Swine Flu (bleeding, symptom, feet, contact)

[kingyouth]

Now that the assumed cases in NYC have now been confirmed as swine flu, it seems that the best prevention against it is to: a) not travel to Mexico, b) not be around anyone who recently has. I am neither an expert nor want to lessen the importance of protecting ourselves from this or any other disease, but the common link to ALL confirmed cases is recent travel TO Mexico.

These are all U.S. citizens who recently travelled to the country, as the husband from Kansas had a business trip there and some of the students from the NYC high school had gone on Spring Break to Cancun. (Also, the people in New Zealand contracted swine flu after their trip to Mexico.)

All affected people in NYC are now beginning treatment. And the couple in Kansas are already recovering. It seems that the deaths in Mexico were because of inadequate healthcare facilities.

We should all still be very careful, but I hope the CDC and WHO continue to get a quick hold of the swine flu.

[Poltracker]

Looks like other governments are acting though. See the latest news articles about quarantines, monitoring air arrivals, etc.

[GarnerMama]

After surviving preschool, I'm convinced that the flu that wipes out the human race will be born in a day care and will be spread by nasty little snot face kids. When the kiddos started school they brought home nasty bugs that kept us sick all winter. Poo on the swine flu...I have kids.

[joe143]

Swine Flu wa confirmed today in the NYC high school students.

[2BZee2Pee]

Originally Posted by kingyouth

It seems that the deaths in Mexico were because of inadequate healthcare facilities.

We should all still be very careful, but I hope the CDC and WHO continue to get a quick hold of the swine flu.

Could you cite your intel on "inadequate healthcare" as it pertains to this virus and mortality and what exactly does "get a quick hold of" mean?

[bluedevilz]

Originally Posted by CarolinaCowboy

My post did not resemble a panicky position, rather one of informing and asking how we in the Triangle would prepare.

So far all the responses have been about....staying calm and not panicking. Ok great, but how does this help you and your children from not catching a HIGLY contagious, invisible virus?

In any pandemic situation, or natural disaster, it is always those who do nothing and burry their heads in the sand that pay the ultimate price.

What we know so far is this virus is here, it is going to spread, it will not go away and eventually, probably within days, will make its way here.


The virus is unstable, still developing and will likely mutate to adapt to it's new hosts, you and me.

The virus kills the most healthy of people, due to the over reaction by the immune system, as we have no natural established defense to it. You're immune system has no idea what is attacking you, so it ramps up the highest level of defense it can. This causes serve lung and breathing problems and fevers in excess of 103 degrees. It is not the virus itself killing these people, it is their active healthy immune system's reaction to an unknown invader.

I think once the first few cases pop up here, if those who caught it succumb to it or become very seriously ill, they should shut everything down.

If people continue to recover and we continue to have weakened strain of it here, then do nothing. BUT, again, due to the trio makeup of this virus, it will likely mutate and become more violent.

I say again, you have NO idea what you are talking about but keep trying to convince yourself that you do....

[2BZee2Pee]

Originally Posted by bluedevilz

I say again, you have NO idea what you are talking about but keep trying to convince yourself that you do....

The assertion you have bolded seems more likely than not to me. Why are you so convinced it's an unlikely prediction?

[Hopes]

Originally Posted by NightBazaar

Correct. And because of that, there's no need to panic.

You missed the point of my post entirely. Since they only test a small number from a group of sick people, the number of confirmed cases are significantly lower than the number actually sick! For the Queens cases, saying there are 8 confirmed cases will mean there are 100. 100 people were definitely sick but they only tested 8 people randomly.

[lovebrentwood]

A post-er wrote: "Luckily the bird flu didn't end up spreading thoroughly or far."

Umm. You're thinking of it wrong. The bird flu was just one instance of humans getting an animal flu which lays the groundwork for a new flu and equalling what MAY become a pandemic. The virus CAN continue to mutate and MAY still turn into a pandemic. No one knows. The bird flu never really ended. It just didn't mutate (yet) in dangerous ways. No one still knows if it will happen or not.

No one knows what the swine flu will do, either.

Yes, we're "due."

I've heard the swine flu might be a combination of swine/bird/human flu. But the reality is that the scientists simply do not know at this point.

The bottom line is what the government has been telling us for years: Prepare. And no one has prepared. If a pandemic happens, the non-preparers will cry, "No one told me!"

A few short years ago, I created three slide shows about bird flu and bird flu preparation (none of which work at the moment, or at least they don't work for me; something on the server must have changed.)

At the time, I had the slide shows reviewed by a person who advises the government on such things, and they were given his "blessing." (I did not want to instruct people on the wrong things!) I also called government offices to get information. I'm not big on passing along hearsay.

I created the slide shows because I was peeved that the government was telling us to "prepare" but not telling us HOW. They were not telling us the whole story. I created the slide presentations before they came up with their own preparation site.

So I did my research and came up with something the average person can understand. (That is one of the things I have done for living -- develop instructional materials for adults.)

I have the slide shows on a web site with no advertising whatsoever (unlike most bird flu/pandemic sites). When I can fix them so they work, I'll pass them along.

In the meantime, you can go to the government prep site.
Individuals & Families Planning (http://www.pandemicflu.gov/plan/tab3.html - broken link) This was the URL from a few years ago, but it doesn't display for me. I have no idea why. Maybe you should try the main home page: PandemicFlu.gov Probably everyone is trying to access it.

Whether it's swine or bird flu, the preparation is the same. There is absolutely no need to panic. But you should always be prepared.

Originally Posted by JQ Public

Isn't there a huge deadly flu outbreak every 90 years or so? I'm sure we're overdue. Luckily the bird-flu didn't end up spreading thoroughly or far.

[quiet walker]

CDC confirms Queens high school students have Swine Flu - NY Daily News

Swine flu outbreak appears to have spread to New Zealand from Mexico - NY Daily News