I have not paid attention to the source of this story, but http://www.thenation.com/blogs/thebeat/430261 is talking about a similar amount of money in response to "pandemic preparedness," not necessarily "this swine flu"
I did hear last year during the Avian Flu tension that the flu could conceivably mutate into something much more dangerous that is _not_ covered by current vaccines. The NPR report also mentioned that manufacturing the vaccine is a time consuming process that, IIRC,meantinjecting the vaccines into chicken eggs and waiting. (Bush spent 1 billion trying to modernize this process here, apparently, whoever "usmedicen.com" is: http://www.usmedicine.com/article.cfm?articleID=1321&issueID=88 apparently)
Nope you're not off point, but the risk of the flu mutating into something we can't control is a known risk of ALL strains of influenza. It mutates like a mofo. That's why every year the strains and such in the flu shot changes and why we never really develop any immunity to it
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My (probably incomplete) understanding is that this strain is acting like the strain that caused the 1918 pandemic, which means that it is similarly virulent to "normal" flu, but different in structure so the current flu vaccine is ineffective. So even if it has the same lethality, it could double the flu season this year, and as you've noted, the flu can be deadly. Worse, though, the 1918 pandemic flu killed 3% of the people who caught it, vs the tenth of a percent "regular" flu does, and it kills the healthiest people (presumably by inducing an immune overreaction), so instead of being a threat to old folks and brand new babies, it kills healthy kids and young adults. That is what is causing a pre-panic.
Do you have a source for any of the statements saying it is similiar to the 1918 pandemic? This is contrary to anything I've heard from official sources.
And no, that is not true about it killing young adults and healthy kids. Witness that nearly EVERY case in the USA has been a young adult and not a single death as of yet (excluding potentially 1 case in CA that I haven't heard about since I just woke up) and only a few hospitalizations.
So far, the deaths in Mexico are hard to match against any previous flu because they do not keep the records that we do, so we can only compare to US cases and so far this is mild and hasn't caused any severe illnesses.
The case I heard about today was in Texas, and the child (23 months old) was actually a Mexican who came here for treatment.
The thing about healthy people was an observation about the 1918 pandemic, not the current outbreak. But Wikipedia reports that it has been mostly taking down healthy young people in Mexico. Wikipedia also reports that they're both H1N1 variants, and unlike actual swine (and avian) flu, this variant is fairly contagious from human to human. It seems to be a mutated pile of avian, swine, and human flu genes. Wikipedia has tons of sources, some of which I have looked at; none of them are excessively kooky, but a few (like the New Scientist) might not be completely trustworthy or immune to sensationalism themselves
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Oh, ok, I misunderstood about your healthy people observation. Yeah, the 1918 pandemic was nasty and killed more soldiers in WW1 than bullets did.
And I have also heard that this is a mutant that has all 3 (swine, human and avian) genetic components, but apparently so has a bunch of the last few flu viruses (trying to find the source, saw it on TV which doesn't translate so well to finding a URL).
I do agree that an eye should be kept on it. It, like any other flu, has the potential to become a huge pandemic. The flu is VERY nasty. My point wasn't that we shouldn't be concerned, it is just totally inappropriate levels of concern as compared to the yearly flu which IS a deadly killer (and the 7th leading cause of death in the USA).
http://www.thenation.com/blogs/thebeat/430261
is talking about a similar amount of money in response to "pandemic preparedness," not necessarily "this swine flu"
I did hear last year during the Avian Flu tension that the flu could conceivably mutate into something much more dangerous that is _not_ covered by current vaccines. The NPR report also mentioned that manufacturing the vaccine is a time consuming process that, IIRC,meantinjecting the vaccines into chicken eggs and waiting.
(Bush spent 1 billion trying to modernize this process here, apparently, whoever "usmedicen.com" is: http://www.usmedicine.com/article.cfm?articleID=1321&issueID=88 apparently)
Am I off-point here?
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I am preparing my house "Omega Man" style right now, so when all you bitches turn into pig zombies, don't come knocking.
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And no, that is not true about it killing young adults and healthy kids. Witness that nearly EVERY case in the USA has been a young adult and not a single death as of yet (excluding potentially 1 case in CA that I haven't heard about since I just woke up) and only a few hospitalizations.
So far, the deaths in Mexico are hard to match against any previous flu because they do not keep the records that we do, so we can only compare to US cases and so far this is mild and hasn't caused any severe illnesses.
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The case I heard about today was in Texas, and the child (23 months old) was actually a Mexican who came here for treatment.
The thing about healthy people was an observation about the 1918 pandemic, not the current outbreak. But Wikipedia reports that it has been mostly taking down healthy young people in Mexico. Wikipedia also reports that they're both H1N1 variants, and unlike actual swine (and avian) flu, this variant is fairly contagious from human to human. It seems to be a mutated pile of avian, swine, and human flu genes. Wikipedia has tons of sources, some of which I have looked at; none of them are excessively kooky, but a few (like the New Scientist) might not be completely trustworthy or immune to sensationalism themselves ( ... )
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And I have also heard that this is a mutant that has all 3 (swine, human and avian) genetic components, but apparently so has a bunch of the last few flu viruses (trying to find the source, saw it on TV which doesn't translate so well to finding a URL).
I do agree that an eye should be kept on it. It, like any other flu, has the potential to become a huge pandemic. The flu is VERY nasty. My point wasn't that we shouldn't be concerned, it is just totally inappropriate levels of concern as compared to the yearly flu which IS a deadly killer (and the 7th leading cause of death in the USA).
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