Swine Flu! We're all going to die!

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Not cool.

At first, I was pretty worried about this disease, seeing as how it killed about 20 people near where I live (not a lot, but still), but now I'm not really sweating it. Just wash your hands, be clean, eat well, drink lots of water, and get good sleep. That, apparently, will prevent you from getting the disease, or prevent you from dying from it. I could be wrong, but whatever.

Edit: after reading that article, I'm a little worried again. :(
 

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I too thought nothing of it, but that article certainly puts things in perspective.
 
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While the swine flu is looking more serious every day, the Spanish flu was almost a century away, so I am hoping our technologies and standards today can account for something. But then you have stuff like in the 70s...But then you have stuff like the avian flu that died down relatively quickly.

I much rather we overestimate this scare than underestimate, just to be safe.
 
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Not cool.

At first, I was pretty worried about this disease, seeing as how it killed about 20 people near where I live (not a lot, but still), but now I'm not really sweating it. Just wash your hands, be clean, eat well, drink lots of water, and get good sleep. That, apparently, will prevent you from getting the disease, or prevent you from dying from it. I could be wrong, but whatever.

Edit: after reading that article, I'm a little worried again. :(
In case of a nuclear explosion, duck and cover.
Though, healthy people shouldn't worry too much, it's treatable, if you're getting a high temperature just contact your doctor to be on the save side.
Chances that you'll die from this is rather low.

Until of course, everyone starts getting it and countries run out of vaccines, then you're ****ed.


on a side note, a flu epidemic might be good for the economy :O
 
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In case of a nuclear explosion, duck and cover.
Though, healthy people shouldn't worry too much, it's treatable, if you're getting a high temperature just contact your doctor to be on the save side.
Chances that you'll die from this is rather low.

Until of course, everyone starts getting it and countries run out of vaccines, then you're ****ed.


on a side note, a flu epidemic might be good for the economy :O
How come the chances are low if at least 150 people at Mexico already died from it?
 
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How come the chances are low if at least 150 people at Mexico already died from it?
Because it's Mexico, where people are poor and aren't likely to miss work to see a doctor about what seems to be a bad cold?

The US has seen extremely few deaths so far.
 
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About 5 people are being inspected for it here in NC. They haven't necessarily been proven to have it but they just got back from a trip from Mexico.
 

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Did anyone here other than Damaera actually read the article? The flu in 1918 that killed 40million - 100 million people had a death rate of only 1%. So far, this flu has a death rate of around 6%. It doesn't matter that the death rate is low, if it'll infects enough people which is very well possible, it could kill 20+ million people.

Pretty much all the cases in New York are fairly close to where I live.
 
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Did anyone here other than Damaera actually read the article? The flu in 1918 that killed 40million - 100 million people had a death rate of only 1%. So far, this flu has a death rate of around 6%. It doesn't matter that the death rate is low, if it'll infects enough people which is very well possible, it could kill 20+ million people.

Pretty much all the cases in New York are fairly close to where I live.
What are you still doing inside, get out, breath in the fresh air.
It's good for you.


You can't compare numbers yet, it's too early.
 
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Did anyone here other than Damaera actually read the article? The flu in 1918 that killed 40million - 100 million people had a death rate of only 1%. So far, this flu has a death rate of around 6%.
By your own argument, though, that 6% isn't nearly as weighty as the 1% because of the immense difference in sample size. There's nowhere near the same number of people affected by this outbreak of H1N1 as there was in the other outbreak you mentioned, and, even then, the majority of confirmed cases leading to death are still coming out of Mexico, where conditions (including the response of those infected) may not necessarily match those in the US and Canada, where this strain has also taken hold in select areas. If adherence to treatment there is low and the majority of confirmed infections is there, then it almost seems expected that the rate of cases leading to death would be higher. After all, if there were, say, 1000 cases, 900 of which are in Mexico, and 60 people there died, that's 6%, right there. Small sample size, a handful of lethal cases where treatment rates are poor, and some basic math give you a rate that seems high, but is nowhere near as damning as 1% of 100 million.

The flu, with proper anti-pyretic and anti-inflammatory treatment, as well as rest and a steady intake of fluids, is very beatable; the only outstanding feature of this strain is that it wasn't included in most of the vaccination programs back in the fall, as it wasn't one of the more prevalent strains last spring. That aside, it is no more or less virulent than the other strains that are endemic in other parts of the world and continue to claim lives due to lack of treatment or poor compliance to prescribed measures.

If people exercise common sense, the infections will not spread nearly as rapidly.

EDIT - According to Wikipedia, there are only 240 laboratory-confirmed cases, and 9 "suspected" deaths. I'm not going to count "probable" infections, because, by the very definition of that phrase, the symptoms could be easily caused by other infections or disorders, and I'm not one for caving to the fear-mongering that "well, maybe" will cause in this kind of setting. Whatever the case, that's 3.75% of confirmed cases leading to suspected deaths according to those numbers.
 
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Not cool.

At first, I was pretty worried about this disease, seeing as how it killed about 20 people near where I live (not a lot, but still), but now I'm not really sweating it. Just wash your hands, be clean, eat well, drink lots of water, and get good sleep. That, apparently, will prevent you from getting the disease, or prevent you from dying from it. I could be wrong, but whatever.

Edit: after reading that article, I'm a little worried again. :(
hummm...you can actually get infected by just talking with an infected person.
 
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hummm...you can actually get infected by just talking with an infected person.
Unlikely, H1N1 isn't spread by anything but fluid droplets. Coughed on, sneezed on, etc, will spread it to you. Talking, not likley.
 
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Unlikely, H1N1 isn't spread by anything but fluid droplets. Coughed on, sneezed on, etc, will spread it to you. Talking, not likley.
What I said before was pure news on tv. witch means that you may also be right...you know how they like to spread the red alarm right?
 

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What does that have to do with getting the flu
 
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Just read on TV news there's one person found in my city that has swine flu. It's spreading pretty quickly, it seems. Ima eat chicken :/
 
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Don't forget medicine and health authorities were not as developed during the times of the Spanish flu. As long as H1N1 is contained properly, deaths will be kept to a minimum.
 

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@Lukyas: It's spreading person to person, not through food. It doesn't matter what you eat
 

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