Swine Flu from Mexico reaching Pandemic level?

[johnastovall]

This is starting to look very serious.

Swine Flu Emergency Caused By New Variant of Old Bug (http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aD0VK0_oNmw4&refer=home)

"The virus has already evaded the first line of defense that health officials had hoped to use against a pandemic. International flu experts preparing for a pandemic had planned to contain the initial outbreak of a new, lethal strain of flu. The swine flu virus has already spread so far in Mexico and the U.S. that the containment strategy is out of the question, said Anne Schuchat, interim deputy director for science and public health programs at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Atlanta-based U.S. agency.

“We don’t think we can contain the spread of this virus,” she said yesterday in a conference call with reporters. "

Hong Kong's reaction. (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/27/world/27flu.html?ref=world)

"Dr. York Chow, Hong Kong’s secretary for health and food, asked residents to watch the news for reports of which states in the United States have outbreaks and discouraged travel to these states, but reserved his strongest warning for travel to Mexico. “Do not travel to Mexico unless it is absolutely necessary,” he said."

[xayraa33]

here is a 70s article about the 1918 Spanish Flu

http://www.whale.to/vaccine/sf1.html

[MickH]

It's a slow weekend for news. Remember bird flu & SARS?

[enochRoot]

yeah...reeks of sensationalism to me.

[Spider67]

Recommender read "In the wake of the plague" by Cantor

[Jack Ketch]

No, this is not a "slow weekend" news item.

It might be bio-engineered.

This is going to get very serious, very fast. It could kill healthy adults.

VERY dangerous.

[xayraa33]

No, this is not a "slow weekend" news item.

It might be bio-engineered.

This is going to get very serious, very fast. It could kill healthy adults.

VERY dangerous.

I think you might be are right about this.

http://www.rightsidenews.com/200904264532/editorial/is-the-new-strain-of-swine-flu-a-bio-terror-attack.html

[Sparrow]

on average 120 people will be killed on US roads tomorrow, that's a whole pandemic and a half in a single day :eek:............. scary Jamaica

[Nikon Bob]

No, this is not a "slow weekend" news item.

It might be bio-engineered.

This is going to get very serious, very fast. It could kill healthy adults.

VERY dangerous.


I believe that I read that it has killed healthy adults in Mexico.

Bob

[swoop]

I believe that I read that it has killed healthy adults in Mexico.

Bob

The school that has the outbreak is 3 miles away from me. It's not sealed up in the least.

I think the question about the infections in Mexico that needs to be asked is did those people that died have quick easy access to medical care.

[sooner]

I think clearly this is serious, and it is evolving and isn't over yet. Sure, you could be tortured and killed slowly, and that would be worse, but that's not really a fair comparison to this pandemic. To call this merely sensationalism on a slow news day is, in my opinion, unfair. Hopefully it will pass quickly, but I suspect we will continue to see these kinds of events as the world climbs past 6 billion people on earth.

[Paul T.]

yes, I remember bird flu, too.

I'm sure when we all die off it will be via something new, that doesn't profit the media who will stoke up our paranoia. Plus, it has to be said, the general reporting of medical issues, in the UK at any rate, is woeful - does anyone remember the long-term furoe over the MMR jab?

[Roger Hicks]

I think I'll delay worrying about it until it has spread a LOT further than it has.

Even then, what good is worrying going to do?

Tashi delek,

R.

[Thardy]

"Travelers from Mexico who appear to have flu symptoms will be stopped at the border and isolated, Ms. Napolitano said."




Does this statement appear strange to anyone?

[johnastovall]

No, not with the Public Health Emergency just declared this morning. Hong and Japan are already screening incoming passengers for fever.

Hong Kong's reaction. (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/27/world/27flu.html?pagewanted=2&ref=world)

Ever since the 2003 outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (http://health.nytimes.com/health/guides/disease/severe-acute-respiratory-syndrome-sars/overview.html?inline=nyt-classifier), Hong Kong has used infrared scanners to measure the facial temperature of all arrivals at its airport and border crossings with mainland China. Visitors are required to remove any hats to ensure accurate measurement, and children are checked with ear thermometers because the scanners are less reliable in measuring their faces.
Dr. Thomas Tsang, the controller of the Hong Kong government’s Center for Health Protection, said at a press conference on Sunday afternoon that any traveler who has passed through a city with laboratory-confirmed cases and who arrives in Hong Kong with a fever and respiratory symptoms will be intercepted by officials and sent to a hospital to await testing.
“Until that test is negative, we won’t allow him out,” he said.

[jke]

Once you get past all the heightened tone of the news reports, you can see that most of what is being done now by health authorities is preventative - handing out masks, alerting people to symptoms and readying vaccine supplies. Proactive rather than panicked.

Flu kills people every year. Not all of them are old people.

Health statistics may be skewed in Mexico by lack of thorough reporting data and lack of comprehensive health care. The total number of people who suffered from this flu may be much larger, which would make the percentage of people who have died from the flu less notable.

The students at the school in the Bronx were infected when they traveled to Mexico on a trip. Since most of the known infections in the US have occurred in groups - friends, relatives, family, classmates - health authorities believe that it is transmitted from person to person rather than by air - close proximity rather than just being in the neighborhood.

I think currently the least plausible idea is that this was man-made, especially since animal husbandry and travelers to or from Mexico have not yet been eliminated as possible sources. Just because this seems to have multiple strains in it does not mean that someone made it. This flu may simply reflect the global nature of travel and food.

There will probably be a lot of "my friend the doctor" or "my friend the medical researcher" stories in the next few days/weeks in the vacuum created by the inevitable lag time that occurs between recognizing the problem and doing the science that will allow definitive statements to be made.

[Nikon Bob]

I think I'll delay worrying about it until it has spread a LOT further than it has.

Even then, what good is worrying going to do?

Tashi delek,

R.


The news here just stated that there were cases in New Zealand, Hong Kong and Spain. So it is spreading and no wonder with the amount of air travel today. You are right that worrying about it won't do anything.

Bob

[charjohncarter]

Poor Mexico, I've been there twice this year. Both time business was slow: recession (ours and theirs), drug wars, some lag on big hotel prices (condos and timeshares, that didn't work their down yet) and just fear of getting sick (not swine flu). Now the Swine Flu come along.

[colker]

Poor Mexico, I've been there twice this year. Both time business was slow: recession (ours and theirs), drug wars, some lag on big hotel prices (condos and timeshares, that didn't work their down yet) and just fear of getting sick (not swine flu). Now the Swine Flu come along.

mexican photography from the 30s is just sublime: Tina MOdotti and Manuel Alvarez Bravo made some of my all time favourite images.

[Beniliam]

mexican photography from the 30s is just sublime: Tina MOdotti and Manuel Alvarez Bravo made some of my all time favourite images.

Mexico have a great tradition in photography, and is and was very ´inspirational´ for foreigns and for the mexicans equally.

There are still today great photographers in Mexico like Graciela Iturbide.


http://images.google.es/images?q=graciela%20iturbide&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:es-ES:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&hl=es&tab=wi


And there are other ´classic´ photographers, less popular than Alvarez Bravo o Modotti like Nacho Lopez that are fantastic too.

http://manualdemimismo.files.wordpress.com/2008/07/20080416012010-nacho-lopez05.jpg

http://alkek.library.txstate.edu/swwc/wg/exhibits/witnesses/Lopez_Unt.jpg

http://images.artnet.com/artwork_images_1050_78098_nacho-lopez.jpg


I think that Mexico is one of the most magic places for the photographers. Its a shame that the violence and the corruption are ´winning´ the battle to the State. Many great photographers like Helen Levitt, Henri Cartier Bresson, Paul Strand, Edward Weston, ... found inspiration here.

[oldoc]

Before everyone gets ready to have their life insurance cashed in, let's recall that this is isolated, that the nutrition status of many in Mexico is GROSSLY worse than the US, and that the standard for care here is much better. The season is Spring, not Fall, and that the level of rsik and severity of cases is widely distributed.
Not a time to allow ourselves to be worked into a worried frenzy, folks.
oldoc
MD

[charjohncarter]

Before everyone gets ready to have their life insurance cashed in, let's recall that this is isolated, that the nutrition status of many in Mexico is GROSSLY worse than the US, and that the standard for care here is much better. The season is Spring, not Fall, and that the level of rsik and severity of cases is widely distributed.
Not a time to allow ourselves to be worked into a worried frenzy, folks.
oldoc
MD


Are you sure about that (nutrition)? I go there one or two times a year, they look healthy to me. Plus they have what everybody seems to want in the this country: socialized medicine. But you are right; it is no time for frenzy.

[fbf]

The school outbreak is still a mystery to me. It's about 15 miles away from me. No suspicions till half of the 150 students got sick? (okay, 8 students have positive test and show clinical symptoms but how many students are carriers? ) Majority students take public transportation EVERY DAY. How many people did they have contact with in the past a few days? God knows.
Yeah, okay, it's too late for vaccination or prophylaxis even if it is available.
I am not going to panic since I survived SARS (was in China during the outbreak lol). This is just life.

[oldoc]

I am absolutely certain about the nutritional, and medical aspects of the differences between the countries.
Looks, especially in the population of those below the poverty line, which is four- fold that in the US, are very deceiving. Immunizations are scarce for economic reasons, and the depth and breadth of medical care is orders of magnitude lower...

[NickTrop]

The comparison to the bird flu is a non-starter. How can you even suggest this is due to a slow news day? Bird flu did not mutate - as expected, to infect humans but WHO was concerned and still is. THIS one is the real deal - very serious. They're walking around with masks in Mexico City, all kinds of quarantining going on there and it has spread to the US...

“We don’t think we can contain the spread of this virus,” she said yesterday in a conference call with reporters. "

Not that there's anything that can be done at this point but its already here and we will see more and more cases next week. Going in to a frenzy won't help, of course. But a flu/pandemic of this nature has nothing to do with socialized vs non-socialized medicine or "nutrition"...
|

[JohnTF]

Confirmed in a local student who just returned from Mexico.

Might be a good week to stay a bit isolated, get caught up on that darkroom work.

People in charge seem to be doing the right things.

Spanish Flu in 1918 killed more than WWI, and recent studies suggest it came from the US, not Spain.

We got lucky with the bird flu, maybe we will get lucky again. A lot of birds are dead though.

J

[Richard G]

Clearly cause for concern. However for anyone on RFF there is an influence of socioeconomic factors, probably, in your own survival. The world was in major trouble in 1918 at the end of the war and the death rate from the 1957 and 1968 pandemics was not nearly so high. I think it is a pity to be in any way dismissive of SARS. People died in an alarming way in that epidemic, patient after patient, their nurse, the doctor, the doctor's doctor etc. Dark-room work seems like a good idea, but I don't have one.

[jke]

By not being able to contain this, what the health official means is that there are too many people potentially exposed to the contagion for quarantine to work, i.e. they can't put those people somewhere and isolate them from the rest of the population. It doesn't mean that it cannot be cured or that vaccinations won't work against it. And exposed isn't the same as infected.

There are a lot of diseases that cannot be contained because the population of people with possible exposure is too large - the common cold, for example. So this isn't as if the WHO and CDC are admitting defeat. They are merely recognizing what steps need to be taken now given the current situation.

Delays are inevitable. There are only two testing centers that have the ability to confirm infection with the current flu. As you might imagine, they are swamped with work right now. In addition, it is only within the last few days that doctors were made aware that flu cases should be reviewed for possible cases of this flu. I would imagine that in the next few weeks, schools and other places of assembly will err on the side of caution when flu cases show up and close.

[MickH]

"Virologists in Britain agreed that in the worst case scenario, an outbreak of the virus could lead to as many as 120 million deaths worldwide"

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/5227137/Every-passenger-arriving-in-Britain-from-Mexico-screened-for-swine-flu.html

Tell me the paper's aren't blowing this up 'cos it's good copy.

[Sparrow]

I think it’s so important to panic early with these things

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/hongkong/1429387/Half-of-over-60s-who-get-Sars-will-die-say-scientists.html

[sojournerphoto]

Any epidemiologists on board?

Mike

[Pickett Wilson]

Local TV news pitch for the 10 p.m. news (from last night):

"Southeast Texas braces for Swine Flu pandemic!"

Here we go again. :(

[sanmich]

"Virologists in Britain agreed that in the worst case scenario, an outbreak of the virus could lead to as many as 120 million deaths worldwide"

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/5227137/Every-passenger-arriving-in-Britain-from-Mexico-screened-for-swine-flu.html

Tell me the paper's aren't blowing this up 'cos it's good copy.

The worst case scenario is ALWAYS millions of deaths.
These guys are paid to consider the worst case scenarios.
Ask an astronom, and he will tell you that the worst case scenario is a meteor hitting earth and wiping out humanity and its Leicas.
The question seems to be: "how likely are we to reach the worst case scenario?"

[newsgrunt]

It's a slow weekend for news. Remember bird flu & SARS?

SARS took somewhere between 30-45 lives in the greater Toronto area which has a huge Chinese population. Going in to hospitals was like going through customs/ security at airports. Don't want to see that happen again.

From what little I've read about swine flu, it's probably not going to be fatal for most people but will still be an ordeal for those who are infected. Getting hit with the flu in general is still a sh*%ty experience, pardon the pun.

[MickH]

I think it’s so important to panic early with these things

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/hongkong/1429387/Half-of-over-60s-who-get-Sars-will-die-say-scientists.html

Interesting piece of journalese from the Torygraph report on SARS (yes, I know it's an old story):

"Workers, even if they are not Sars suspects, have been forbidden from leaving Beijing for fear of spreading the disease. The driver was arrested for organising their escape."

So, poorly people are now suspects eh? It does say something about the tone of the coverage then, and I have seen nothing to convince me that standards have improved, in the way that victims can quickly be portrayed and regarded as "the responsible".

How long before the "Good Ole Boys" begin victimising Mexican ex-pats? The tone of the news coverage I have seen is doing nothing to explain the reality of the situation but, as usual, is pumping up the volume.

Now the buggers have worked themselves up into such a lather, only an Obama sex scandal will knock this story out of the headlines this week.

We're all doomed Mr Mainwaring.

[Benjamin Marks]

For my part, I would caution against leaping irrationally to conclusions about the source/severity of this event. Furthermore I think links to "stories" featuring "my friend the doctor" are the worst possible thing to post. At best they point to the completely unfiltered nature of the internet and the consequences of pushing news "gathering" down into the hands of amateurs. At worst it's crying "fire" in a crowded theater. I am not suggesting that this current event isn't serious - put please: put on your big-boy pants and act like adults with at least a modicum of sense.

Ben Marks

P.S. excuse me, I think there's a black helicopter circling outside.

[rbiemer]

http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/swine_flu.png

[JohnTF]

Being in the hi risk flu group, and having had a bad case a few years ago, flu is a serious disease to which you can limit your risks, but not all together avoid.

Quarantine works with all contagion, thank God the vectors are not something like an insect in this case.

We seem to have not "cured" a single viral disease.

Your response, and the mutability of this one, are as yet unknown. With luck it will mutate out of the disease causing domain. Co-adaptation of host and parasite, the more successful parasites do not kill you, look at Congress, and we also tend to develop immunities, well, forget Congress.

It is attracting a lot of attention as it seems an unusual chimera, but humans seem able to share flu virus with birds and swine. Also, it has had deadly effects on other than the most oft susceptible groups.

For me personally, I was already high risk, but as I stupidly did not go to the hospital last time I was hammered with something that probably came from Bangladesh (shared a flight with a doctor returning, was sick in two days for five weeks), I finally have learned my lesson, so if I get the flu again, I am on my way.

There is nothing to panic about, as panic does not serve any function.

Wash your hands, get plenty of sleep, sell me all really neat Leica gear cheap while you still can, maybe drop your plans to visit Mexico, unless you want to rent my timeshare, and stay away from Politicians. They cannot possibly do what they do to so many and remain disease free.

If you get sick, two places, home or the hospital.

Also, stock up on chicken soup.

Oh, you may wish to stay away from people for awhile, or pigs for that matter, there goes my active social life.

Regards, and good health, John

[JohnTF]

Clearly cause for concern. However for anyone on RFF there is an influence of socioeconomic factors, probably, in your own survival. The world was in major trouble in 1918 at the end of the war and the death rate from the 1957 and 1968 pandemics was not nearly so high. I think it is a pity to be in any way dismissive of SARS. People died in an alarming way in that epidemic, patient after patient, their nurse, the doctor, the doctor's doctor etc. Dark-room work seems like a good idea, but I don't have one.

Another reason film is better than digital. ;-) There is no time like now to snap up that equipment which is otherwise being kicked to the curb.

Good point about the war, some think the flu is what ended it.

J

[xayraa33]

The News media is hyping this flu scare.
A good way to get people to go for a deadly vaccination.

Dr Ott explains this nicely in his videos,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIwnqKE159o

[Bob Michaels]

http://not.contaxg.com/files/0227/saint-joseph0600.jpg

Settled in 1835, Saint Joseph quickly grew into the largest community in Florida. A ship carrying yellow fever arrived in 1841. By the end of the year everyone in town had died or fled and the town no longer existed. Only the graveyard remains today.

So I am learning from history. I have locked myself in my home office and only read the discussions about the boken characteristics of the v.3 vs. v.4 of the 35mm Summicron on the swine flu thread of the Communicable Disease Center website. There are some rather noted epidemiologists that seem to know as much as lens characteristics as we do about communicatable diseases.

The first paragraph is totally true. The second totally false.

[-vin-]

I don't know... I haven't read much about this flu, so i can't talk properly.
But I was thinking that the US are having lots of problems with Mexico's immigration. I don't know...

[Pickett Wilson]

It's the economic consequences of countries sealing their borders that worry me. The current recession would look like boom times compared to that.

[Al Patterson]

Pandemic? Hardy. I'm not even sure it's an epidemic yet, although it does have potential to be very bad.

(It's bad enough already without being over-hyped.)

[johnastovall]

Pandemic? Hardy. I'm not even sure it's an epidemic yet, although it does have potential to be very bad.

(It's bad enough already without being over-hyped.)

WHO think it's. They have raised it to Level 4 on their Pandemic scale The next level is 5 which is pandemic.

[Al Kaplan]

We'll either live or die, but there's no reason to worry yourself to death.

[Jack Ketch]

You should be ashamed of yourself for posting such nonsensical quackery and hate-mongering.

This video is pure vitriol and psychosis.


The News media is hyping this flu scare.
A good way to get people to go for a deadly vaccination.

Dr Ott explains this nicely in his videos,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIwnqKE159o

[xayraa33]

You should be ashamed of yourself for posting such nonsensical quackery and hate-mongering.

This video is pure vitriol and psychosis.

to each his own.
just believe what you see and hear on CNN then.

[sanmich]

We'll either live or die, but there's no reason to worry yourself to death.

" If I'm given the choice, I'd like to die during my lifetime "
Coluche

[xayraa33]

One man's "vitriol and psychosis" is another man's humor. One lie is as good as another to me, this video or those on CNN.

Al K has it right.

EDIT: By the way if I die due to exposure on the subway, you can all say "I told you so."

Richard you can have my black S3, if I go before I sell it.

Can I have your black paint Canon RF camera Fred?

[JohnTF]

Thanks Fred.

Will it influence my friends and make the girls horny?

May depend on the focal length?

Best reason I have heard for getting one though. ;-)

Regards, John

[raindog61]

Crap! We just booked a trip down to Los Cabos for two weeks one month from now (May 25th).

Right now there's no plan to cancel, but who knows only time will tell.

Perhaps daily mega-doses of tequila will keep me safe.

Note to self: Bring autofocus camera.

[Uwe_Nds]

I wish this (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxWgS0XLVqw)had gotten so much attention some six years ago...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyme_disease#Epidemiology

Cheers,
Uwe

[Al Patterson]

WHO think it's. They have raised it to Level 4 on their Pandemic scale The next level is 5 which is pandemic.

WHO? A useless organization that needs to hype stuff like this to justify their existence.

[Al Patterson]

You should be ashamed of yourself for posting such nonsensical quackery and hate-mongering.

This video is pure vitriol and psychosis.

Maybe so, but during the 1970's swine flu scare, my mother father and sister got the shots and got sick. I didn't get the shot, and didn't get sick.

Co-incidence?

[climbing_vine]

Maybe so, but during the 1970's swine flu scare, my mother father and sister got the shots and got sick. I didn't get the shot, and didn't get sick.

Co-incidence?

Vaccines are far different now. Even then, the benefit generally outweighed the risk. Now, flu vaccines (and almost all others) are of a different variety that extremely rarely makes a person sick with the given disease. Few of them work on the model of "give them a small dose of the complete virus to trigger immunity" model.

In short, this is misinformed (or lying) scaremongering.

[Sparrow]

WHO? A useless organization that needs to hype stuff like this to justify their existence.

Well I’d go to amber alert, but it means changing the bulb

[sevo]

Coincidence, or possibly the wrong vaccine not improving matters when it comes to a strain it does not cover. At any rate, many millions get flu shots every year, and only a tiny percentage of non-responders get sick from flu in the years where the vaccine matches the current strain.

Whether vaccination is a smart idea outside risk groups is another question - regular flu only strikes a very modest percentage of the population per year, and is unpleasant rather than lethal for those without any extra risk. The protection is not disproportionally bigger than the danger of developing allergies against preservatives or the chicken substrate. Personally, I preferred not to - but since we have kids either me or my wife get vaccinated every other year, as sick care can be rather hard to do when all of the family are simultaneously down with fever...

Sevo

[climbing_vine]

However since flu vaccines are reformulated each season, unless you have a parallel time machine, no one knows how well they actually work in any given year, until the season is over.

The CDC seems to contradict you on the "model" line (although I do not know what you mean by "complete"):
http://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/qa/fluvaccine.htm

Some good links on how well it works here. At my age it is no longer of much use.
http://www.hhs.gov/ophs/programs/initiatives/vacctoolkit/questions.html


It doesn't contradict me. The normal vaccine does not contain live virus, as noted at the very beginning of the page. It can't make you sick unless something goes very wrong.

The nasal vaccine contains contains live, attenuated virus (which is what old-style vaccines were, except often without the "attenuated") part. This is why it's only approved for non-high-risk demographics.

And by "complete" I mean that many vaccines now contain not whole viruses (live or dead), but "distilled" or synthetic proteins that are components of the virus which trigger immune response to the virus.

But yes, flu vaccines do have the issues of "which strain" and "does it really matter for me". These rational questions, however, are totally different from the anti-vaccine hysteria like in the posted video.

[dazedgonebye]

The coverage has reached pandemic levels, that's for sure.
I wonder if there is a vaccine for "Sweeps Flu?"

[raindog61]

Double Crap! We just found out the charter company suspended all trips to Mexico until early June.

And to think my camera bag was all packed and ready to go.

Added note: The charter company was kind enough to book us on a cruise off the Somalian coast. ;-)

[DougFord]

"CDC estimated that about 36,000 people died of flu-related causes each year, on average, during the 1990s in the United States."

Until they start stacking up the bodies the swine flu seems more like a media event than anything else.

[Kevin]

Reports indicate that recent rff member Jack Ketchup drove down to Mexico in a rented Chevy Impala, poured salsa picante on hired lesbian models, took pictures of these and sent retouched versions to big news agencies around the world.

Then he joined this forum, dpreview, apug and pnet to inform us that we're all gonna die real soon!

http://modelmayhm-0.vo.llnwd.net/d1/avatars/1/0/0/7/3/9/0/1007390912_m.jpg (http://www.modelmayhem.com/1007390)

[xayraa33]

Reports indicate that recent rff member Jack Ketchup drove down to Mexico in a rented Chevy Impala, poured salsa picante on hired lesbian models, took pictures of these and sent retouched versions to big news agencies around the world.

Then he joined this forum, dpreview, apug and pnet to inform us that we're all gonna die real soon!

http://modelmayhm-0.vo.llnwd.net/d1/avatars/1/0/0/7/3/9/0/1007390912_m.jpg (http://www.modelmayhem.com/1007390)

We are all going die eventually, might as well surround yourself with lesbians and salsa if it makes you happy.

[climbing_vine]

"CDC estimated that about 36,000 people died of flu-related causes each year, on average, during the 1990s in the United States."

Until they start stacking up the bodies the swine flu seems more like a media event than anything else.

Right, out of many millions that get it. Part of the alarming thing here is that at first blush from the Mexico reports it seemed conceivable that it was lethal in as many as 1/10 of the known cases. Coupled with the fact that it seems to be an emergent strain, which means two things: that there's not a lot of immunity barrier to quick transmission, and that it can get ugly much quicker than the usual suspects (flu is a quick-mutating virus, and the further away it is from strains usually present in humans, the closer it is to a mutation that will be catastrophic).

Not to say any of it is likely. But the potential for harm is a lot more than the usual flu season stuff, so it's only prudent to pay attention.

That doesn't mean that the coverage hasn't been hysterical. Of course it has. It's the media, what do you expect? :rolleyes: It's been this way for as long as printing presses have existed. In every age, from every part of the political (or mostly apolitical, money-grubbing) perspective. "Stupid media" is the biggest diversionary strawman of modern discourse if ya ask me. Just cause CNN, Fox, and the blogs are hyperventilating doesn't mean something *isn't* bad.

[Bob Michaels]

We are all going die eventually, might as well surround yourself with lesbians......

If I knew I am going to die and had the option to surround myself with women, I would not choose lesbians.

[xayraa33]

If I knew I am going to die and had the option to surround myself with women, I would not choose lesbians.

yes, but I am a lesbian.

[pachuco]

WHO? A useless organization that needs to hype stuff like this to justify their existence.

I must read these posts to fast. I thought WHO was just the word "who" put in all caps to emphasize the point. I was very confused there for a few moments. :p

[Al Patterson]

Well I’d go to amber alert, but it means changing the bulb

Please, don't get me started on the Homeland Security color-coded alerts....

Hey, with a new administration, maybe we can have some different colors defined. A puce or mauve alert could be interesting. And why can't we use infra-red or ultra violet?

[Al Patterson]

The coverage has reached pandemic levels, that's for sure.
I wonder if there is a vaccine for "Sweeps Flu?"

This post made my day. I laughed so hard I almost spat Pinot Grigio all over my keyboard...

On a normal day, we just have epidemic level news coverage, regardless of the topic covered.

Yeah, the vaccine for "Sweeps Flu" is called the "Off Button". ;)

[rgpadron]

Crap! We just booked a trip down to Los Cabos for two weeks one month from now (May 25th).

Right now there's no plan to cancel, but who knows only time will tell.

Perhaps daily mega-doses of tequila will keep me safe.

Note to self: Bring autofocus camera.

About tequila, if it doesn't heal you, it will make you forget about it!