I just came back from mexico about 4 weeks ago, i was terrified cause i have just recently been really really sick, so i figured i had swine flu. a couple of my friends family members have come down with the sickness as well, its become quite the hot topic here in B.C. Canada
"swine flu" is just influenza (AKA flu), it develops new strains every year and the death rate has been consistent for years - the deaths occur in less developed countries where healthcare is not available, the flu is EASILY treated. The deaths in Mexico haven't been in the big cities, but in the poor slum area's where you will not have been for a holiday LOL. in less developed areas of Mexico, health care is bad and the number of deaths caused by influenza recently are not abnormal at all, this is just media and Government hype - the Government(s) made this an issue to detract attention from the current economic state. They are saying that their may be an epidemic, when in fact there will not be as we have strong healthcare. Some people will get influenza, as they do every year - but this year the media will cover it, and when they recover (due to standard healthcare which we have been giving out for god knows how many years) it will be presented as a "crisis averted" and the economic troubles will creep back on to the front pages unless Government(s) have anything else up their sleeves. YOU ARE NOT IN DANGER, IF YOU GET THE FLU YOU WILL BE GIVEN A FLU VACCINE AND RECOVER, YOU DIE FROM FLU IF YOU LIVE IN AN UNDEVELOPED COUNTRY WHICH DOES NOT HAVE ACCESS TO THE VACCINE, OR IF YOU ARE OLD AND VULNERABLE AND DO NOT GET DIAGNOSED OR TREATED IN TIME http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Influenza "Flu spreads around the world in seasonal epidemics, resulting in the deaths of hundreds of thousands annually" Well at least it's entertaining, apparently little face masks were the one of the best sold items on Amazon last week. HAHA.
Yeah, though personally I find it interesting how panic has taken hold of the general masses, how the media is playing, and observing the steps various countries have taken to counteract this possible "level 6 pandemic"
Allow me to summarise~ Media: "pete doherty hasn't taken any smack lately, paris hilton hasnt made a new porn video in ages, and the recession is getting boring... let's write about a few isolated deaths of the new flu strain and present it as a possible pandemic" Government: "QUICK LETS GET BEHIND THE MEDIA BY PRESENTING THE SEASONAL INFLUENZA DEATH STATISTICS AS ACTUAL NUMBERS INSTEAD OF PERCENTAGES AS WE USUALLY DO, SO THAT THEY SEEM TO BE AT PANDEMIC LEVELS" Healthcare: "k let's give them flu jabs like we do every year" Population: "OH MY GOD THERE IS A NEW STRAIN OF FLU THAT COULD KILL US ALL LETS BUY MASKS FROM AMAZON JUST LIKE A FEW YEARS AGO WHEN THE PRESS WOULDNT SHUT UP ABOUT DEATHS IN THE IRAQ WAR AND THEN SUDDENLY THEY TOLD US THERE WAS GOING TO BE A SARS PANDEMIC WHICH KIND OF DIDNT HAPPEN"
I guess that sums it up pretty well. A lot of this I think has stemmed from the largely uneducated public fear, or limited knowledge of the avian flu and the actual danger it posesses. Thus, with the introduction of the swine flu, people make the connection that they are both animals, and thus swine flu must also pose a considerable degree of danger to the public (which is false to those living in devloped nations).
well there is good reason to fear the flu .. the spanish flu killed 40-50 million people at one point.
yeah well just because we have the means to get medicines and supplies to people in other countries does not mean that pharmaceutical companies will actually give the help until the countries agree to pay a heavily taxed price.
More importantly, swine flu suffers mutations. So it can actually become immune to current medicines. But scientists estimated that if it's rampage it will affect only 1 billion of human populations and it's been estimated that on 8.5 billion people (6.5 billion currently) the natality will have to stop because we will have no space.
Which is why this is an issue for 3rd world countries who have many, many more worrying problems, and why in countries such as USA or UK it is merely media hype which the Government's are using to deflect attention away from our real problems. Yes, and that makes it different from SARS/bird flu/any other strains of influenza how? You believe this one is different or more dangerous than others because of what you have read on the news. This is just a new strain of an old and seasonal virus, this happens every single year. The only difference is that instead of telling people to remain calm this time around, and pointing out that we can deal with this as we always do, Government's are -- and I'll quote my Government, "calling for vigilance against a terrible threat". Manipulating stats and figures is easy, and this is done to deflect attention from the economy issue. Deflection like this is used all of the time, you have to remember that Government's main goal is and always will be to be re-elected, and if that means pulling the wool over the eyes of the uninformed they are happy to do it.
You're right. And from what we know,we can presume it could be a virus that has escaped from some goverment laboratories. We can't eliminate this possibility.
I'm hardly claiming it's a Government conspiracy, they are merely using it as a political tool, to deflect attention from other issues which aren't being handled so "well", or at all. It's common practice. :yup:
I at the start was really worried about the Swine Flu, but then i realised lots of news channels are saying different things, and exagerating the truth, but i think there is cures for it. So i don't think its anything to worry about.
If you follow the phylogenetic tree it's any old mutated strand that was discovered many many decades ago. It rolls through almost every year. This is just a time that people are actually paying attention to the flu. Spoiler Tree from the CDC website itself. There is really no need to fear. The only reason one should fear is if they're in some poor slums, which I'm assuming most aren't since we're here on the internet.. or if people in the States start dropping like flies as well. It is an interesting topic to think of though. Especially since this particular strain is a recombination of human, avian, and swine flu. With the avian part being what has really drawn the most publicity to this topic. As previously avian flu hadn't made the jump from birds to humans, but avian flu strands can infect swine as well as human and swine flus, which makes pigs the PERFECT body for genetic recombination of the RNA strands of the influenza virus.
The swine flu is overrated and blown way out of proportion...i believe that they will be able to destroy the virus or disease before it completely leaves mexico