Perhaps we will get lucky and this virus will mutate into something that will cause a pandemic. I really don't see how losing 1/4 or even 1/3 of the world's population over a few years would be a bad thing. I mean, that is a lot of bodies to burn/bury but that will provide jobs and reduce unemployment and such.
Anyway, I am not surprised to read that the swine issue was started in some third world country.
Mexico isn't 'some third world country' and it's insulting to say so, on three different levels: that Mexico is considered a third world country despite being industrialized, that third world countries don't matter, and that Americans don't know anything about the world and/or don't care. Your calloused remarks about the human population are one thing, being that they are your own opinions and could be debated to be true, but the comment on Mexico is just ignorant and offensive.
Considering that most of the people that would die in that instance would be people who are old, or impoverished, or in un-industrialized nations, suggests to me that it really wouldn't do any of the good things you're envisioning it might.
But health authorities in the two North American countries have the resources required already in place, including Tamiflu, and are "well equipped," according to the WHO.
Tamiflu is useless against some of the many strains of the flu virus so how in the hell is going to be effective against the swine strain?
How are they going to give vaccines to the people of Mexico anyway? Are they going to ask the drug lords who run the country for permission to save the civilians?
At least one of the articles I read said Tamiflu seems to be effective against it, but that they're only really administering it to hospital personnel at this point since they are most at risk. Either way, if it turns in to a real pandemic who knows how easily Mexico, esp the rural areas, will be able to get vaccines from WHO or somewhere else in time, especially since WHO sees no reason to stop travel in and out of the effective areas yet. "Just wash your hands frequently!"
"Because there are human cases associated with an animal influenza virus, and because of the geographical spread of multiple community outbreaks, plus the somewhat unusual age groups affected, these events are of high concern," the WHO said in a statement.
That in addition to the 850+ who are now sick is not enough for WHO to issue a travel warning?
What the fuck is an acceptable number of sick/contagious/dead for an advisory to be issued?
It just seems to me that the Mexican government has no control over the people, or this outbreak. And even if they did, they do not currently have an type of vaccine.
We're frightened because they say it's not exactly flu, it's another kind of virus and we're not vaccinated," said Angeles Rivera, 34, a government worker who fetched her son from a public kindergarten that was closing.
So many of most common diseases that affect humanity stem from us keeping and living closely with animals. And because we keep the animals together often, they spread amongst those species too.
I work in public health and have been getting updates about this. They don't actually know how it is being spread at the moment. They are studying it though. My guess is it is not person to person--the numbers are too low.
Could the numbers be low because it's so early? Or that it's not spread easily between people? We do seem to have much better detection of such things now so that could show up early low numbers that we haven't seen historically. These are just thoughts of an amateur of course. :)
well shoot. Here is the latest, "From the information that is becoming available, it does appear as though there is significant human to human transmission ongoing of a novel influenza virus." As soon as I saw it in a school in NYC, I knew my previous guess was premature. Luckily, it seems that the US cases are much milder than the Mexico cases. No fatalities so far in the US. If you want to track cases, the CDC has a nice chart: http://www.cdc.gov/swineflu/investigation.htm
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Anyway, I am not surprised to read that the swine issue was started in some third world country.
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Tamiflu is useless against some of the many strains of the flu virus so how in the hell is going to be effective against the swine strain?
How are they going to give vaccines to the people of Mexico anyway? Are they going to ask the drug lords who run the country for permission to save the civilians?
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Either way, if it turns in to a real pandemic who knows how easily Mexico, esp the rural areas, will be able to get vaccines from WHO or somewhere else in time, especially since WHO sees no reason to stop travel in and out of the effective areas yet. "Just wash your hands frequently!"
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That in addition to the 850+ who are now sick is not enough for WHO to issue a travel warning?
What the fuck is an acceptable number of sick/contagious/dead for an advisory to be issued?
It just seems to me that the Mexican government has no control over the people, or this outbreak. And even if they did, they do not currently have an type of vaccine.
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Good luck. :)
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