carley

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRQnox22JHg

I am flying ASP back to NY..not that it will be any better there. Remenber how everybody loved Obama..?

Now opinions are changing...there is a reason for that.

Ironically The Movie Angels & Demons will open next week.

BREAKING NEWS!!

CNN Espanol is reporting that the Swine FLu came from America not Mexico..It make sense most virus come from Asia. California i snext to Mexico and has the biggest incoming flights from Asia. Also they talk about this Virus could have been enginered.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hot5QDw4KGQ

what ever you do . Dont take the VACCINE!!

And there's a movie about the end of the world coming out this fall called "2012" I thought a good name for this flu could be the "Mayan Plague" (you know, what ends civilization in time for the end of the Mayan calendar. Hey, it did start in Mexico, now, didn't it?)

Bruno the Movie is coming out soon I'd rather watch that, but thanks for the tip.

Where and when? I have been waiting for it to come!

It was going to be on May the 15th in the USA (and presumably in Germany shortly there after or maybe a few days sooner) but I've just checked and they have apparently moved it to the 10th of July, sorry.

Source

http://www.variety.com/article/VR111799905...d=1236&cs=1

German wiki still says May 2009, I think they need to update it

Let it never be said that I exaggerate - I wuz wrong. 36K it is.Well, if you haven't developed a curly tail and a love of snuffling up truffles yet, then of course you're not worried - you didn't catch …[/quote]What?? You're over 80??? And I joined TT to rub shoulders with the young!

so did I

and on second thought about this swine flu. If you are male do not worry. They don't call it swine flu for nothing. Since swine are female pigs, only females get that flu. (there are to many of them anyway)

No they aren't in English it just means pigs.

'Sows', rather.

Yes I read that too but 20% seems quite low to me - mind you since then the Mexicans have come out with different figures so the death quota doesn't seem as high after all. I think we can trust the WHO to do the right thing and get on with our lives

I am a nurse in the US, and have a daughter that lives in Germany. She also has children that attend kindergarten. We discussed ways to handle this current situation we are faced with. One of the things I shared was to remain calm and clear-headed about what the developments are. Use common sense...keep up with good handwashing hygiene, cover your face when you sneeze or cough. Did you know that if you sneeze, do not cover your mouth that the force of a sneeze is about 100 miles per hour force? If the weather is humid, the droplets tend to drop quickly to the floor, but if the air is cool and dry, the droplets tends to float more in the air. Try to shop during times when you can avoid large crowds of people. If you have children in school, ask the them what their plans of actions are in regard to children who present themselves with symptoms. Pay attention to your health and own symptoms. Play it safe, and with common sense.

That's true, but some of them can't type for .

So, this is just a flu with a scary name?

My flight to Germany is in 9 days!!!

I hope something new pops up so that everyone forgets about the bird flu..(sorry, its the Swine flu this year)

look out for the dog flu in 2010 or the gold fish flu in 2011!

After 2 bottles of red wine, I'm starting to feel a little strange. Have I developed wine flu?

My symptoms are:

a craving for cigarettes and kebabs

dizziness and slurred speech

the girlfriend looks good

talking shite

Should I start wearing a Michael Jackson MK4 surgical mask and is a full English breakfast as good as Tamiflu?

Right, I'm away to the fridge to see what I can get my trotters on.

Oink!

Surgical masks can be fun, if you are creative.

http://www.2bexposed.com/blog/fashion/time-2b-creative/

Dogs don't get the flu, they get the fleas.

Back in 2005, the WHO lost a couple of shipments of deadly influenza virus, one of which was sent to Mexico . . . I guess they found it

Deadly influenza virus shipments missing: WHO

One of the symptoms of the media fever associated with these things is a nasty rash of conspiracy theories.

They have come up with a new filter mask which is supposed to stop the flu from being spread. See picture...

(attached image)

The dog flu already happened, same for the horse flu. We are running out of animals.

Capitalists think of everything: Don't Panic! and the best selling Swine Flu Prevention Guide

As far as I know there have been reinfections in New York where people who have come into contact with carriers have caught the infection. This may also be true in Scotland and Devon but still has to be confirmed. Until the disease reaches critical mass in a nation that can adequately and quickly test all people with infection it is difficult to estimate just how virulent and how severe this "pandemic" will be. There is also the fact that as the virus spreads it will change. Sometimes this means the infection weakens with passage to be mild and relatively harmless. However, it can also go the other way particularly when it starts mixing with coinfections in a single host. In previous pandemics the initial wave of infection has been relatively mild while successive waves have carried the biggest punch of mass infection and high mortality.

I am writing this because until some weeks on from now we will not know whether we have the conditions for a severe pandemic or not. I am sincerely hoping it will not be the case but we really are too early on in this to be certain one way or the other.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianp...0C2bUjQ2ilA53Mg

Tv news says that WHO have just raised the pandemic level to 5. Link above shows the timeline.

Does anyone know if the existing flu vaccines give any kind of protection against this flu strain?

Tortoise flu - it affects you very slowly...The above reminds me of each time I walk through Denver airport & a far-off voice pipes up "Here is a security announcement: the security alert has been raised to <voice goes up half a tone> orange". Its always orange - every time I go through!

Any media lives from spreading panic.

Agree that the media is profiting from the general public hysteria, and where there isn't any they are having a good go at whipping it up. But sorting through the rubbish and joking aside, just from listening to WHO, this appears to be something to be taken seriously.

On my flight on Monday, there was a guy in business class wearing one of those blue face masks - looked like the ones being handed out to the public in Mexico. Air travel is the way this virus is mostly going to be spread - all that lovely recycled air that anyway often gives us everyone elses colds etc even when there isn't a pandemic on the horizon.

According to the CDC, "Vaccines are available to be given to pigs to prevent swine influenza. There is no vaccine to

protect humans from swine flu. The seasonal influenza vaccine will likely help provide partial protection against swine

H3N2, but not swine H1N1 viruses"

Treatment options:

"There are four different antiviral drugs that are licensed for use in the US for the treatment of influenza: amantadine,

rimantadine, oseltamivir and zanamivir. While most swine influenza viruses have been susceptible to all four drugs, the

most recent swine influenza viruses isolated from humans are resistant to amantadine and rimantadine. At this time, CDC

recommends the use of oseltamivir or zanamivir for the treatment and/or prevention of infection with swine influenza

viruses"

http://www.cdc.gov/swineflu/key_facts.htmMore from Bloomberg: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=206...&refer=home

Q: Is there a vaccine against the swine flu from Mexico? A: Flu vaccines generally contain a dead or weakened form of a

circulating virus. The vaccine prepares the body?s immune system to fend off a true infection. For the vaccine to work, it

must match the circulating, wild-type virus relatively closely. There is no vaccine currently that exactly matches the

swine flu. The seasonal flu vaccine doesn?t appear effective against swine flu, said Richard Besser, acting head of the

CDC.

Millions of people in the U.S. were vaccinated against swine flu in 1976. While that was not the same strain of flu as the

one from Mexico, people who got the 1976 vaccine or who were exposed to that flu may have enough protection against the

swine virus to prevent it or make an infection milder, said Robert Booy, head of clinical research at the National Centre

for Immunisation Research & Surveillance in Sydney.

Vaccine makers have contacted the World Health Organization about obtaining samples of the virus needed to make a vaccine.

Making flu vaccine can take three to six months, depending on the type of manufacturing. No decision has been made to order

a vaccine against swine flu, the CDC?s Besser said today.

I don't even remember if I received the 1976 vaccine (time to call good ol Mom)

Looks as if I'll be doing my bit by flying to Denver & San Diego early June. Thats almost Mexico...

http://www.defensetech.org/images/Chicken-Little.jpg

I am flying back home next weekend, If I do not come back I want to say sorry to anyone I could hurt, except Darkknight.

PEOPLE... I HAVE A LARGE VOLUME OF SURGICAL MASKS BEING MADE AT THE MOMENT (AVAILABLE IN 2-3 WKS TIME) AND I HEARD THERE ARE SHORTAGE OF MASKS IN GERMANY AS WELL. HOWEVER I AM AUSTRALIAN AND DO NOT KNOW GERMANY TOO WELL. I WISH I CAN HELP EVERYONE WHO I CAN REACH.

IS THERE ANYONE WHO IS WILLING TO ORDER FROM ME AND BE MY RESELLER IN GERMANY? THIS WAY EVERYONE CAN GET THEIR HANDS ON MASKS TO AVOID THE SWINE FLU IN GERMANY WITH A RESLLER HELPING, AND HE/SHE CAN EARN SOME EXTRA MONEY WHILE HELPING PEOPLE AT THE SAME TIME.

PLEASE EMAIL ME AT herazure@gmail.com IF YOU ARE INTERESTED.

I AM ALSO SELLING ON EBAY UNDER THE USERNAME : 3386h. Individual orders can be made there and I will ship everywhere possible in the world.

Take care everyone and we can beat the flu!

Regards

Herazure

Sod off.

In case you're wondering how to get the swine flu, here it is.

(attached image)

So far everything's been mild, what i'm worried about is the second wave which might occurs in fall...Ofc IF there's a second wave.

Hopefully by then there's a vaccine ready.

Also, these conspiracy theorists are starting to annoy me.

Rumsfeld.

So has ToytownHelping to spread the panic

Wash your hands. Use your toothbrush. Think about how you use your cellphone.

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1353301/your_toothbrush_and_respiratory_infections.html?cat=5

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1542993/cell_phones_staph_and_superbugs_and.html?cat=70

Dear AncientBrit, what bullshit. There is a difference between spreading panic and putting your head in the sand. If you are aware and take sensible precautions, then you have a good chance of avoiding the virus. Luck plays a part of course, but the really short-sighted idea of playing ostrich, and pretending that "it" will not come to your little area of Dresden is really less than intelligent.

Your country's neighbor (the H country) is starting production of vaccine against this swine flu, getting seed material for its production from the U.S., and intends on having vaccine production by June. It will take six months to make 17 million vaccines, apparently. Hm. I suppose they will have some of those 17 million vaccines available sooner? (Title of article says available in June.) They are using dog kidney cells, rather than eggs to cultivate the vaccine, apparently. Anybody know of vaccine production efforts and target dates for any other countries?

http://www.volkskrant.nl/binnenland/articl...uni_beschikbaar

That is quite interesting. As most flu vaccines are cultivated on the egg. This opens up for the use of this vaccine in people who usually can not take it due to egg allergy. More wide spread usage. I guess they are really trying wipe this flu out in the fall where it might come back with a vengeance.

Do you know if this is true for all the vaccines for this particular strain?

I just informed myself about the reason behind the use of dog kidney cells.

http://whyfiles.org/231flu_vaccine/

Helping to spread the panic[/quote]Dear Editor Bob

I hope you didn't change the TT logo text back to "Germany's English-speaking crowd" because of spatown&#…[/quote]Dear spatown

Hey, thanks for the first praise I've received since joining TT

I'm almost certain that i have the swime flu i just got back from america on the northwest and they just said they have about 9 cases around the area that i was in and im pretty sick... but i haven't gotten a curly tail or become extremly round yet so we will have to wait and see

Go see a doctor and get it checked out. The thing that medical authorities, including the Robert Koch Institute, need at the moment is information so staying at home and nursing your illness in your bedroom without seeinga doctor is one factor that may lead authorities to underestimate spread and contacts.

You must be desperate - poor old guy.

Is that what German health authorities are advising? It seems that in other countries people experiencing flu-like symptoms are being advised not to go to a doctor/hospital but to ask for a medical visit at home so as to limit contacts and avoid spreading the virus.

yes, that is probably best Kay. But the important thing is that someone medical needs to be informed and needs to assess you.

She is an Au Pair too, I hope she has warned her family. They have a young baby.

Presuming of course that it isn't just online melodramatics.

Was so nice today to see a Proffessor of viral medicine on the TV saying that this brand of flu is no worse than other strains and actually less viral ( ie less catchable ).

Let's stop the bollocks now and not let the US drive us into their normal paranoic state .

except bluedave, that it is the WHO and not the US that is driving the international alert on swineflu- Not everything is America's fault.

I blame Donald Rumsfeld.

Really?

Come on Btc, who is driving the media frenzy on this?

The SWINE FLU Vaccination for the new pandemic

I think Krieg just hit it with that video, dear god, it's a flu, get over it people.

As the Prof said, it's not called swine flu when it affects human beings, it's called flu.

Apparently we're not supposed to call it swine flu anyway, but rather H1N1, so that pig farmers don't have to suffer from people being scared to buy pork.

At least the hysteria here is mild compared to Egypt, where the government has ordered all the country's pigs slaughtered. What are they going to do with the resulting quarter-of-a-million pig carcasses, I wonder?

I heard on the radio yesterday that one woman in Bavaria had caught it, presumably from an infected person who had returned from Mexico, but that she has already recovered.

If that's true, then it's important that you report it to a doctor, even if you start to feel better, so that the health authorities can check it out and keep track of how the virus is spreading - assuming it is the virus.

agree with Kay. Don't just wander into the Docs office. Inform them you believe you have the flu so that they will either come to you or make sure you are placed in a separate room/area to limit contact with others and to disenfect the room after. But do inform a doctor as tracking this and containing it (if possible) is so important.

Don't go to the doctors waiting room. You're sure to catch something nasty there!

In fact so many people think they have flu-like symptoms that clinics are being overrun with people panicking.

Yep, a nurse in Bavaria caught it from one of her patients who had been to Mexico. They're not sure yet if he infected his roomates as well.

I just wonder about one thing. According to statistics, about 1000 people die of the normal flu every year in Germany alone (and I can only assume the numbers are even higher if oyu count the number of people that die of it all over the world) ...yet no one thinks of declaring a pandemic for that.

My other question is why the deaths associated with this illness have only been registered in Mexico. Why do people only die in Mexico and in none of the other countries where swine flu has also been found?

These are just two things I wonder about when I hear about the whole ado that is being made about this.

I just read that the death toll in Mexico is at 16, and that the number of cases is at a mere 397... there are thousands of normal flu cases every year around the world and the WHO does not declare a pandemic on that...at least I have never really hear of it beind declared a pandemic. Yet thousands die of it...and now that 16 people have died it is a pandemic??? I honestly think they are making a mountain out of a molehill.

http://www.etaiwannews.com/etn/news_content.php?id=937126&lang=eng_news&cate_img=316.jpg&cate_rss=news_Health

and they themselves got it from the associated press.

Very reasonable Sally. Bluedave started a thread ([topic="132622">Sick of hearing about swine flu[/topic]) on that very thought.

But I'd rather panic! I even called up the "Swine flu hotline". But all I got was crackling!

Yea its all hype to take our minds of recession...

(attached image)

Their organisation is a bit higgledy-piggledy.

You're telling porkies again, Ian.

He's trying to hog the limelight.

There is Wurst to come...

Yeah, he likes to ham it up.

I take it you have never heard of the Spanish flu..?

Do you think this was sensationalised as well or will you concede that the millions of people around the world that died of it are (not so living) proof..?

Just to emphasise my point: the Spanish flu wiped out more people than World War I!!

but perhaps Wiki is lying/over sensationalising as well...??

Swine influenza (Wikipedia)

Because it makes sense to compare a health problem from 90 years ago with the current state of hygiene, medicine and some other small things that changed.

What about that "gay flu" from the 80's? How many did that kill so far?

It is evolution, so the small things do change. I saw a report worrying about a HIV/Swine Flu combination.

Even in our modern society, fast paced bugs would probably be stoppable with adequate quarantines in place. The scary part about HIV was how you could be a carrier for years... Something deadly that is contagious for years and easily spread would be something. HIV had only 2/3...

Yes man, it makes sense to compare HIV and flu, because the mortality rate is very similar and we have medicines to fight both, sure.

if we were to get a virus of similar virulence and spread as Spanish flu then the medicines we currently use (Tamiflu and Relenza) would offer very little protection and it is unlikely that a vaccine would be ready in time. Cleaning technology has not actually changed that much in the last 90 years but a number of factors might lead to better outcomes in the first world at any rate:

1. Media - a globalised media operation can ensure that health advice can be passed out quickly and effectively to the majority of people. Of course, as TT shows, the majority of peopl seem to regard such media stories as sensationalisation so a call to action may actually go unheeded by many people until it is too late.

2. No communal living - in the early 20th century working class families often lived cheek by jowl, which is largely not the case these days. It is known that such communal living greatly aids the spread of viruses.

3. Large population moves - One of the most salient factors of the Spanish epidemic was that it was carried home to every corner of the globe by demobbed soldiers from the end of WW1. However, although we do not have similar volumes on the move, the massive increase in passenger air travel does still form a strong vector to take viruses quickly over borders.

So, the conclusion would be that today we are in a slightly better position than 90 years ago but that is all. The fact that annual influenza infections in Europe affect about as many people as they did a century ago would rather indicate that we are no more prepared now than we were then.

The present H1N1 virus appears to be relatively weak, which is a relief for anyone involved in the response to it. However, we will not know until the second wave in the autumn whether it will continue to be so or will mutate into something far worse. I sincerely hope that it does not become worse.

We do have meds for both. And the mortality rate (in developed countries) is probably close. I heard HIV is now a chronic disease, not a death sentence. And new reports on this bug appear to make it out to be similar to normal flu rates.

The point was, (as BTC also said) we don't know what this will mutate into. It could get worse. It seems to be spread very easily.

Also, having a short incubation period may also limit the spread if proper precautions are taken.

So far, the mortality of this flu seems to be on the mild side.

People keep saying that it spreads easily - but I haven't seen any clear indication that it's any more catching than the typical flu.

Where is the indication that this problem will be any worse than the seasonal flu, overall? What am I missing?

(btw: I don't deprecate the significance of flu in general: Whenever I've caught it, I've felt like dying; and once I was hospitalized for it. But the question is, What really makes this H1N1 flu virus different from any other flu? Aside from the fact that we are tracking it so assiduously?)

Donald Rumsfeld

Because it is a cross-species virus where elements of both human and swine flu have combined, we have no natural immunity to it. Likewise, we do not know the effectiveness of Tamiflu or Relenza against it and will have to wait a minimum of 6 months for an adequate vaccine to be prepared (even then, stepping up manufacturing to supply enough for mass immunisation is problematic). In this way swine or avian flu, if virulent and infectious enough, can infect vast numbers of people causing problems or even death for people across the whole spectrum. Spanish flu showed us that it was those with strong immune systems that had the highest rate of mortality.

By contrast, normal flu can generally be anticipated as it will have evolved from viruses already in circulation so that vaccines are ready in time and most people will be able to fight the infection with or without medication. Normal flu will tend to kill the weak, the old and the very young who do not have adequate immune systems or the natural immunity that comes from repeated exposure.

This was the scary thing from the initial reports coming from Mexico: they said it kill the strong 25-45 year olds, not the young/old/weak. I think that is also turning out to be incorrect.

I did not know that about the Spanish flu, so I read a little on the 1918 flu pandemic (Wikipedia). Odd to see some notable survivors from that epidemic:

• FDR
  
  
• Wilhelm II
  
  
• Walt Disney
  
  

The world could have been a vastly different place...

Am I misreading you, gatzke? You are saying that they may be wrong about this flu not striking elderly and infants? I know that the first person (and so far only) person killed in the U.S. was about 2 y.o.